Come Back to Afghanistan Blog #7

Dr. Vesper’s visit to our class today definitely cleared some things up. His crude map drawing on the board, though seemingly unhelpful, actually aided me in understanding the geography of the region, as well as the places Hyder visited throughout the novel. I never did completely understand the relative distance from each of the places Hyder went from another, and the way he drew the diagram helped me put these locations into perspective. His visit also helped me understand what exactly happened at the end of the book. Though Hyder wrote in his novel that his father resigned, Dr. Vesper stated to us that he in fact was relieved of his duties for not carrying out his obligations. I thought this was amusing because of the way Hyder, as most do, made his father out to be a great man. All of us like to perceive our parents as exceptional people, no matter how far from the truth it is. Hyder was no different, and rather than telling the real story, told a skewed version in which his father could do no wrong. Dr. Vesper basically said that Fazel Akbar was a weak leader and that he had no control over anything going on in his own province. I like the matter-of-factness he had in his presentation and I hope to hear more about Afghanistan from him in the future.