Jun 15, 2013
Jun 13, 2013
Let's understand scarcity
2014 is close, and it would be of more sense if we start thinking to get a sense of what scarcity means. Yes, I'm serious! For some classes of Afghan society, the international assistance in the last decade provided such an environment where today not so many people can think of a better opportunity than ripping off a donor, be it writing proposals, quotations, (artificially) high salaries (that add no value to the organization and it is given because the "budget" can afford it, etc. etc.
Happy or not, all soon be gone. As we might have felt, with less and less DOD and USAID contracts and grants, and layoffs, we need to start getting worried and wasting our time speaking (as an "expert") at or watching Tolo and other TV discussion panels. Or, we might want to do something different than what have been doing. We can start thinking of how we can change our business habits and build our company visions not on proposal writing but on how we can create value with no money!
Happy or not, all soon be gone. As we might have felt, with less and less DOD and USAID contracts and grants, and layoffs, we need to start getting worried and wasting our time speaking (as an "expert") at or watching Tolo and other TV discussion panels. Or, we might want to do something different than what have been doing. We can start thinking of how we can change our business habits and build our company visions not on proposal writing but on how we can create value with no money!
May 29, 2013
Dec 30, 2012
Overachiever
I am not sure I have understood what "overachiever" means (I have not achieved much, not lost much), but I am very much like the #1, certainly not #2 (I used to steal money from my mom's purse when I was a kid; not anymore). #3: I can only say I like sticky notes in different colors all around me! #4: I can't focus when my desk is messy. I don't get #5, but boy, I can relate myself very well with #6. I don't care if I have a weakness when all do, whereas I have strengths not so many have. #7: I seek mentors and love to mentor. For #8, I can only say I have seven weblogs, and believe books and dinosaurs have one common characteristic: too spacey! #9: I am fat. #10: Not sure I like to start things but I surely keep up things. #11: You can hate me or I can say don't waste your time with hatred, and instead, learn some from me! #12: I am crazy by the way! #13: I have never had such a thing.
Dec 27, 2012
Budget and timetable
I made my first draft of the startup budget, and a schedule for making things accomplished to formally launch the business. For obvious reasons, the most challenging task is finding sources of financing our startup. We're currently undertaking a few projects that could partially cover our initial needs for fund. We prefer not going for any loan and the things alike, as things are really unpredictable here in Kabul and we don't really want to incur additional costs of interests.
Dec 22, 2012
Dec 20, 2012
Time for a change
It was time for a change in my professional lifestyle. I resigned from the office I had joined very recently. I don't have any good feeling about it actually, but you can't really help it. I needed a change. It seemed to me I was not enjoying anymore what I was doing. Now, I am working with these guys here. It'll be freelance for a while until we get enough customers and capital to formally start something that we hope will be big! As a matter of fact, I have always been fascinated by design, all kinds of design, from fashion, to architecture, to industrial design. I know it sounds funny and somewhat weird, but I like design and though know little about it, but hell love to be close to the business and these guys, whom I have found very cool!
Dec 15, 2012
Close
I am getting closer and closer to my goal; admission at Harvard Business School. It's been exactly four years now since, and how well I remember that, when I first decided to apply to HBS for MBA. It was December 2009. And, now more than ever, I am close to that.
May 13, 2012
Similar within, different without
As an Afghan refugee living in Iran for 23 years, I was very like all other Afghan refugees to the eyes of Iranians. Our appearance, our culture, our manner, everything, we were believed to be the same. Of course, we were not the same, but it did not matter. At once, an Afghan in one corner of Iran committed a crime, all Afghans were condemned. “These people are all thieves and cultureless” was not an unfamiliar statement to me. Eight years ago, I returned to my own homeland. Here, we are all Afghans, but apparently, very different. However, we seem to be alike within our own ethnicity, to the eyes of the other ethnicities. And, we are treated as if we are one and think the same.
As Edward Saeed points out, there is no single Islamic culture, nor one Western culture. There are great differences between the Islam practiced in Iran and the one practiced in Saudi Arabia, and the one in Syrian, and so forth. Similarly, the democracy in France is very different that of the United States, and the one of the United Kingdom or Germany. A clash of civilizations can’t exist between for example Islam and the West because Islam is not one single country or ideology to have a clash with the West, which is neither a single ideology. But, this is not what we have seen. I lived the first 23 years of my life in a country where the chant of “death to Israel” was the music of every public gathering. Imagining now that most of Iranians think Israel is just one single person like Netanyahu should not be impossible. I guess this less or more what people in western countries think about Muslims: “Someone wearing turban, with long black beard, with fists shaking in the air, violently threatening, burning the flag of America…” You don’t agree with me? See the cartoons! It’s not true, but who cares!
No, I don’t agree with Edward Saeed. Whatever it is called, “self-fulfilling prophecy”, stereotypes, etc. they affect our perspectives, our opinions, our behaviors, or how we are behaved, so they exist. However, should there be necessarily a violent clash between the considered-to-be Islam and West?
As Edward Saeed points out, there is no single Islamic culture, nor one Western culture. There are great differences between the Islam practiced in Iran and the one practiced in Saudi Arabia, and the one in Syrian, and so forth. Similarly, the democracy in France is very different that of the United States, and the one of the United Kingdom or Germany. A clash of civilizations can’t exist between for example Islam and the West because Islam is not one single country or ideology to have a clash with the West, which is neither a single ideology. But, this is not what we have seen. I lived the first 23 years of my life in a country where the chant of “death to Israel” was the music of every public gathering. Imagining now that most of Iranians think Israel is just one single person like Netanyahu should not be impossible. I guess this less or more what people in western countries think about Muslims: “Someone wearing turban, with long black beard, with fists shaking in the air, violently threatening, burning the flag of America…” You don’t agree with me? See the cartoons! It’s not true, but who cares!
No, I don’t agree with Edward Saeed. Whatever it is called, “self-fulfilling prophecy”, stereotypes, etc. they affect our perspectives, our opinions, our behaviors, or how we are behaved, so they exist. However, should there be necessarily a violent clash between the considered-to-be Islam and West?
Apr 8, 2012
They Don’t Care About Us
I am unable to hide my frustration from watching the dramatization of the role of Al-Qaeda, neo-conservatives, Osama bin Laden, George W. Bush, and so forth, when it comes to the so-called “clash of civilization”. They, and what they have done, are undeniably significant in affecting (not shaping) the future circumstances of the international affairs. However, they themselves are the outcomes of their periods’ events, and are vastly affected by them. What the radicalism, be it radical democratic or secularistic or islamic, did to all moderates of the world would pave the way for rising the people who could have become Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the like.
There is actually a clash of civilization; however, it is upon the global society how to respond to this clash. The Al-Qaeda does not represent all Muslims of the world; or even, if they represent any at all, they do so perhaps just a minority of Muslims. However, they represent a group of people, who may not be insignificant and may not be so small: the group of people who want to live different, and who want to think different.
No one is supporting extremism, but, what else could be expected as a reaction to extremism in the first place; be it, Al-Qaeda’s terrorism or the U.S.’s militarism. I believe most of those young Muslims, who are absorbed in extremist groups, have once experienced a failed moderate effort in being integrated and accepted as citizens of the society, where they want to just live in, but differently; and where, tolerance was not respected towards them.
There is actually a clash of civilization; however, it is upon the global society how to respond to this clash. The Al-Qaeda does not represent all Muslims of the world; or even, if they represent any at all, they do so perhaps just a minority of Muslims. However, they represent a group of people, who may not be insignificant and may not be so small: the group of people who want to live different, and who want to think different.
No one is supporting extremism, but, what else could be expected as a reaction to extremism in the first place; be it, Al-Qaeda’s terrorism or the U.S.’s militarism. I believe most of those young Muslims, who are absorbed in extremist groups, have once experienced a failed moderate effort in being integrated and accepted as citizens of the society, where they want to just live in, but differently; and where, tolerance was not respected towards them.
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