Global Voices: In 2001, the Taliban infamously blew up a giant carved Buddha in Bamiyan, a region defined by its diverse archaeology, coruscating lakes, vivid panoramic valleys and rich-green meadows. If it is possible to muster a response to such devastating cultural loss, then the five-day Dambura Festival, which has now become a regular fixture in
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript: The National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul had once been ranked one of the most important museums in Asia, home to over 100,000 objects excavated in Afghanistan. Over the years, however, stray bombs and looting had depleted about 70-percent of the collection and much of the museum building by the mid-1990s. Click here
Atas Obscura: Tajbeg Palace stands atop a knoll dominating Kabul as a concrete allegory to Afghanistan’s recent past. Rusting wheels that once supported the manually-operated cable car that transported Queen Soraya to her husband in the nearby Darul Aman Palace share faded opulence with ornate architraves, hacked marble, and grammatically incorrect Taliban graffiti. Click here to
MOSCOW, July 18 (Sputnik) – Afghanistan’s statement that Russia should apologize to the Afghan people for the decade-long Soviet military operation in Afghanistan “raises nothing but surprise and bewilderment,” Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Director Zamir Kabulov told Sputnik on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Afghan Ambassador to Russia Abdul Qayyum Kochai said that
The Times (UK): Some were wounded and came to rely on their captors, others feared what would happen to them back in Russia. Their lives now are very different to how they thought they would turn out when Soviet tanks rolled in to Afghanistan 39 years ago. Click here to read more (external link).
TASS: A former Soviet pilot, who went missing in Afghanistan in 1987 and was tracked down fairly recently, may return to Russia within the next twelve months, a source at the Boyevoye Bratstvo [Combat Brotherhood] veterans charity international fund told TASS on Friday. Initial information suggests the pilot’s name is Alexander Mironov. Click here to
Press TV May 28, 2018 Pakistan’s military Monday took the unprecedented step of preventing a former spy chief from leaving the country, after he ignited a storm by co-authoring a book that touches on Pakistan’s alleged roles in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Retired Lieutenant General Asad Durrani, who headed Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 1990 to 1992,
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: The Kabul in William Podlich’s photographs is an almost unrecognizable place — a bustling capital of nattily attired men and women, many wearing Western dress; modern cars; and green parks. A place where women — Afghans and foreigners — could freely walk the streets. Click here to view more photos (external
Tolo News: Speaking at an Afghanistan Law and Political Studies Organization gathering in Kabul on Thursday, Qanooni said: “CIA’s site office in Islamabad was coordinating with (Pakistan’s) ISI; this office recommended to the US that any alternative to the Taliban must be a Pashtun-oriented alternative and that the United Front shouldn’t be an alternative to
The Telegraph (UK): As inconceivable as it is today, war-torn Afghanistan was once an essential stop on the backpacker route (dubbed the “hippie trail” or “overland”) across Asia, notable for its gorgeous capital – dubbed the “Paris of the East” – and the ease in which travellers could score a little marijuana. Click here to read