Afghanistan's topics - tribe.net

Ancient Buddha Statue Is Discovered in Afghanistan

Soma — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:03:37 GMT

Compiled by JULIE BLOOM

Archaeologists have unearthed a 62-foot Buddha statue along with other relics in central Afghanistan, Reuters reported. The discovery was made in the central province of Bamiyan, near the ruins of giant statues that were destroyed by the Taliban seven years ago. The statue of the Buddha in a sleeping position dates to the third century. “In total, 89 relics such as coins, ceramics and a 19 meters statue have been unearthed,” Mohammad Zia Afshar, an adviser in the information and culture ministry, told Reuters. He also said the statue was badly damaged. The other relics date back to the Bactrian era and from Islamic and Buddhist civilizations. Bamiyan was once a thriving center of Buddhism.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/arts/09arts-ANCIENTBUDDH_BRF.html?_r=1&ref=arts&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

posted in Afghanistan - 0 replies

Islamists Destroy Buddhist Statue

Anamika — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:04:07 GMT

When the Taliban destroyed two Buddhist statues in Afghanistan in the spring of 2001, there was an international outcry. But similar incidents are now occurring in northwest Pakistan, where radical Islamists recently blew up a sculpture of Buddha in broad daylight.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,515958,00.html

posted in Afghanistan - 5 replies

Bomb damages giant Buddha in Pakistan

Anamika — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:28:54 GMT

Suspected pro-Taleban militants have tried to blow up an ancient carving of Buddha in north-west Pakistan.

The statue, thought to date from the second century BC, sustained only minimal damage in the attack near Manglore in remote Swat district.

[snip]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6991058.stm

Bomb damages giant Buddha in Pakistan
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=22933&sectionid=351020401

Ancient Buddha Statue Gets Attacked in Pakistan
http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?storyid=22726&ret=Default.aspx

posted in Afghanistan - 2 replies

Culture

Krista Iman — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 13:13:05 GMT

Hey, there does not seem to be much action going on here right now. Maybe we can revive things a bit around here?
Much of the focus on Afghanistan right now is around the wars and of course Osama bin Laden but of course we all know Afghanistan is much more than that.
Maybe we can begin to talk about some of the cultural history of Afghanistan, the customs, art, housing, people...you know...make a tapestry of Afghanistan. :D
My husband used to travel there when he worked in the Turkish government and he says of all the countries in Central Asia and indeed of many around the world that he has been to, the people of Afghanistan are by far the most beautiful and generous people he has met. Our house is full of beautiful gifts like handmade carpets, etc. that were given to him as gifts by these people.
I hope someday to be able to visit and experience the beauty of the people and their way of life.

posted in Afghanistan - 8 replies

US media outlets interested in philanthropy

hamish — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 11:36:59 GMT

Dear Friends,

A former colleague and (not former) friend, Brendan Whitty, is working
for a non-profit organization that connects private philanthropists with
effective and appropriate charitable organizations working in areas of
their interest. They specialize in India, Nepal and Afghanistan.

At the moment they are looking for reputable US or Canadian on-line and
paper media to publish an article about philanthropic giving, addressing
specifically "philanthropic return on investment".

Any leads or help is much appreciated, please contact Brendan (cc'd)
directly at brendanwhitty(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

Hamish

--
Hamish Nixon 
Researcher, Subnational Governance 
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit 
 
+93 (0)797 034 985 
hamish@areu.org.af 
www.areu.org.af

posted in Afghanistan - 0 replies

New Year's in Goa

hamish — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 10:17:22 GMT

Hey tribe,

I'll be flying out of Kabul for India next week, and working my way down to Goa and Karnataka over the New Year and Eid...it's my first time in India, but I'll have a good guide with me. But if anyone's out and about there, or has good tips, especially on how to get away from the most commercial parties - I like a good deep dark outdoor party - I'd be grateful.

Kabul's cold, but still there!

posted in Afghanistan - 0 replies

guerrilla art in Kabul

Shooter-666 — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 17:56:10 GMT

This is something I was a part of a few months ago. We wrapped a sign in Green Fabric. ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmyOe5EuIpg

posted in Afghanistan - 0 replies

Bonjour!

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 20:15:00 GMT

I`ve never been, but my sweetie has, and a lot of my friends. I have been to other countries, (Lebanon, Syria etc.) I know, not the same thing, and I have some friends here that are refugees from Afghanistan.

It seems like a big mess there right now, but hopefully it will become stable in the next few years, I have found that people are people all over the world, we all love our children, and we all pooh, so, they can`t be as evil as the medias sometimes make the people of Afghanistan out to be.

Well, no pics, sorry, but wish you all well.

posted in Afghanistan - 4 replies

women in Afghanistan

Shooter-666 — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 23:15:29 GMT

this is something I wrote.

http://eatthestate.org/10-10/RadioSaharAfghanistans.htm

posted in Afghanistan - 2 replies

kandahar

Shooter-666 — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:49:41 GMT

Hello,

I am a journalist working in Afghanistan. Here are some pictures from Kandahar and Qalat.
http://rawfire.torche.com/~priapus/images/caleb1/

Also, some stories I wrote.

I am heading to Herat this week with ISAF.

posted in Afghanistan - 3 replies

Some new pictures posted...

hamish — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 05:04:49 GMT

Hi everyone,

I've put a few pictures up from a two week trip to Herat Province. It was beautiful, very dry and very hot (but not as hot as some places!), and I was in five districts, visiting village committees, and also in Herat city with local government. The shadow of Ismael Khan, who was removed as the governor in September, still colours all the politics there...

As always, my hosts and everyone I met treated me wonderfully, and I came back to Kabul refreshed, and happy to have been away from kidnap threats and rockets for a while...

Hamish

posted in Afghanistan - 0 replies

Persian Font for Computer programs

Gazelle — Fri, 20 May 2005 17:20:57 GMT

HI!
I am making a brochure and poster that includes Persian/Dari text. Does anyone know of a program/plug-in I can use so that I can type Farsi in applications like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator?
I found some for Arabic, but Arabic doesn't have all the same letters as Persian. Please let me know if you have any ideas!!!
Thanks!
Gazelle

posted in Afghanistan - 0 replies

afghan scene online

Dr-Bob — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 20:40:05 GMT

The title says it all: www.afghanscene.com This is an outgrowth of the Kabul Guide - a NGO guy created a locally printed Kabul guidebook in English and then made a business for children in Kabul, some homeless to sell it to all the aid workers flooding the city. Eventually it was picked up and prettified by Bradt the German guidebook publisher. The kids still sell the guidebook and maps today!

posted in Afghanistan - 0 replies

Afghan agriculture and the future

Dr-Bob — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 22:16:47 GMT

I visited last July and while I was there talked to some UN people who were developing proposals for agriculture in Afghanistan, especially crops that could replace poppies. The roads are in very bad shape and there are problems with bandits, so poppies which can be easily grown with minimal irrigation and the opium harvested into a valuable, compact and easily shipable without spoiling product are well adapted to the current situation. There is also not reliable electricity to run any kind of food packing.

What my friend discovered is that all of Afghanistan can be used to grow organics because they have never had the money to buy agricultural chemicals.

So his idea was organic dried fruits, flower essences and spices. Valuable and easy to transport without spoiling and a way to make a living outside the city. That's why this news is so disturbing:

(The US has been issuing weak denials "no proof, can't be verified, no knowledge of, must be someone else...", while the Administration has publicly announced anti poppy programs)

February 27, 2005 Ny Times
Afghans Accuse U.S. of Secret Spraying to Kill Poppies
By CARLOTTA GALL

KANAI, Afghanistan - Abdullah, a black-turbaned shepherd, said he was watching over his sheep one night in early February when he heard a plane pass low overhead three times. By morning his eyes were so swollen he could not open them and the sheep around him were dying in convulsions.

Although farmers had noticed a white powder on their crops, they cut grass and clover for their animals and picked spinach to eat anyway. Within hours the animals were severely ill, people here said, and the villagers complained of fevers, skin rashes and bloody diarrhea. The children were particularly affected. A week later, the crops - wheat, vegetables and poppies - were dying, and a dozen dead animals, including newborn lambs, lay tossed in a heap.

The incident on Feb. 3 has left the herders of sheep and goats in this remote mountain area in Helmand Province deeply angered and suspicious. They are convinced that someone is surreptitiously spraying their lands or dusting them with chemicals, presumably in a clandestine effort to eradicate Afghanistan's bumper poppy crop, the world's leading source of opium.

The incident in Kanai was not the first time that Afghan villagers - or Afghan government officials - had complained of what they suspected was nighttime spraying. In November, villagers in Nimla, in Nangarhar Province, said their fields, too, had been laced with chemicals when a plane passed overhead several times during the night.

Afterward, Afghan and foreign officials who investigated returned with samples of tiny gray granules that they said provided evidence that spraying had occurred. Two Western embassies sent samples abroad for analysis but have not yet received the results.

At that time, President Hamid Karzai publicly condemned the spraying. Though it was never clear who was responsible, members of his staff said they suspected the United States or Britain, which together have been leading the struggle to rein in Afghan poppy cultivation, which has reached record levels. Both countries finance outside security firms to train Afghan counternarcotics forces.

President Karzai said his government was not spraying fields and had no knowledge of such activity, and he called in the American and British ambassadors for an explanation. Then, as now, the American and British Embassies denied any involvement.

"There is no credible evidence that aerial spraying has taken place in Helmand," the American Embassy said in a statement this time. "No agency, personnel or contractors associated with the United States government have conducted or been involved in any such activity in Helmand or any other province of Afghanistan."

An Afghan government delegation sent to investigate the latest incident said it found no evidence of aerial spraying. Rather, "a naturally occurring disease" had killed the crops and animals, Lt. Gen. Muhammad Daoud, deputy interior minister for counternarcotics, said in a statement.

Agriculture Ministry officials said the extremely cold weather could have affected the crops. They added, however, that the ministry lacked the technical capacity to analyze samples for chemicals.

But the people in Kanai, neighboring Tanai and at least two other villages are incredulous. For them, there is no doubt that someone sprayed their lands and, despite official denials, they blame the United States, which still controls the skies in Afghanistan.

"They are the ones with the planes," said Abdul Ahmad, brother of the shepherd, Abdullah. Between them, the brothers had lost 200 animals from symptoms that suggested poisoning, he said.

"They went mad, their eyes went blue and they could not eat," he said of their sheep and goats. "Water was coming from their mouths, they were trying to eat their droppings and they were shivering," he said. The animals appeared completely healthy the day before, he said.

"We gave our vote to Karzai so he would bring us help and now he is killing our animals," he said angrily.

While the mystery lingers around who may be responsible for a secret aerial eradication campaign here - or even whether one is actually being carried out - there is no doubt that Afghanistan's booming poppy crop has been an intensifying concern to United States, British and other international officials.

In November, a United Nations report found that more than 300,000 acres in Afghanistan had been planted with poppies and expressed concern that the country was degenerating into a narcostate. American and other officials said they feared the drug trade had insinuated itself into virtually every corner of the Afghan economy and was financing rebels.

Some American officials, particularly those in international narcotics and law enforcement, have for months advocated aerial spraying to gain control of the problem.

Diplomats and other foreign officials involved in agriculture programs and counternarcotics efforts here said there was a discussion in 2004 between American officials and other donors over whether to use aerial eradication to stem poppy cultivation, which expanded 64 percent last year.

In December, the Bush administration presented to Congress a budget request for $152 million for aerial spraying as part of a $776 million aid package for counternarcotics operations in Afghanistan for 2005. In January, it dropped the budget line for aerial spraying because of President Karzai's clear opposition, an American official in Kabul said.

Word of the budget request prompted 31 nonprofit groups, led by CARE International, to sign an open letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Jan. 31 expressing concern over what they considered the excessive emphasis on eradication in the United States administration's counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan.

"Widespread eradication in 2005 could undermine the economy and devastate already poor families without giving rural development projects sufficient time to provide alternative sources of income," the agencies warned. They called for concentration on interdiction of traffickers and support for farmers instead.

Yet American officials have not ruled out the possible need for aerial eradication and financing, which was included in a supplemental request in February for $82 billion by the Bush administration for Iraq and Afghanistan, an American counternarcotics official in Kabul said.

One option considered by American officials last year was to rent civilian planes and spray the general weed killer Roundup over the provinces of Helmand and Badakhshan, two of the largest producers of poppies in the country, according to one official familiar with the plan.

American military officials in Afghanistan and those with the United States Agency for International Development are also against aerial spraying, foreign officials in Kabul say. Development officials argue that spraying will affect all agriculture and especially the poorest farmers; instead, they advocate alternative livelihood programs for farmers to dissuade them from growing poppies.

The military fears that spraying will turn the population against the government and the American presence in Afghanistan and increase support for insurgents, who remain active in southern Afghanistan.

In fact, the belief that they have been sprayed has angered villagers all the more because the local police came here only 40 days before and destroyed their poppy fields on government orders, a fact that the district police chief, Abdul Hakim Karezwal, confirmed.

The farmers said they had instead planted wheat, which was now yellow and rotting along with the clover, spinach and greens they had also planted. Some farmers kept growing small patches of poppies inside high garden walls, but most of the fields in the village showed shoots of young wheat.

"Karzai lied to us," one farmer, Ahmadullah, said. "He said, 'We will give you assistance,' and he didn't. So we grew poppy to be able to feed our families. Then the president ordered it destroyed and so we destroyed it. And now he is destroying our wheat. What will be left of our lives? They destroyed everything. We will have to abandon the village."

posted in Afghanistan - 2 replies

intro

((elise)) — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 06:41:35 GMT

hi - i'm eeshie... i was born in kabul in '75 (to americans) and have ben afghanistan obsessed ever since! why are you guys in this tribe?

posted in Afghanistan - 4 replies

Some Pics Uploaded

LOK — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 16:59:01 GMT

Hi,

There are some pictures I took in Kabul in 2003 uploaded in the album.
Enjoy..I have some more but I have to sort them out.

Anybody have a story of Afghanistan?

posted in Afghanistan - 0 replies