"The conflicts that wrack the world today would not have surprised the pagans of classical antiquity. For them, no 'indissoluble chain' bound knowledge, virtue and happiness together. In the plays of Euripides, knowledge cannot undo the workings of fate; virtue gives no protection against disaster. The most that humans can do is to be brave and resourceful, and expect to achieve little. Very likely we cannot revive this pagan view of things; but perhaps we can learn from it how to limit our hopes."
(John Gray, Al Qaeda and what it means to be modern)
I write from Kandahar: the heart of the original Taliban movement, and a city almost exclusively dominated by Pashtuns, the tribal peoples of southern Afghanistan and border-land Pakistan. I've little historical information or cultural stories to offer this time round, as during my stay here have observed how neo-Taliban/Al Qaeda groups/loyalists have regained control of huge swathes of the south and east of the country. An extremely worrying development. UK and Dutch governments should take note as they prepare to deploy troops to replace a 3000-troop reduction announced by Rumsfeld recently. For me extremely worrying as it's increasingly difficult to travel safely down south. In the past I've been able to confidently travel down here on the roads; if you make sure to travel only during daylight, I reasoned, you'll be fine. It isn't enough these days.
On the road from Herat to Kandahar, a ten-hour blur of dust and shitty roads, informal checkpoints have sprung up. Government check-points are manned occasionally by black-masked troops [see Robert Fisk's reports for The Independent on similar trends in Baghdad]. Several times we were asked to get out of the car for a search. A small bribe (around 10p or so) bypassed this, thus completely negating the point of the checkpoints. Welcome to Kandahar.
In terms of general security in the south, I've been advised by various sources that large sections are no-go zones for foreigners and Afghans alike. Helmand province, where I stopped for lunch on the way here, is split in two by the Herat-Kandahar highway. North of the road, Taliban are in control, and government and US forces cannot go there. Uruzgan is also tremendously risky: just watch the faces of my Afghan friends ripple into concern when I mention that I want to go there. Similarly parts of Paktia, where I'll be next week. I could go on with more names etc, but little use for the non-specialist. Suffice to say that the south is a much more dangerous place than it was 5 months ago.
Normally the winter heralds a lull in fighting, as fighters lose their mobility on account of snow and resultant conditions. From all sides, though, I'm hearing that the fighters have remained in their positions over the winter. A brief selection of activities down south should suffice as proof:
3rd December - US helicopter downed in southern Afghanistan
14th December - suicide bomber in courtyard of shrine/mosque in Mazar-e Sharif (first time); suicide (donkey) bomb in Faizabad (Badakhshan).
15th December - Another member of Ulema Council killed (6th in 5 months) in Kandahar city; US soldier killed Kandahar City; Taliban execution of teacher in Helmand
16th December - suicide bomb next to Parliament building in Kabul; riot in Lowgar
17th December - riot south of Kabul; attack on school in main city of Helmand province
18th December - 30 Taliban attack checkpoint just outside Kandahar city
20th December - Herat's first/second suicide bomb
22nd December - attack on vehicle convoy in Nangarhar province
24th December - explosion in Maiwand; rocket attack on Kabul
25th December - 3 kidnapped in Farah (normally relatively calm province); Zawahiri broadcasts tape claiming [largely correctly, I might add] Taliban have regained control over large parts of Afghanistan
Anyway, this doesn't cover a whole bunch of smaller attacks on teachers/students, burnings of schools, or banditry on the road (quite common). Indeed, I learned that a landmine IED (like those used in Iraq) was placed (and duly detonated) on the roadside of the Herat-Kandahar highway only the day after I travelled down it.
There is also a 'silent war' being fought in Uruzgan province. This is silent only because it is suicidal to go there to report. Even Afghans cannot safely do so. US forces are resorting to a combination of artillery bombardment and air bombing - again just as they are resorting to in Iraq [see recent article for New Yorker by Seymour Hersh on this strategy]. The extent of the loss of control is not being reported. Woe betide the British and Dutch forces when they come here all "committed" (as one NATO commander commented recently) to "ending" the insurgency and ending the opium business. Hubris on a grand scale if ever I saw it...
I've been extremely busy down here. I don't have the energy or time to write it all up here, and in any case a large portion of it will be worked into my book. On that count, it's extremely interesting. Tonight, the head of the Qadiri Sufi order (the subject of my book) has invited me to his house for zikr. I visited the Canadian military PRT, soldiers of which have been redeployed from "somewhere in the south" [i.e. searching for Bin Laden and Mullah Omar]. I met with the two main organisations working with women's issues within Kandahar city. I met the minister of education here in south. I visited Kandahar university and talked with the chancellor. (Incidentally, I will write a longer piece solely on the University facilities throughout Afghanistan, which troubles me the more I learn). I visited more orthopaedic centres for landmine victims.
As regards universities in Kandahar, the campus has moved to next to the Mullah Omar's Id-Gah mosque. It's really so far out of the way, that students have difficulty getting in. 1100 students in total, most of whom are medicine students. Out of this 1100 there are 30 women registered, but I've been informed by others that there are actually only 8 women actually studying there. There is a whole dormitory (out of seven) for girls, but obviously few takers. Security for the students is a problem, as a wall around the campus hasn't yet been built. A lack of professors and/or the professors' lack of training is similarly an issue. The library is in a similarly shoddy condition to that of Herat [see last email].
There are two organisations that seem to be doing the most for women's issues: the Afghan Women's Centre (part of the government Ministry for Women's Affairs) (AWC) and a US-born NGO called Afghans for Civil Society (ACS). Both have a different approach to the situation of women's rights. AWC is a small operation at the moment, offering some computer and English classes (for free) to women, as well as operating a handicraft workshop. They hope to offer a library in the near future, as well as expand their programmes. ACS, on the other hand, seems actively engaging with the society in a pragmatic step-by-step approach which seems eminently suited to the conservative society. I'll write more about these two organisations in a different email about women in Afghanistan.
In terms of elections and local politics, different things have emerged. In the recent elections, the Karzai family did well, as well as the communists, as well as the 'usual suspects' of drug- and warlords. To a large extent this has politically legitimised the people America is at the same time fighting against in the south.
As far as my book goes, I met the effective head of the Qadiri order in Kandahar on Tuesday night, and am due to meet with the real leader in a week sometime. Every Thursday night I witness zikr (subject of my book, a kind of religious ceremony with dance) in a different part of the country. Tomorrow it'll be Kabul, and next week with Kuchi nomads in Khost. Then finally in Mazar-e Sharif a few days before I leave the country for Pakistan. Many people wish to help me with my book, and the people I talk to are saying much of interest. Watch this space...
I arrived in Kabul a few hours ago from Kandahar. Amazing that there isn't any snow on the way. A journey that took my 23 hours last December now only took 5. And the weather throughout the journey was really pleasant. Only here in Kabul the combination of the bone-penetrating cold (-13 celcius forecast tonight) and the altitude (approx. 1800 metres above sea-level) has given me a migraine. I'm staying in Kabul for zikr and leaving for Khost in the east of the country early on Friday morning. Happy new year to all in anticipation...
In war, you experience all sorts of horrible things, and, to be strictly honest, some marvellous things as well, above all in the personal generosity of strangers that comes as close to fulfilling the Christian notion of grace as anything this vertebral nonbeliever has ever encountered. But learn anything worth communicating? Only if seeing people die, in your arms, at your feet, by your side, within your sight, while all the while there is absolutely nothing you can do to save them or rescue them, constitutes learning. And it does not. It's just death and suffering in all their infinite variety, clogging one's nostrils and taking over one's brain until one doesn't know whether to dream of justice or flight, or simply of being somewhere else, where there is silence when you crave it, noise only when you need it, light, heat, comfortable beds, and cold glasses of good white wine.
David Rieff, A Bed for the Night
(John Gray, Al Qaeda and what it means to be modern)
I write from Kandahar: the heart of the original Taliban movement, and a city almost exclusively dominated by Pashtuns, the tribal peoples of southern Afghanistan and border-land Pakistan. I've little historical information or cultural stories to offer this time round, as during my stay here have observed how neo-Taliban/Al Qaeda groups/loyalists have regained control of huge swathes of the south and east of the country. An extremely worrying development. UK and Dutch governments should take note as they prepare to deploy troops to replace a 3000-troop reduction announced by Rumsfeld recently. For me extremely worrying as it's increasingly difficult to travel safely down south. In the past I've been able to confidently travel down here on the roads; if you make sure to travel only during daylight, I reasoned, you'll be fine. It isn't enough these days.
On the road from Herat to Kandahar, a ten-hour blur of dust and shitty roads, informal checkpoints have sprung up. Government check-points are manned occasionally by black-masked troops [see Robert Fisk's reports for The Independent on similar trends in Baghdad]. Several times we were asked to get out of the car for a search. A small bribe (around 10p or so) bypassed this, thus completely negating the point of the checkpoints. Welcome to Kandahar.
In terms of general security in the south, I've been advised by various sources that large sections are no-go zones for foreigners and Afghans alike. Helmand province, where I stopped for lunch on the way here, is split in two by the Herat-Kandahar highway. North of the road, Taliban are in control, and government and US forces cannot go there. Uruzgan is also tremendously risky: just watch the faces of my Afghan friends ripple into concern when I mention that I want to go there. Similarly parts of Paktia, where I'll be next week. I could go on with more names etc, but little use for the non-specialist. Suffice to say that the south is a much more dangerous place than it was 5 months ago.
Normally the winter heralds a lull in fighting, as fighters lose their mobility on account of snow and resultant conditions. From all sides, though, I'm hearing that the fighters have remained in their positions over the winter. A brief selection of activities down south should suffice as proof:
3rd December - US helicopter downed in southern Afghanistan
14th December - suicide bomber in courtyard of shrine/mosque in Mazar-e Sharif (first time); suicide (donkey) bomb in Faizabad (Badakhshan).
15th December - Another member of Ulema Council killed (6th in 5 months) in Kandahar city; US soldier killed Kandahar City; Taliban execution of teacher in Helmand
16th December - suicide bomb next to Parliament building in Kabul; riot in Lowgar
17th December - riot south of Kabul; attack on school in main city of Helmand province
18th December - 30 Taliban attack checkpoint just outside Kandahar city
20th December - Herat's first/second suicide bomb
22nd December - attack on vehicle convoy in Nangarhar province
24th December - explosion in Maiwand; rocket attack on Kabul
25th December - 3 kidnapped in Farah (normally relatively calm province); Zawahiri broadcasts tape claiming [largely correctly, I might add] Taliban have regained control over large parts of Afghanistan
Anyway, this doesn't cover a whole bunch of smaller attacks on teachers/students, burnings of schools, or banditry on the road (quite common). Indeed, I learned that a landmine IED (like those used in Iraq) was placed (and duly detonated) on the roadside of the Herat-Kandahar highway only the day after I travelled down it.
There is also a 'silent war' being fought in Uruzgan province. This is silent only because it is suicidal to go there to report. Even Afghans cannot safely do so. US forces are resorting to a combination of artillery bombardment and air bombing - again just as they are resorting to in Iraq [see recent article for New Yorker by Seymour Hersh on this strategy]. The extent of the loss of control is not being reported. Woe betide the British and Dutch forces when they come here all "committed" (as one NATO commander commented recently) to "ending" the insurgency and ending the opium business. Hubris on a grand scale if ever I saw it...
I've been extremely busy down here. I don't have the energy or time to write it all up here, and in any case a large portion of it will be worked into my book. On that count, it's extremely interesting. Tonight, the head of the Qadiri Sufi order (the subject of my book) has invited me to his house for zikr. I visited the Canadian military PRT, soldiers of which have been redeployed from "somewhere in the south" [i.e. searching for Bin Laden and Mullah Omar]. I met with the two main organisations working with women's issues within Kandahar city. I met the minister of education here in south. I visited Kandahar university and talked with the chancellor. (Incidentally, I will write a longer piece solely on the University facilities throughout Afghanistan, which troubles me the more I learn). I visited more orthopaedic centres for landmine victims.
As regards universities in Kandahar, the campus has moved to next to the Mullah Omar's Id-Gah mosque. It's really so far out of the way, that students have difficulty getting in. 1100 students in total, most of whom are medicine students. Out of this 1100 there are 30 women registered, but I've been informed by others that there are actually only 8 women actually studying there. There is a whole dormitory (out of seven) for girls, but obviously few takers. Security for the students is a problem, as a wall around the campus hasn't yet been built. A lack of professors and/or the professors' lack of training is similarly an issue. The library is in a similarly shoddy condition to that of Herat [see last email].
There are two organisations that seem to be doing the most for women's issues: the Afghan Women's Centre (part of the government Ministry for Women's Affairs) (AWC) and a US-born NGO called Afghans for Civil Society (ACS). Both have a different approach to the situation of women's rights. AWC is a small operation at the moment, offering some computer and English classes (for free) to women, as well as operating a handicraft workshop. They hope to offer a library in the near future, as well as expand their programmes. ACS, on the other hand, seems actively engaging with the society in a pragmatic step-by-step approach which seems eminently suited to the conservative society. I'll write more about these two organisations in a different email about women in Afghanistan.
In terms of elections and local politics, different things have emerged. In the recent elections, the Karzai family did well, as well as the communists, as well as the 'usual suspects' of drug- and warlords. To a large extent this has politically legitimised the people America is at the same time fighting against in the south.
As far as my book goes, I met the effective head of the Qadiri order in Kandahar on Tuesday night, and am due to meet with the real leader in a week sometime. Every Thursday night I witness zikr (subject of my book, a kind of religious ceremony with dance) in a different part of the country. Tomorrow it'll be Kabul, and next week with Kuchi nomads in Khost. Then finally in Mazar-e Sharif a few days before I leave the country for Pakistan. Many people wish to help me with my book, and the people I talk to are saying much of interest. Watch this space...
I arrived in Kabul a few hours ago from Kandahar. Amazing that there isn't any snow on the way. A journey that took my 23 hours last December now only took 5. And the weather throughout the journey was really pleasant. Only here in Kabul the combination of the bone-penetrating cold (-13 celcius forecast tonight) and the altitude (approx. 1800 metres above sea-level) has given me a migraine. I'm staying in Kabul for zikr and leaving for Khost in the east of the country early on Friday morning. Happy new year to all in anticipation...
In war, you experience all sorts of horrible things, and, to be strictly honest, some marvellous things as well, above all in the personal generosity of strangers that comes as close to fulfilling the Christian notion of grace as anything this vertebral nonbeliever has ever encountered. But learn anything worth communicating? Only if seeing people die, in your arms, at your feet, by your side, within your sight, while all the while there is absolutely nothing you can do to save them or rescue them, constitutes learning. And it does not. It's just death and suffering in all their infinite variety, clogging one's nostrils and taking over one's brain until one doesn't know whether to dream of justice or flight, or simply of being somewhere else, where there is silence when you crave it, noise only when you need it, light, heat, comfortable beds, and cold glasses of good white wine.
David Rieff, A Bed for the Night
posted by Alex Strick at 10:12 AM
1 Comments:
Your account of Kandahar was very interesting! This is the real Pushtun heartland. Most ruling families of Afghanistan have emanated from here. It is considered to be the heartland of the Durranis who once ruled vast tracts of land. Ahmed Shah Abdali used to carry out regular forays into India during the 18th century. He had once broken the back of the Marahatta Confederacy.
Have you read Olaf Caroe's book on Pathans? That is a masterpiece even though it was written many, many years ago. He spent a lifetime in the Frontier on the other side of the Durand Line. One of the few people who had a rare understanding of the area and the people. In fact he was genuinely fond of Patthans living on the Pakistani side of the border. I am sure you must have read this book. If not, get hold of it.
Unlike Kandahar, Kabul is a different place altogether. It is a confluence of the Pashtuns, the Hazaras and the Tajiks -- Afghanistan's three main ethnic groups. It used to be a beautiful city once with its famous orchids of Paghman on its outskirts.
Write something more about your mystic experiences! How did you get into Sufism coming from a different part of the world?
F. Tirmizi
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