CEPSAF
Centre for Peace & Security Afghanistan – CEPSAF : South & Central Asian Research and Analysis
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“I’m not one of those women who’re told what to do. I was born free and will die free” – Chapter 14
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Chapter Fourteen It’d been two and a half hours since Frishta had entered a mud house. The day had turned into a moonful night, and, like a fearful shepherd standing on guard for the wolf’s arrival, I waited impatiently by the corner of a dirt alleyway with a thin stream dug along it. Open,…
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THE LONE LEOPARD – reviews by staff members and volunteer tutors at BRASS
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Book review: THE LONE LEOPARD, Sharifullah Dorani’s 436 pages, published 28 July 2022 by S&M Publishing House, £2.99 Ebook, £10.99 Paperback, $19.99 Hardcover, https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B6WRCNFK/ref=dbs_a_def_awm_bibl_vppi_i0. (The review was originally published by Bedfordshire Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support, BRASS.) Sharifullah Dorani was a guest speaker at our Annual General Meeting to talk about his newly published novel,…
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The ‘milieu’ in which the Bush Administration made the decision to intervene in Afghanistan: the ‘fear’ of another 9/11
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By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* Introduction ‘Fear was widespread, not just in the days immediately after the [9/11] attacks, but throughout the fall of 2001. Most Americans said they were…worried about another attack.’ Pew Research Center[1] Although later decision-making in the George W Bush Administration was conducted in secrecy and without much deliberation, the decision to…
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“Those fallen from the mountain will get up again, but those fallen from the hearts will never rise” – Chapter 13
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Chapter Thirteen Brigadier and Mahjan greeted my parents in the hallway. A knock on the door, to my anxiety. I pulled the blanket over me. A pause. The door opened, stayed for a moment, and then shut. My withdrawal had worried Mour. Thanks, Khudai, she left without bothering me to join them. I freaked…
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The role of domestic factors in the Bush Administration’s decision to invade Afghanistan
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By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* Introduction This article focuses on the role of domestic factors as a causal factor in the making of the George W Bush Administration’s Global War on Terror (GWOT) strategy that started in Afghanistan. As such, the impact of the American public, American media and Congress on policymaking for the GWOT…
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“You’d officially be presented with the medal of The True Daughter of Afghanistan…You remind me of… Nahid Shahid” – Chapter 12
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Chapter Twelve The buffalo-headed Mullah Rahmat lumbered in, followed by the religious studies ustad, Rauf Khan. The mudir told his two bodyguards, armed with Kalashnikovs, to go back to the edara. Instructed us to get some chairs and the students from nine jim. Baktash and I, together with a few others, executed the order…
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“Islam is about respecting women, not oppressing them.” – Chapter 11
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Chapter Eleven The following day, to many students’ horror, the buffalo-headed Mullah Rahmat showed up at the assembly. He’d dismissed Raziq Khan for failing to follow his ‘clear instructions’ and reiterated his ‘feet-and-the-halek’s-stomach’ threat. We marched into separate year nine classes: one all jelais; the other all haleks. We were in the nine alef,…
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“Release yourself from people’s chains…and you’ll fly as high as the…pigeons” – Chapter 10
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Chapter Ten “Release yourself from people’s chains…and you’ll fly as high as the…pigeons.” The following day at school break, Shafih collapsed as we lay on the lawn to enjoy the warm sunshine and the smell of fresh grass. Students chilled out in twos and threes, eating simyan and chickpeas, sucking lollipops, or crunching on…
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“We’re seen as a burden. First, dependent on fathers. Then husbands. Finally, sons. We must end this dependency” – Chapter 9
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Chapter Nine Wazir waited in the bright morning under the acacia tree on the lawn in front of Baktash’s corridor. Normally, Baktash joined me second, and Wazir last. Shirullah met us in the Market, and we dawdled to school. Why’s Wazir first today? I wondered. ‘It’s the time,’ Wazir said. Sunrays, coming through the…
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“Mazar-e-Sharif fell to…General Abdul Rashid Dostum, …and the Mujahideen could anytime capture Kabul” – Chapter 8
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Chapter Eight The post-dinner evening teas became a nightly routine. To my surprise, Agha talked a lot to Brigadier. I soon discovered they’d fathered the same child: they sat on sofas in the top two corners of the room, opposite each other, with cups of tea and bowls of sugar-coated almonds and chocolates placed…