Critical Thinking and Live Learning

Office Hour with AFSO’s Vice President, Saleh Keshawarz

June 5, 2026

Calculators replaced slide rules during examinations when Saleh Keshawarz completed his undergraduate engineering degree at Kabul University. It was 1978 and he had just emigrated to the United States from Afghanistan to earn his Masters and Doctorate. He had left his own country undergoing a violent revolution. Its people faced new and grave uncertainties. (1)

As Saleh embarked on a higher education in a foreign country, American graduate and PhD students were using calculators and mainframe computers programmed with punch cards.  

“It was expected back then,” Saleh says with a wry tone, “To do mathematical calculations mostly in  one’s head.”

Acting as the Chair of Civil Engineering at the University of Hartford, Saleh recognizes that his students are relying on artificial intelligence to explain higher concepts, answer questions and receive unverified information.

“It is still my job,” he points out, “to teach students how to use tools side by side with critical thinking.”

Saleh illustrates the evacuation of 20,000 residents to the New Orleans sports arena during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Massive flooding and lawlessness had besieged the city. The country’s best minds were tasked by federal government to quickly set up electricity and running water for vulnerable populations. Emergency measures required engineers to think on their feet – employing imagination and creativity to solve this unprecedented problem together with knowledge and training. 

“AI cannot be depended on for everything,” Saleh continues. “Take the data centers that were recently destroyed in Iran,” bringing his case to the present. “Engineers will have to figure out how to rebuild these infrastructures without relying solely on AI tools.”

Saleh heads up Afghan Female Student Outreach’s curriculum committee using experience he gained as Chair of the University of Hartford's civil engineering department. He also understands the challenges of achieving academic accreditation in a field and profession constantly in forward motion.       

Curriculum Goals and Challenges 

Henry Patterson, AFSO Board Member and Katy Masuga, AFSO's Academic Administrator, sit on the curriculum committee with Saleh.

“He asks the relevant and tough questions, and then listens,” Henry says about his colleague.

Together they are establishing protocols for the standardization of AFSO’s liberal arts and math and sciences courses. They must also consider the pros and cons of requiring a higher level of English proficiency even for those who may have once been advancing in university educations in Farsi – but do not yet have English fluency to succeed in upper level AFSO courses. 

Saleh's office at the University of Hartford. A US geographical survey map reveals Afghanistan's mineral locations and student gifts from all over the world line shelves.

The committee is responsible for establishing AFSO’s student retention and if possible, a future graduation rate –traditional academic metrics for educational providers. Since AFSO operates in a fluid and changing political environment, these criteria are often difficult to measure.

Saleh, Henry and Katy, in close collaboration with AFSO’s Executive Director, Amran Fatih, work so that their student body of over 1,000 women will keep moving forward in their chosen disciplines. This involves navigating the intricacies of accreditation. Six thousand Afghan women remain on AFSO’s waiting list. The objective to accept and admit only 100-200 students per year is also mission critical -  AFSO needs to solve operational challenges in its third year as it achieves sustainable growth.  

They have a herculean task and 2026 goal. Saleh wants AFSO students who receive their coursework completion certificates to be able to use these courses as credits towards degrees when they matriculate into brick and mortar universities.

Having professors, academics and supporters use “when” and not “if” in this context is a big deal.

“History has shown that repression of basic human rights will not last long,” Saleh says. “And when it ends, our students will be equipped to be productive members of society.” 

The Difference

AFSO leverages the power of the Internet by using encrypted apps and with video conferencing, holds appointed classroom times and office hours. Over 175 academics from established U.S. and foreign universities and colleges lecture and answer student questions in real time.

This online synchronous learning model is unique for Afghan women committed to keep learning.

When Saleh helped found AFSO in 2023, he did not want its students to rely on AI chat bots, canned lectures and computer testing.

AI Generated Image Simulating AFSO Online Classroom

Instead – and still – AFSO women have the ability 

∙       to experience synchronous lectures and ask questions in real time,

∙       to speak one on one to professors and academics, receiving academic guidance and mentorship, and

∙       to be among peers in similar situations, sharing the same chance to keep learning. 

The live online classroom becomes a key not only to intellectual growth, but instrumental in helping sustain women’s mental health, increasingly taxed by new morality laws causing further personal freedom restrictions, exploitation and oppression. 

“Outside or inside Afghanistan, university educators have a responsibility, especially to freshmen and sophomores, to guide their new students as they explore how to learn. This isn’t only vital in the classroom but also for young people navigating a social and intellectual life with peers,” says Saleh. 

The digital hand icon on the video conferencing platform pops up again and again during AFSO’s online live lectures.

New found knowledge ignites. Discussions begin. Arguments ensue. Friendships form and break. As Saleh knows from his office hours and lectures, the magic of critical thinking happens.

For more information on how to support Afghan students' synchronous learning, please contact Khushbu Srivastava, AFSO Director of Development, at khushbu@afsousa.org

(1) The 1978 Sauer Revolution in Afghanistan involved the overthrow and assassination of the one party President Mohammed Daoud Khan and his family by Socialist and pro Communist party, People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Two years later, the Soviet Union invaded, resulting in a ten year war and an estimated 1MM civilian deaths.