I'm the first girl from Afghanistan to lead a series in the United States.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The first time I visited Afghanistan in May 2000, I was 26 years old, and the country was under Taliban rule. I went there to document Afghan women and landmine victims.
In 1979, when I was toddler, the Russians invaded Afghanistan, and my whole family fled to Vienna, Virginia. Far from home, my parents were determined to raise my two sisters and me according to Afghan traditions.
They say Afghanistan is the worst country for a girl to be born. Hogwash!
What I've said from the beginning is that I am going to try to help all the vulnerable populations in Afghanistan - and to a certain extent, that's the majority of Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, we have had a history of very strong women, and we need to reclaim that history and talk about it.
I'm a country girl at heart.
Now I'm doing a film festival for kids and writing a script about a kidnapped journalist in Afghanistan.
I'm a Texas girl.
I'm a country bumpkin. I'm not a showgirl.
From my films, you can at least learn about Iran, you can get a sense of the history and the society. But no such films have been made about Afghanistan, so you really can't know much about it.