Shooting Kabul

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Describe your knowledge of the country of Afghanistan. On which continent is it located? What languages are spoken there? What is the capital? What religions do Afghans practice? What is the structure of the government? Is there any other information that you know about this country?

Teaching Suggestion: This question prepares students for the setting of the novel. The novel does explain and simplify many important terms related to the politics and history of Afghanistan; however, as this may be the first time that students will interact with a story centered on Afghanistan/Afghan lives in the US, it may be beneficial for students to investigate the above questions using the resources below. This prompt also might be turned into an activity: Students might research the questions in small groups and create a brief presentation of their findings.

• Britannica has compiled notable facts about Afghanistan.
• This article from PBS NewsHour covers major historical events in Afghanistan during the 20th and 21st centuries.

2. The Taliban is a contentious political regime in Afghanistan; in fact, it has drawn attention internationally because of its policies and restrictions. Consider what you already know about the Taliban. What does the Taliban believe? What are some of the criticisms that this regime has received internationally?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may associate the Taliban with the September 11, 2001 (i.e., 9/11) terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and/or the recent takeover and introductions of new restrictions on women in Afghanistan since 2021. This question might also provide an opportunity to contextualize the political regime in Afghanistan’s history (i.e., in the post-Soviet Union political vacuum) as well as discuss why many Afghans supported the Taliban in its early days. Students without background knowledge on the history of the Taliban may benefit from an opportunity to research these questions; these and similar resources may serve as a starting point for investigation.

• This BBC article shares information regarding the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
• Human Rights Watch discusses the effect of the Taliban’s 2021 takeover on the Afghan people.

Short Activity

Photography can be a creative outlet for people to share their culture and family. Share a picture with your classmates that you think expresses a part of your family or culture. Why do you like this photograph? Does it have a special meaning for you?

Teaching Suggestion: You might use this activity as an opportunity for students to share their creative outlets with the class. Additionally, it relates to the theme of Photography as a Means of Connecting Cultures. As students may not have a photo readily accessible, it might be helpful to assign the finding of the photo several days ahead of time. Family members might give them a photograph that represents their family or culture; this provides an opportunity for at-home involvement in the activity.

Differentiation Suggestion: A differentiation strategy for students with artistic talents might be to offer the option of creating a collage or multimedia artwork based on photography that represents their family or culture.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Guilt and shame are recurring motifs in Shooting Kabul. Reflect on a time you felt a sense of guilt, even if others told you that the situation was not your fault. Why did you feel guilty? How did you process these feelings of guilt? Did you speak to someone or keep it inside? Why?

Teaching Suggestion: It might be beneficial for students to record their responses in a private journal. This may offload some of the social pressure and allow students to more deeply process their personal connection to the important motif of shame in the novel. This Personal Connection Prompt focuses on the idea of guilt, a motif that Fadi and his family grapple with after their separation from Mariam. In the novel, the family chooses to process their guilt alone, rarely speaking with each other about the matter. Students will have the opportunity to compare their experiences with Fadi’s family in the Discussion/Analysis Prompt.