Ferooz Ahmad Parwani, a Sierra Vista High School originally from Afghanistan, gives his opinion of mistakes made in the Afghanistan War during the Las Vegas Sun Youth Forum at Clark High School Monday, Sept. 11, 2023.
Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023 | 2 a.m.
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Over 20 panels ran simultaneously at the Sun Youth Forum on topics ranging from national and international issues to lifestyle and teenage concerns. Each conversation had something new to offer.
Here are some snippets of conversations:
Should the United States have been involved in military action in Afghanistan? How in the future can we prevent such a messy departure and what is our obligation to the Afghan people who helped the United States and are still stuck in Afghanistan?
“We should have stayed in Afghanistan, because one of the main reasons why Afghanistan is how it is, is because of us. We decided to send our troops to the Middle East region because of supposed the weapons of mass destruction from the (George W.) Bush administration. ... And as a result, bloodshed, unnecessary bloodshed across the entire region occurred and its effects are still felt today, especially with Afghanistan. Just look what happened. The messy evacuation is like a perfect metaphor for the failure of what we tried to do in the Middle East.” — James Cruz, Mojave High School
“It is mainly our fault as to why these countries got to the condition that they’re in right now. We need to take responsibility for what we did over there, and we can’t just pull away all of our troops, all the resources that we put into these countries. Innocent lives were lost, and we should offer aid to these countries. We can’t generalize a group of people and call them terrorists when it was just the government or a certain part of these countries. It wasn’t the whole people. Society shouldn’t suffer for what one group of people did.”— Dayana Romero, Eldorado High School
“While we were there, women had opportunities; young girls had opportunities to attend school, even to be able to drive in certain parts of the country; we also restored balance between two parts of the government; we also promoted security and democracy to the people there. But by leaving, we completely eradicated years and years of work that the United States did toward helping Afghanistan become a more developed nation and joining first world countries.” — Diego Duran, Spring Valley High School
“War is not the solution for everything … you have to sit down with people and do it in a peaceful way. I’ve lost a lot of family members and it’s extremely, extremely hard to just see people around you vanish. You guys lost about 2,500 soldiers in there just for you guys to leave 21 years later for no purpose. I’ve never understood that.” — Ferooz Ahmad Parwani, Sierra Vista High School
Women’s reproductive rights are being criminalized in some states. Should women seeking an abortion be penalized? What about medical providers?
“At the end of the day, no one’s going to sit there, knowing that they’re pregnant, knowing that they don’t want their baby and just continue to let it grow and develop inside of them. Like, if you’re getting an, abortion there’s clear reasons for you to not want that baby or not going to have that baby, and it is usually out of urgency that you’re getting the abortion. So abortions — or 93% of them — will still happen in the first trimester because women who are getting abortions aren’t like these evil murderers who are like, ‘Let me torture this being inside of me.’ They are just making a decision that is right for themselves.” — Tayla Knight, Cimarron Memorial High School
“There’s a lack of knowledge about sex education, which is what we need more of, and especially more knowledge of contraceptives — birth control, condoms and also safer sex.“— Marie Kirkikis-Marshall, Del Sol Academy of Performing Arts
How can we better address mental health issues in high school?
“Addressing mental health issues is going to come directly from an educational facility that’s supposed to be educating you not just on math, science and trivial things like that, but should also be educating you on coping mechanisms, how you can better interact with people (and) how you can better interact with yourself.” — Christian Rebolledo, Sierra Vista High School
What do you think we should do, have relations with Iran (or) not have relations with Iran?
“We should have a relationship with Iran and get us back on that topic, but having superclose relations isn’t necessarily a great idea because other countries are going to look at that and think it’s wrong because of the difference in our world standings. At the same time, kind of know thy enemy. If we cut all ties with Iran, who knows what they’re gonna do? We already know that they’re creating weapons on a mass scale; do we really want to leave that unchecked? I don’t believe so.” — Eva Toplak, West Career and Technical Academy
“Improving our relationship with Iran seems impossible, because we just killed their general — right, a U.S. drone — and then they’re really angry with our government. On top of that, they also sided with China, so normalizing, trying to improve relations with Iran is kinda really unstable because we really don’t know how they are going to react. In these instances, we should try to react the way we react to China.” — John Clarence Magdael, College of Southern Nevada High School
The Sun also distributed questionnaires for students to express their thoughts anonymously. Here is a sampling:
How do you define the “American dream?” Do you think it is attainable?
“The American dream stems from white opportunity that is standardized by the top 1%. In truth, it means financial and personal prosperity. However, our ideal ‘American dream’ is systemically pushed to feel unattainable.” — Sierra Vista High School junior
“The ‘American dream’ is the hope for a better life in America. I do think it is attainable, but I also feel like we still have much to improve.” — East Career and Technical Academy senior
“By today’s standards, it’s superhard. The American dream is basically having a good career and becoming wealthy.” — Desert Pines High School junior
How optimistic are you about your future? What worries you? What gives you hope?
“I am highly optimistic because my future is full of unknowns and can take any path. I’m worried about college applications, but I’m hopeful about creating a life for myself.” — Coronado High School junior
“I’m semioptimistic, mostly because I’m worried about making it through college and making sure my siblings have it better than me. Enjoying the simple things in life gives me hope.” — Bonanza High School senior
“Not really optimistic, but I’ll have to try so I can make my life better and give myself hope.” — Clark High School senior
Do you approve of Joe Biden’s performance as president?
“Biden could have done a lot more, especially environmental-wise, considering that was a main point in his campaign.” — Centennial High School junior
“Yes, I do approve, but there is always more to be done for America, the simple aiding other countries or passing bills are very basic things we can accomplish.” — Bonanza High School senior
“I personally do not approve because I believe he is too old and out of touch, but he was the better candidate between him and (former President Donald) Trump.” — Foothill High School senior
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