"Those Iranians.. "

 For  a  lot  of  Hazaras,  Iran  represented  a  sanctuary  of  sorts-‐-‐I  guess  because,  like  Hazaras,  most  Iranians  were  Shi'a  Muslims.

 But  I  remembered  something  my  teacher  had  said  that  summer  about  Iranians,  that  they  were  grinning  smooth  talkers  who  patted  you  on  the  back  with  one  hand  and  picked  your  pocket  with  the  other.

 I  told  Baba  about  that  and  he  said  my  teacher  was  one  of  those  jealous  Afghans,  jealous  because  Iran  was  a  rising  power  in  Asia  and  most  people  around  the  world  couldn't  even  find  Afghanistan  on  a  world  map.  "It  hurts  to  say  that,"  he  said,  shrugging.  "But  better  to  get  hurt  by  the  truth  than  comforted  with  a  lie