When introducing Herat writers traditionally quote Robert Byron's famous pronouncement: "Herat is Asia without an inferiority complex". Not without reason, too. The people of Herat are proud of their independence, fiercely coveted during the 'reign' of Ismael Khan as governor here (more about him later). The culture here is also strongly influenced by Iran, whose border is relatively close; an eight-hour bus journey takes to you to Mashhad, the closest city of significant size. Herat always was referred to in agricultural terms. Herodotus himself wrote of Herat as the “breadbasket of Central Asia” on account of its rich soil. Communities first settled here some 5000 years ago, and the city has since become a fertile crossing-ground fusing Persian and Turkic influences.

Notably, Herat had its first 'successful' suicide bomber on Tuesday morning, which wounded 3 Italian ISAF 'soldiers'. I say first successful because apparently (I haven't been able to check/confirm this yet in my archives) there was also a suicide bomber about 4 months ago (near the hotel where I'm staying) against one of the local military leaders (or 'commanders' as they're called here). That attack was related to the election, and rumour has it that the attack was planned by Ismael Khan's men. Also the ISAF forces targeted were part of the so-called PRTs (Provincial Reconstruction Team), whereby the army gets to put a good face on its actions by engaging in the work of NGOs, thus blurring the boundary between NGO and military; this confusion of roles has been much discussed within the NGO community.

At any rate, the suicide bomber is rumoured to be the first of several 'lying in waiting' in Herat. This is bad news for the city, which until now had a reputation (even in those who cared to know in the West) for safety and security. As we've seen also in Mazar-e Sharif, the instability which has nestled deep into the south of the country has spread upwards to previously calm provinces; N.B. on 14th December there was also a suicide bomber near the shrine in Mazar-e Sharif, calculated to injure the larger number of pilgrims that come on Wednesdays.

Change is rippling through Herat too. Of course it's part of returning to Afghanistan (and other 'developing' countries) to see new things. Young people are increasingly wearing 'western' clothes such as trousers and leather jackets. I'm increasingly asked by young people why I'm wearing shalwaar-qamiis [the traditional Afghan clothing, a sort of linen all-day pyjama outfit] when I could wear jeans or trousers. Again, however, S&C is still the norm.

The music people listen to (on the radio, television, or download as ring-tones or as MP3s onto their mobile phones) is moving from traditional styles towards the more popular western-drum-bass standard. This isn't a positive development for Afghan culture. Of course, there are still centres of 'classical' Afghan music, to which Veronica Doubleday and John Bailey both have made testimony.

Mobile phones, as in much of the Middle East, are all the rage. Everywhere I go, people ask me where I bought my phone [an ordinary Samsung] and how much it cost. As I saw in Iran, Afghans who can afford it go through a large number of mobile phones each year just to be 'in'. Needless to say, the large majority of Afghans don't have mobile phones.

Skills Training Centre, the school for English tuition and now I.T. (computer lessons) that I wrote about when I was in Herat last winter, seems to be going from strength to strength. My good friend Haroon continues to man the helm alone. Many of the teachers that I met a year ago are still there. It is generally acknowledged to be the best outside-school school for learning English in Herat, largely on account of the excellent and devoted teachers.

Most of these are former pupils at the school, who now are studying at university and use their teaching job as a way of earning money on the side. Many also have occasional work as interpreters; most, for example, worked as interpreters or assistants to the international monitoring groups that arrived (and duly left) for the various elections here. Roughly speaking, a teacher might earn $100 for three months of work (6 days per week).

New buildings are rising skywards all over town too. Next to my hotel in the centre of town, a merkez-e tejarat, a shiny glass building, has been finished. Also a 5-star hotel a few kilometres outside town was opened to moderate ceremony last week (mirroring the opening of Kabul's 5-star Serena Hotel) recently. My driver and I went past this morning to see the rooms and were refused entry half-way up the driveway. American troops, we were told, were staying there and had instructed no other guests to be admitted...

Also, interestingly, there's are a few new 'malls' in town. Melly Mall ('National mall' in Farsi) is near my hotel too, and is dominated by mobile phone shops (which are all over the rest of town as well). Bemused elder Afghans wander the polished tiles, and a 'bouncer' of sorts mans the doors, much as I've heard happens in Kabul (but hopefully more on that once I go there later in the month). I fear, too, that this isn't necessarily the best step forward for Afghanistan at this time. Instead, I'd suggest it's yet another indicator of the widening gap between rich and poor in the country.

As far as Herat's history is concerned, a few events are worth pointing out:
- Alexander the Great, upon entering Herat in 330BC first adopted Persian dress and customs in order to persuade the peoples of Afghanistan (and Central Asia) that he was a legitimate ruler.
- The initial Muslim conquest of Herat in 652AD was led by the governor of Basra, Abdullah bin Amir [Iraq didn't exist as a state back then]
- This attests to the influence of poetry - during the Samanid dynasty, based in Bukhara, one ruler (Nasr ibn Ahmad) found he liked Herat so much that he didn't want to leave. Each time an opportunity arose, he found some excuse to stay. His army and court, yearning for their own country, paid a poet to write a poem which would 'cure' their leader [the poem still exists]. Indeed, after hearing it, he jumped on a horse immediately, not adjusting his stirrups until he reached Mazar-e Sharif.
- Genghis Khan's nominal ruler in Herat lost the loyalty of the people, and in 1222 Genghis accordingly decided to kill every single member of the large 160,000-strong population. He was apparently quite successful, as only 26 [I think, can't check at the moment] people survived in town, as well as 14 from the outlying villages. These 40 people lived for several months/years [not sure again] in the courtyard of the Friday Mosque, surviving on the food the ghost-town that the massacre had left behind. They stayed that way until Ogodai Qa'an, Genghis' son, decided to rebuild Herat several years later.

The Timurid renaissance, a glorious period of artistic and cultural rebirth at the end of the 14th century, was focused on Herat. Shah Rukh, who moved his throne and capital to Herat in 1404, was the engineer (along with his wife, Gowhar Shad, who played no small role) of the flowering of arts, architecture, painting, learning and literature.

The Friday Mosque itself isn't a product of this period (dating from Ghorid times around 1200) but the intricate tilework that covers it is a direct Timurid addition. It really is something that can't adequately be conveyed in photos (certainly not my mobile-phone shots). Yesterday I sat there for two hours in a state of wonder. It isn't just the variety of colour, the fecundity of invention, the beauty of the patterns. I only left when I lost the feeling in my rear (as the stones of the mosque are ice-cold this time of year).

Similarly, the mausoleum of Gowhar Shad is (or at least was) earth-shatteringly rich in its decoration. Originally a madrassa or religious school, there was later the tomb-building, as well as 30 individually decorated minarets. [See Jason Elliot for a more detailed description]. Robert Byron described it in 1937 as “the most beautiful example of colour in architecture ever devised to the glory of God and himself.” As things happened, though, the musalla complex (as it is otherwise known) was blown up by a British officer [his name was C.E. Yate] during the Pandjeh crisis where, under threat of Russian southward invasion, it was decided that the minarets needed to be demolished in order to give Herat a better chance of defence. The invasion, of course, never took place.

Herat was also home to a large number of poets and Sufi 'mystics'. The poet Jami, the Sufi Ansari, the scholar Mahmud Arifi etc etc. [the list goes on and on]. The saying goes that you couldn't stretch your leg out in Herat without kicking a poet during those Timurid times.

As concerns today, though, education is on the up. Central government statistics confirm that 6.5 million more children are being schooled than during Taliban times. English tuition is, generally speaking, the focus of this education. At the university, the number of enrolments in courses increases year by year, but the number of graduates has stayed stable. I suppose this is similar to the trend in the UK at the moment. Some who were active in Taliban times and who previously resisted education are showing an interest. An uncle of a friend of mine, too, at 70 years old is beginning courses in computing and English (taking his classes alongside 5 and 7 year olds). The government policy seems to be gearing towards private education (i.e. privately financed) - note the new American-sponsored university in Kabul; annual fees of $3000 mean that few can apply. The effectiveness of a policy of private education remains to be seen. My friends have no problem with it per se (as tuition will be better) just so long as fees aren't prohibitively expensive.

I visited the university, bare and unwelcoming even by the standards of my own university in London. There weren't any students as end-of-year exams are about to begin. Each faculty is in a different place. The university administration (whom my good friend Mirwais and I approached to get some figures – to follow as person wasn’t around today) is also in a different location.

Tuition has only recently become mixed-sex, in conformity with the rest of the country. The medical faculty – with a conservative mullah as president – is the last to change. The final year of medicine students are mixed, though, as they said unless they were allowed to study together they would refuse to show up for study. The rest are expected to become mixed at the beginning of next academic year. Ismael Khan’s daughter is studying medicine (two or three years below my friend in the faculty) and rumour has it that the separation is a direct result of his wish to protect his daughter. Rumours, though.

As far as libraries are concerned, my chief point of interest in the university, they are in really poor condition. My friend didn’t even know where his library was. There are a few Farsi books (necessary as most don’t speak English, despite the current drive in the education policy) and a haphazard selection of English books. These are parting ‘gifts’ from NGOs who donate their library (a random assortment of pulp novels and history books) to the university library. Accordingly students must buy their own books for study. Most of these come for Iran, as Afghan translations of medical textbooks, for example, are scarce.

Tuition in the universities is also reportedly poor, with teachers just reading from notes without any knowledge of the subject. My friends (also English teachers) talk of coming back to teach properly at the university once they have graduated and are doctors. Exams are tough, and heavily reliant on rote-learning of detailed descriptions of diseases etc. But as far as I can tell, it’s similar in the UK too, no?

Tourism has yet to take off in Herat in the same way as it has in Kabul (to a certain extent). A fearless few will pop over from Iran, but generally there isn’t a big market; something that the new 5* hotel might hope to counter? In my hotel at the moment, there is an English tourist who has a certain interest in the country. Also a Japanese tour-group (without cameras, but complete with fluent-farsi-speaking guide) who liven up the hotel’s restaurant every evening.

Otherwise, Herat is truly bustling at the moment. Much as I might be tempted to talk of the destruction and poverty of the country, the centre of town really doesn’t feel like that at all.

I’m traveling onwards to Kandahar tomorrow morning. Sufi zikr rite/ceremony tonight at Gazar Gah. Still plan three more articles on Herat: one on Sufism/zikr, one as more ‘free’ intro to Afghanistan, and a piece on bus/taxi travel in Afghanistan.