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Minnesota University scholarship application
I have always believed that my educational path would be related to humanities. After the collapse of Taliban regime, my family moved back from Iran to Afghanistan. It was the time that I faced with a country which was in the state of transition and whole the governmental system was much disorganized. I imagined myself as one of the individuals who should stand on the truly important matters and be among those, leading the country to the order and development path. Finally, I decided to study law as I believed that law is the most powerful lever which direct a society to the development. After graduation from Law School, I decided to continue my education and get my master's degree in International and Comparative Law. Studying in USA, gave me chance to learn more about US educational system as well as the opportunities available for international students. I have found the PhD program in Minnesota University a very beneficial program for the students from developing countries who are willing to bring changes positive changes into their community through education. My academic background, work experiences and personal life have made to suitable candidate for this program as I worked in many governmental and non-governmental organizations. Additionally, I participated in national and international programs and conferences which added into my knowledge.
The first inspiring reason for me to study law was my personal life. I had observed the violation of rights of Afghan immigrants in Iran. The daily wage of Afghan labors in Iran was much lower than Iranian labor; the Afghan children could not attend to Iranian schools in most areas and those who were allowed to attend, faced with massive discriminatory behaviors. No Afghan can seek alumni, even the Afghan-Iranian marriage was illegal. Some questions posed into my mind and they were what can we do to change the unhuman treatments across the world? Do we need to change the international law to save humanity? What practical measures are needed to stop inequality and discrimination? My background strengthened the importance of law in my mind and inspired me to become an advocate for minorities and vulnerable groups in the future. As a result, when we returned to Afghanistan, I started to do volunteer work with the Department of Refugees and Returnees in order to help the returnees to receive shelter and adequate living facilities as well as making people more aware of the refugees' situation, mostly in Iran, and their return to Afghanistan. It is worth mentioning that living in Iran, although it was hard, to say the least, it opened my eyes to a different Law and people's rights, political processes and a different governmental system and I could compare the weaknesses and straights of my new democratic government with a dictatorial government.
When I got admission to Law and Political Science Faculty of Herat University, I moved to Herat province because Farah province where I lived in did not have any higher education institute. I started living in a dormitory. At the fourth year in the university, I became the head of Dormitory Council. I had the responsibility to support and advocate the female students' rights at Herat University. I remember when I advocated their rights while they were in tough winter with no electricity and heat facilities. I tried my best to share with and solve the problems through the Chancellor of University, the Herat Provincial Council and even members of Parliament. As a result, the problems were solved and even a new building with more capacities and facilities was built for the students. Living by myself, especially in a society where traditional attitudes prevailed, not only helped me to become stronger and more independent but also taught me how to be an advocate and lobby for those who really need support.
After one year of general studying at the Faculty which encompass both law and political science subjects, I realized that law can be better protect by a stable, transparent and democratic political system. My interest in politics began when I learnt about history and philosophy of politics in Europe as well as Islamic world. I gained knowledge on how the people get together to form a political party in order to preserve their individual rights. In the Islamic history, Prophet Mohammad moved to Madina City and form an Islamic state in order to protect the rights of Muslims who were in a harsh situation on that time and he drafted the Madina Constitution in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals were reflected. As a result, I decided to major in diplomacy and I joined International Relations Department. During my study, I realized that the current political theories in Afghanistan are not adequate to tackle the challenges in front of the Government. The growth of Islamic extremism in the country, political tension between Afghanistan and its neighboring countries, issue of massive immigration, proliferation of human and drug trafficking, economical dependency and civil conflicts are the important factors that affect country's national and international security. The Government must have a very strong political state to preserve country's territorial integrity, maintain national security and fight against national and international crimes such as extremism, violation of human rights, and illegal immigration and transactions. I believed that the new generation of Afghanistan should take the lead and strive to change the predated and unpractical theories through substitution of new thoughts and practices.
I did my best to be an active student and pursued extracurricular activities that would prepare me for my future goals. I participated in the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition Program in which by that I could develop the ability to write effectively and concisely, conduct independent research and present convincing arguments. Later on, I took the challenge of proving my mettle in an international environment and participated in the international round held in Washington D.C., USA. Local and national competitions have provided me with valuable opportunities to critically analyze and evaluate a range of sources, whether it is texts, arguments, statements or laws. In addition to this, I participated in British Parliamentary Debate Program which helped me to improve my ability to speak in front of others, giving me a stronger sense of confidence in my oratory skills, and allowing me to effectively debate issues and articulate speeches.
When I was a junior, I took part in Afghanistan Cultural Revolution Symposium which consists of university students who attempt to work on the cultural awareness of the people of Afghanistan by writing essays and poems. I was awarded a letter of appreciation by the Said Mostafa Kazimi Foundation for my essay which was written about war, negative cultural and legal circumstances in Afghanistan and the personality of Mostafa Kazimi, one of the house of representative' members, who was killed by Taliban because he was working on country development strategies the same as my aims in the future. Moreover, at the fourth year of faculty, by support of Rule of Law Department, I conducted weekly debate programs between female students of Law, Sharia and Sociology faculties about women's problems in Afghanistan and the ways to resolve those problems. The reason that I decided to gather female students, was the inactive rule of girls even in the faculties and generally, in the society. I decided to hear from them, directly, and jointly find a solution for the existed challenges in front of women. This program proved to me that women of Afghanistan have a lot to share and if they are given the opportunities, they can be the determined, tireless and strong members of Afghanistan reconstruction team.
My background in both law and political science inspired me to apply to FPJRA scholarship program and got my LLM degree in International and Comparative Law from Chapman University, Dale E. Fowler School of Law, Orange County, CA, USA. The course like International Law, and Peace, Conflict and Human Rights taught me that how law and politics are integrated and having international law or declarations about Human Rights do not mean they are obeyed and automatically enforced. I had two research papers in both class which were "politics of human rights" and "war and peace in Islam". Both researches broaden my worldview and familiarize me with the language of politics by which a concept can be shown lawfully or adversely.
I also took a Global Political Economy in which I learnt the intersection of politics and economics, different modern and traditional approaches and importance of economy for a country to function globally. The fact which mostly attracted my attention was China as a developing country and its progress in global political economy arena. I search on China's politics and economics developments to see how a developing country can rescue its nation from poverty and all its consequences. My paper was on China's currency whether it can become the international currency and all the economical and political factors contributed in that. It was because I had a research paper about how the financial insecurity of youth in Afghanistan can have an impact on national and international insecurity. In my research paper I pointed out to the insurgency and drug trafficking which are not only threats to Afghanistan peace and security but to the international community. The growth of ISIS and extremism as well as massive drug trafficking from Afghanistan to the East and West are global concerns which need international coalition to fight against them. Fortunately, I could present my research paper at Global Studies Conference which was held in the University of Nebraska. Later on my research paper was published at law journal of Chapman University which is a great achievement for me!
My mediation class not only familiarize me with mediation process in legal system of USA but also its overall lessons taught me how to facilitate discussions among rivalry groups. Unfortunately, many years of civil war in Afghanistan have crumbled the relations of different ethnicities in the country. I believed that in order to reach to peach and equality in the society, we need to facilitate political discussion among different groups. The political compromise would lead the country toward unity and equality. The skillful politician with good mediation skills can have a big hand in dispute resolutions. I would like to utilize my skill in this area especially at this time when we need women in the peace building processes in the country.
The other opportunity that I had during my in USA was becoming a judicial extern for Judge David O. Carter at Federal District Court, OC, CA. That helped me a lot to find the flaws in our judicial system and encourage me to transfer my experiences to the people in my country. When I returned to Afghanistan, I have started working for ADALAT Project-USAID which provide technical assistance to the Supreme Court of Afghanistan. I have been working closely with Afghan Women Judges Association and greatly could share my experiences with them.
Throughout my education, profession, volunteer and personal experiences, I have understood the importance of education. After getting my master's degree, a PhD focusing on Political Science would be the most appropriate to complete my education so that my future contribution to the political affairs of my country would lead to an improvement of its image worldwide.
In my prospective Ph.D. program at Minnesota University is the best option for me. I would like to focus on Political Theory, Comparative Politics and International Relations, Global Political Economy, National Security and Post-Conflict Transition areas that I am most interested in and in which I believe I can accomplish the most substantial research achievements. There are a number of faculty who I would really enjoy working with at Minnesota University. This would include Prof. Teri Caraway, because of her work on gender and labor issues in Islamic and comparative political economy, Prof. Kathleen Collins, because of her work on Islam and politics in the Central Asian region, and Prof. Cosette Creamer, because of her interest in international and comparative law, including the WTO, which Afghanistan recently joined. I am also interested in Prof. Tanisha Fazal's work on insurgency, war, and humanitarian law, Prof. James Ron's work on human rights and democracy, and Prof. Anoop Sarbahi, for his work on ethnicity, civil war, post-conflict transition, counter-insurgency."
In the future I aim to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It will give me the opportunity to not only transfer my knowledge but also to learn from the political environment and improve my work experience. Besides that, I would like to be a lecturer at Law and Political School of Kabul University because I realize the low quality of curriculum and teaching methods in Afghanistan and it definitely needs professional instructors/lecturers to teach the new generation and work on capacity building processes of universities. It is through education and new teaching methods that we can bring positive changes to the negative and old attitudes which fuel the conflict and prejudice among different ethnicities in the society.
If I am granted this opportunity to studying in Minnesota University, my knowledge in my interested field will be increased and I will get a chance to observe different educational system, political processes and a different governmental system; beside this I can get advantage from a diverse community since the other international students may become future diplomats in their respective countries, and we can build a strong relations among our countries to enhance peace, stability, security and coexistence in the globe.