I could not agree with this more. Speaking as a Persian and one who's been immersed in Persian culture as well as American culture specifically in the mid-Atlan

I could not agree with this more. Speaking as a Persian and one who's been immersed in Persian culture as well as American culture specifically in the mid-Atlantic and New York, I've come to recognize just how cursed a cultural relic taarof truly is. It's one of the biggest impediments both to assimilating in Persian culture (in any of the boroughs across the world where Persians have emigrated, not just Iran) and also to learning the language itself (where working out the intent of the speaker is impaired by perversely invasive concept of niceness that overrules honesty and directness). Tajikistan and Afghanistan do not have nearly this level of indirection (misdirection?) integrated into their cultures, and yet they both speak variants of the same beautiful language (Tajik/Dari). I'd strongly support either, and Tajikistan has the support of the DoD, so that's naturally a better answer for Americans with interest.