Recently, my husband, Gulistan, and I directed, filmed and edited a 25-minute documentary for Al Jazeera. Our film, Stranded in Kabul, premiered on Al Jazeera English in July, 2013. 

The films follows the story of Zekria, a 27-year old who works for an international organization and secretly plans to flee Afghanistan before the foreign troops withdraw in 2014. Zekria's story is a microcosm of what's happening on a much larger scale. Despite the billions of dollars being poured into Afghanistan to rebuild the country and boost its economy, more than 30,000 Afghans applied for political asylum worldwide last year.

Here's our film, Stranded in Kabul.