It is an ancient and almost forgotten Pushtoon tradition that should be embraced by Americans immediately and enthusiastically. So, consider it a little Christmas gift from Afghanistan. And why not? Like Christians, Muslims also venerate Hazrat-sahib Issa (Jesus) and Bibi Miriam (the Virgin Mary), so Christmas can be a shared celebration even if the two [...]
“I simply had enough!” exclaimed my friend, Haji Haroon. His Eastern Afghan home-province of Nangarhar was, five years ago and ever since, plagued with Taliban resistance and many districts remain off-limits to government officials. But Haroon decided on a clever strategy to purge extremism from his green and attractive village on the edge of their [...]
Jews probably lived in Afghanistan since they were freed from captivity in Babylon and maybe before. Silver coins from the Graeco-Bactrian satraps (circa 200 BC to almost the time of Christ and still available for a few dollars each in the Kabul bazaars) are written in Classical Greek on the obverse and on the reverse [...]
Hogville is a peculiar name for a district full of Afghan Muslims who never eat pork, rather like finding a synagogue named after bacon or a Hindu village called Beefburgerpur. Yet it makes sense if the people of Khogiani tell you their secret. Driving from the bustling city of Jalalabad, or coming the other way [...]
When a disaster strikes far away and good-hearted people try to help, are they on the pathway to progress or that road paved with good intentions? I returned to Kabul in early March 2002, a few months after the allied invasion, but Sven got there first. He was a contemplative Swede who resembled a tall, [...]
Listening to Professor Bradley Birzer’s spell-binding, videotaped lecture on John Randolph (available on this website), one is startled by his vivid, contagious, and nearly gleeful description of Randolph and Henry Clay squaring off for a duel on the site of today’s Reagan National Airport on the Potomac. Then it struck me how similar people may [...]
Our friend Steve Masty gave me permission to pass on some of his emails from Kabul where he is a civilian adviser to the Afghan government. Steve will be joining us as a new contributor so I offer this preview of his wit, wisdom, and experience. Thanks Steve, we look forward to hearing more from [...]