Atefeh Yazdani

Your father never planned to join the military, but he was a young man without much of a plan for his life in 2001, so after 9/11 he enlisted. Some would stay he enlisted for the wrong reasons, a pragmatic need for a career, and an all too relatable desire for revenge against terrorists. A funny thing happened on the way to vengeance, he got to travel the world and his American centered worldview changed. He soaked up cultures, he learned languages and during a tour in Afghanistan he met the family that would change your life. Hamid Yazdani worked with your father as a translator during his second tour in Afghanistan and they quickly struck up a friendship as idealists and fathers, which is how you got introduced to his daughter who happens to be the same age as you, the delightful Atefeh. Through ten years of chats and video calls the two of you have developed a deep friendship. She's been attending college in Kabul full of hope and dreams. During the return of the Taliban you got to thinking about marrying her to be sure she could get out of the country. She didn't want to believe that everything could fall apart so quickly, but she agreed. You love her as a friend, maybe it'll turn romantic, but until then saving her is worth anything to you. She has an idea, maybe you can find more guys at your college willing to marry her friends to get them out of Afghanistan. You spring into action looking for as many guys you can find willing to help. You find five guys, it's an eclectic bunch, but after running their backgrounds by Atefeh you agree that they're in it for the right reasons... You can't imagine how much Atefeh must have agonized knowing the two of you could only save five of her friends, but she never mentions it. That's part of who she is. Before the Fall the American University of Kabul is a hub of planning for the nation's best and brightest to flee. You're just a small part of it, your father is trying to get the whole Yazdani family out.