Afghanistan is a rural nation, where 85 percent of people live in the countryside. And out there it's very, very conservative, very tribal - almost medieval.

I see America has infused you with the optimism that has made her so great

Michael Bealmear is a philanthropist, and he has become interested in the issue of refugees, and he proposed that we do an event in his community, where we could dedicate an entire evening focused on the global refugee crisis, focused primarily on Afghanistan.

It's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.

You are never alone in Afghanistan. You are always in the company of others, usually family. You don't understand yourself really as an individual, you understand yourself as part of something bigger than yourself. Family is so central to your identity, to how you make sense of your world, it is very dramatic, and therefore an amazing source of storytelling, a source of fiction for me.

I wished I could be alone in my room, with my books, away from these people.

Nothing wrong with cowardice as long as it comes with prudence. But when a coward stops remembering who he is... God help him.