Masuda Sultan (

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

1978) is an

Afghan American Afghan Americans ( ''Amrikāyi-hāye Afghān tabar'', ''Da Amrīka Afghanan'') are Americans with ancestry from Afghanistan. They form the largest Afghan community in North America with the second being Afghan Canadians. Afghan Americans may ...

entrepreneur,

memoirist A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) ...

, and international human rights advocate. Masuda Sultan

Biography

Sultan arrived in the United States at the age of five and was raised in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and

Flushing, Queens Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial ...

. She attended local public schools and attained her master's degree in public administration from the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. She is the author of ''My War at Home'', a memoir reflecting on her life as an Afghan American, in which she speaks of conflicts arising from her need for independence in the scheme of Afghan traditional culture, for example, her arranged marriage with an Afghan man. She is one of the founders o
Women for Afghan Women
Masuda returned to Afghanistan in December 2001 and learned that 19 members of her family were killed in an October 2001 US air raid 60 miles north of Kandahar. Masuda was featured in and contributed to the making of the documentary ''From Ground Zero to Ground Zero'' in which she travels to Afghanistan with documentary maker

Jon Alpert Jon Alpert (born c. December 13, 1948) is an American journalist and documentary film, documentary film director, filmmaker, known for his use of a cinéma vérité approach in his films. Life and career A native of Port Chester, New York, Jo ...

. It is during this trip she learns of the killings in the October air raid. She also witnesses music playing on the streets of Kandahar and girls attending school, both of which were illegal just months prior. Working with the families of 9/11 victims including Rita Lasar, the sister of Abe Zelmanowitz, Masuda lobbied the U.S government to appropriate aid for civilian victims of bombings in Afghanistan. In 2002, Senator Leahy championed the "Afghan Civilian Assistance Program", a USAID program to assist families and communities mistakenly bombed during US military operations in Afghanistan. The program set a historical precedent for civilian casualties inflicted due to errors in war. In 2008, Masuda was invited to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

to meet

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

and

Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (née Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American educator who was the first lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009 as the wife of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States. Bush was previously the fir ...

and discuss her experiences as an entrepreneur in Afghanistan including bringing Etisalat, a large telecommunications provider from

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

into the country.

Publications

* Sultan, Masuda. ''My War at Home.'' Washington Square Press, 2006, * Sultan, Masuda. "From Rhetoric to Reality: Afghan Women on the Agenda for Peace", 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sultan, Masuda American women writers 1978 births Afghan expatriates in the United States Living people Harvard Kennedy School alumni