Abdul Majeed Arsala is far from your ordinary 16-year-old. His father was the beacon of hope for Afghanistan and was assassinated by the Taliban last year because he was committed to bringing about peace among tribal learners and various ethnic groups in the country. His mother and his younger brother were killed in 1999. But in the face of all this tragedy and personal loss, Arsala remains committed to fulfilling his father’s legacy: helping to eliminate hatred, and after completing his studies in this country, educating his countrymen in Afghanistan.

Life for teens in Afghanistan is very different than it is for teens in the United States. Arsala realizes that better than anyone. “Well for one thing, in the United States you have good opportunities to have an education - but in most of the Muslim countries, the people are poor and they don’t have sources to get educated,” Arsala says. “Their only education is gotten through the Islamic schools. Going inside these schools, you aren’t only shown the Islamic teachings, you are also shown the wrong things - like hatred directed at the West.”

The problem isn’t all one-sided, however. Arsala indicated that the U.S. could go a long way to improve relations with Muslim nations. Attitudes towards the U.S. changed when a bombing campaign in Afghanistan was initiated last October. “They think the U.S. is evil - that they are acting against all of Afghanistan, not just against the extremists,” says Arsala. “That’s why more people have joined Taliban and Al Queda forces.” Arsala believes that if the United States were to change its policy and aid countries in need rather than bombing, attitudes would change. “It’s more important to help rebuild the economic structure,” Arsala said, “and have more resources in place to help people. This would go a long way to teach the Muslim countries about the West and remove the hatred.”

Arsala points out that because Afghanistan has endured 30 years of war, people know how to pull a trigger better than spell or write their name. Arsala is hoping to change that. He plans to get his education in the U.S. and then will return to Afghanistan to honor his father. “By helping people to learn and giving them the resources to gain money, I don’t think that they will get a weapon and kill their own brothers, kids or other people,” Arsala says. “We will reach them with education.”