Ariana Afghan Airlines was established on January 27, 1955. During the 1970s, Ariana was considered a top notch airline company by many travel experts.[citation needed] At that time, the airline operated aircraft such as the Douglas DC-10s and Boeing 727s. Ariana was owned 49% by Pan Am and 51% by the Afghan government.
more info here
http://maslinka.com/
After the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989 and collapse of former president Najibulla's communist government, the Taliban took over Kabul in 1996. Afghanistan faced substantial economic sanctions from the international sector during the Taliban regime. The sanctions, along with the Taliban government's control of the company and the grounding of many of the carrier's international flights, had a devastating effect on the economic health of the company through the 1990s. The fleet was reduced to only a handful of Russian and Ukrainian built An-26s, Yakovlev Yak-40s and three Boeing 727s, which were used on the longest domestic routes. In October 1996, Pakistan provided a temporary maintenance and operational base at Karachi. By 1999, Ariana flew only to Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; also, limited cargo flights continued into China's western provinces. However, sanctions imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1267 forced the airline company to suspend overseas operations. In November 2001, the airline was grounded completely.
Following the removal of the Taliban by NATO and Afghan Northern Alliance forces in the wake of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, Ariana began to rebuild its operations in December 2001. About a month later, the UN sanctions were finally lifted, permitting the airline to fly again. As a gesture of good-will and a step towards developing foreign relations with Afghanistan, the government of India gave the state carrier three ex-Air India Airbus A300s. Ariana resumed flights to international destinations, and its first international passenger flight since 1999 landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Kabul Zoo
History of Kabul Zoo
Since the most recent war in Afghanistan, the IZE web site has received a number of inquiries concerning the Kabul Zoo and the welfare of its animals. The article below, written by IZE’s Asian Representative, Sally Walker, describes the current situation as well as the history of the zoo.
Afghanistan
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is completely landlocked,
surrounded by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China and
Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, and Iran. It is one of the poorest
countries in the world. It is a dry and cold country with diverse albeit
sparse flora and a diverse and numerous fauna species for such a small
country. Afghanistan is about one-sixth the size of India.
Mammal species of Afghanistan, many of which are common with Indian
and other south Asian countries, number more than 100, many of them
very highly endangered. Large and medium sized mammals include
snow leopard, markor, urial, ibex, leopard, Marco Polo sheep (bharal),
bears, wolves, foxes, hyenas, jackals, and wild boar. Small mammals
include mongoose, hedgehogs, shrews, hares, mouse hares, bats, and
various rodents. Over 380 species of birds have been recorded in the
country and about half that number breed there.
It has been described as a land of "marginal environment" with
enormous stress on the land by people too poor to buy fuel and buy
domestic livestock. This has resulted in soil erosion, and poor
irrigation practices have reduced or destroyed the land. The Afghan
government is said to be aware of the environmental problems but war
pressures are an enormous distraction and also cause further
disturbance to the environment.
The combination of occupation, war, religious prejudice, political
disturbance has -- to a great extent -- alienated Afghanistan from
the rest of the world. The confusing and controversial role the
country played in the hijacking of an Air India flight from Katmandu
has further alienated Afghanistan from many other countries.
Afghanistan's many problems have had a devastating effect on the
Kabul Zoo. Horror stories from active wartime and political
revolution have appeared in the press from time to time. Even
today, foreign journalists occasionally write about the conditions in
Kabul Zoo, Afghanistan, appealing to any kind of activists or
concerned humans to find a solution for the tormented and
innocent animals.
Some readers may think that the zoo in a country like Afghanistan
might never have been much different, but it is not so. At one time
the Kabul Zoo was a proud institution.
History of Kabul Zoo
The Faculty of Science of Kabul University used to keep some animal
collections for research. The public became interested in these
animals which led to an idea of founding a proper zoo. A "Committee
of Zoological Projects" in Afghanistan was founded by the President
HRH Prince Nader with members taken from the Royal Afghan
government, the Municipality of Kabul, and zoologists from the science
faculty at the University of Kabul. Gunther Nogge, today the very well
known Director of Cologne Zoo, Germany and former President of the
World Zoo Organization, was on deputation as a professor in Afghanistan
at this time and was much involved with the zoo. A large site for the zoo
was selected and made available by the Municipality of Kabul on the
bank of the Kabul River. The zoo was inaugurated in 1967 and a year
later the first department of a zoological museum was added. The zoo
was supported financially by the Government while technical and
scientific input was left to Afghan and visiting German zoologists.
German zoo experts trained the Afghan zookeepers and taxidermists.
Modern for that time, moated enclosures were constructed in the
interests of the animals themselves, the animal keepers, the zoo
visitors and even for economic reasons. Since most of the animals
were native and habituated to the climate, expensive pucca
constructions which are a requirement in other cold or temperate
countries were not necessary. The Faculty of Science at Kabul
University maintained a close connection with Kabul Zoo and a number
of research publications were generated on parasitological
investigations and successful breeding.
The focus of the zoo was Afghan fauna. In 1972 there were 32
species of mammals, 85 species of birds and 4 species of reptiles.
The total number of animals in the zoo was 417, nearly all of which
were collected in Afghanistan. There was also a lion, a tiger, some
pheasants and parrots. Twenty five years ago there were several rare
species listed in the Red Data Book of IUCN and others which were
rarely seen in captivity.
Cologne Zoo, Germany, contributed the pair of tigers which were
possibly (Panthera tigris) or perhaps an undeterminate subspecies. The
1969 Red Data Book of IUCN estimated that the total number of the
Caspian Tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) ranging through northern
Afghanistan, Turkestan and northern Iran was 50 to 80. Dr. Gunther
Nogge conducted several expeditions to the Amu Darya region, however,
and was convinced that the sub-species no longer existed in
Afghanistan.
The zoo maintained the Afghanistan leopard which could be seen only
in six zoos of the world at the time. In 1973 a snow leopard was
donated from "royal breeding stock" of the King along with some other
animals. (Anon., 1973).
Kabul Zoo then exhibited the Pallas' Cat, which any zoo today would
love to have or any wildlife biologist would love to just see. Other
small cats in the zoo were Lynx and Leopard cat. Other animals were
wolves, jackals, foxes, martens, otters, and striped hyenas. Two
species of bears, Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) as well as the
Black Bear (Selenarctos tibetanus) native to Afghanistan were kept in a
modern open-moated enclosures. Nogge says the eye-to-eye distance
from the visitors in a naturalistic setting made them very popular.
The Turkish people contributed another bear, a young male of (Ursus
arctos syriacus) (Nogge, 1973).
The zoo had a breeding group of the rare Bactrian Wapiti (Cervus
elephanus bactrianus) Endangered by cultivation and pastoral
practices, the deer was protected in a sanctuary established by the
King in Ajar Valley, Central Afghanistan. The zoo also kept a small
herd of the Goitered Gazelle (Gazella subgutterosa) in 1972 was
reported to be "nearly extinct due to uncontrolled hunting" (Nogge,
1973).
An early attempt at an ecological display was the large moated
enclosure including an artificial mountain where Afghan red sheep,
(Ovis ammon cycloceros), Marmots (Marmota caudata) and Snowcocks
(Tetraogallus himalayensis) were exhibited together. Other mountain
ungulates exhibited at the zoo were Ibex (Capra ibex) and Bezoar wild
goat (Capra hircus). The Bactrian red deer and Afghanistan red sheep
bred in 1973. (Nogge, 1973)
The founders of the zoo and their German advisors did well for
Afghanistan for that period. Even a pond enclosure to mimic
Afghanistan's well-known waterfowl lake, Ab-e-Istada, was included
where one could see Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber roseus),
Spoonbills (Platalea leucocoridia), Stilts (Himantopus himantopus),
Shelducks (Tadorna tadorna) and Ruddy Shelducks (Tadorna ferruginea).
In addition Afghan pheasants were kept and bred in a pheasantry
besides several exotic species. Afghan subspecies of the common
pheasant (Phasianus colchicus bianchii) lives only in northern
Afghanistan. Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impejanus) as well as
Koklass Pucrasia macrolopha is from Nuristan in east Afghanistan
(Nogge, 1973).
The zoo was very popular with visitors and press. In 1972 the number
of visitors was more than 150,000, an increase of more than 20% over
the previous (Nogge, 1973). Thus, public interest could be fired
about wildlife problems in Afghanistan. The first hunting law was
drafted with a proposal for the establishment of wildlife reserves in
different parts of the country. (Nogge, 1973)
Kabul Zoo was given a young female elephant, promised by Indian
President Sri Giri on the occasion of a state visit. Immediately
when the commitment was made plans were drawn up and construction
for the enclosure began. This was in late 1973. In the same year
Drs.Gunther Nogge who served as Scientific Advisor for Kabul Zoo left
and Mr. G. Kuhnert took over the job. (Anon., 1973).
Kabul Zoo today, according to the occasional visitor and welfare
organizations, is not faring well. It is still supported by the
Kabul Municipal authority or the Taliban Mayor of Kabul but the war
and political instability as well as social and economic
difficulties have taken a vast toll. There is no legislation or
official agreement for the zoo which, then, is at the mercy of the
inclination of the government officials which happen to be holding
the Municipal posts.
A report on 25 January 1998 from London Times correspondent in
Afghanistan, Stephen Grey indicates that the Kabul Zoo is in great
difficulty. At present the zoo hold a pair of lions, 6 bears, 1 wild
boar, 2 wolves, 2 foxes, and 6 rabbits. It is not known precisely
how many were killed during the recent civil war. It is known that
the male lion was blinded by a grenade explosion thrown by soldiers
in retaliation when the lion mauled a colleague who went into the
cage on a dare. A bear has a gunshot wound in the leg. Many
animals have been shot for food. What remain are freezing as there
is no power or fuel to heat their cages in the minus 19 degree cold.
An 60 year old head keeper who had worked in the zoo for decades was
taken from his hut and murdered by unknown persons. The animals’
position is far worse without Akbar - he stayed when the other keepers
left and sneaked out of the zoo at night to find food for the surviving
animals. Grey says the zoo is a "favorite of Taliban soldiers on leave from
the front line" - but for the wrong reasons: the keepers are unable to stop
them from throwing snowballs at the animals, who already have
tolerated more from man than any creature should.
The zoo is located 20 km from the front line of the civil war which
is too close for comfort - or safety - of the animals. It is, as Grey says, a "zoo of horror" today.
References
Anon., (1973) International Zoo News, Vol. 20.
Grey,S. (1998) Wounded Animals at Bay in Kabul's Zoo of Horror.
London Times, p. 14. London.
Nogge, G. (1972) Kabul Zoo the Show-window of Afghan Fauna. The
Outdoorman, Monthly, Volume III, Number (2&3), October/November:
1972.
Nogge, G. (1973) Kabul Zoo. International Zoo News, 20:4/114.
Since the most recent war in Afghanistan, the IZE web site has received a number of inquiries concerning the Kabul Zoo and the welfare of its animals. The article below, written by IZE’s Asian Representative, Sally Walker, describes the current situation as well as the history of the zoo.
Afghanistan
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is completely landlocked,
surrounded by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China and
Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, and Iran. It is one of the poorest
countries in the world. It is a dry and cold country with diverse albeit
sparse flora and a diverse and numerous fauna species for such a small
country. Afghanistan is about one-sixth the size of India.
Mammal species of Afghanistan, many of which are common with Indian
and other south Asian countries, number more than 100, many of them
very highly endangered. Large and medium sized mammals include
snow leopard, markor, urial, ibex, leopard, Marco Polo sheep (bharal),
bears, wolves, foxes, hyenas, jackals, and wild boar. Small mammals
include mongoose, hedgehogs, shrews, hares, mouse hares, bats, and
various rodents. Over 380 species of birds have been recorded in the
country and about half that number breed there.
It has been described as a land of "marginal environment" with
enormous stress on the land by people too poor to buy fuel and buy
domestic livestock. This has resulted in soil erosion, and poor
irrigation practices have reduced or destroyed the land. The Afghan
government is said to be aware of the environmental problems but war
pressures are an enormous distraction and also cause further
disturbance to the environment.
The combination of occupation, war, religious prejudice, political
disturbance has -- to a great extent -- alienated Afghanistan from
the rest of the world. The confusing and controversial role the
country played in the hijacking of an Air India flight from Katmandu
has further alienated Afghanistan from many other countries.
Afghanistan's many problems have had a devastating effect on the
Kabul Zoo. Horror stories from active wartime and political
revolution have appeared in the press from time to time. Even
today, foreign journalists occasionally write about the conditions in
Kabul Zoo, Afghanistan, appealing to any kind of activists or
concerned humans to find a solution for the tormented and
innocent animals.
Some readers may think that the zoo in a country like Afghanistan
might never have been much different, but it is not so. At one time
the Kabul Zoo was a proud institution.
History of Kabul Zoo
The Faculty of Science of Kabul University used to keep some animal
collections for research. The public became interested in these
animals which led to an idea of founding a proper zoo. A "Committee
of Zoological Projects" in Afghanistan was founded by the President
HRH Prince Nader with members taken from the Royal Afghan
government, the Municipality of Kabul, and zoologists from the science
faculty at the University of Kabul. Gunther Nogge, today the very well
known Director of Cologne Zoo, Germany and former President of the
World Zoo Organization, was on deputation as a professor in Afghanistan
at this time and was much involved with the zoo. A large site for the zoo
was selected and made available by the Municipality of Kabul on the
bank of the Kabul River. The zoo was inaugurated in 1967 and a year
later the first department of a zoological museum was added. The zoo
was supported financially by the Government while technical and
scientific input was left to Afghan and visiting German zoologists.
German zoo experts trained the Afghan zookeepers and taxidermists.
Modern for that time, moated enclosures were constructed in the
interests of the animals themselves, the animal keepers, the zoo
visitors and even for economic reasons. Since most of the animals
were native and habituated to the climate, expensive pucca
constructions which are a requirement in other cold or temperate
countries were not necessary. The Faculty of Science at Kabul
University maintained a close connection with Kabul Zoo and a number
of research publications were generated on parasitological
investigations and successful breeding.
The focus of the zoo was Afghan fauna. In 1972 there were 32
species of mammals, 85 species of birds and 4 species of reptiles.
The total number of animals in the zoo was 417, nearly all of which
were collected in Afghanistan. There was also a lion, a tiger, some
pheasants and parrots. Twenty five years ago there were several rare
species listed in the Red Data Book of IUCN and others which were
rarely seen in captivity.
Cologne Zoo, Germany, contributed the pair of tigers which were
possibly (Panthera tigris) or perhaps an undeterminate subspecies. The
1969 Red Data Book of IUCN estimated that the total number of the
Caspian Tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) ranging through northern
Afghanistan, Turkestan and northern Iran was 50 to 80. Dr. Gunther
Nogge conducted several expeditions to the Amu Darya region, however,
and was convinced that the sub-species no longer existed in
Afghanistan.
The zoo maintained the Afghanistan leopard which could be seen only
in six zoos of the world at the time. In 1973 a snow leopard was
donated from "royal breeding stock" of the King along with some other
animals. (Anon., 1973).
Kabul Zoo then exhibited the Pallas' Cat, which any zoo today would
love to have or any wildlife biologist would love to just see. Other
small cats in the zoo were Lynx and Leopard cat. Other animals were
wolves, jackals, foxes, martens, otters, and striped hyenas. Two
species of bears, Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) as well as the
Black Bear (Selenarctos tibetanus) native to Afghanistan were kept in a
modern open-moated enclosures. Nogge says the eye-to-eye distance
from the visitors in a naturalistic setting made them very popular.
The Turkish people contributed another bear, a young male of (Ursus
arctos syriacus) (Nogge, 1973).
The zoo had a breeding group of the rare Bactrian Wapiti (Cervus
elephanus bactrianus) Endangered by cultivation and pastoral
practices, the deer was protected in a sanctuary established by the
King in Ajar Valley, Central Afghanistan. The zoo also kept a small
herd of the Goitered Gazelle (Gazella subgutterosa) in 1972 was
reported to be "nearly extinct due to uncontrolled hunting" (Nogge,
1973).
An early attempt at an ecological display was the large moated
enclosure including an artificial mountain where Afghan red sheep,
(Ovis ammon cycloceros), Marmots (Marmota caudata) and Snowcocks
(Tetraogallus himalayensis) were exhibited together. Other mountain
ungulates exhibited at the zoo were Ibex (Capra ibex) and Bezoar wild
goat (Capra hircus). The Bactrian red deer and Afghanistan red sheep
bred in 1973. (Nogge, 1973)
The founders of the zoo and their German advisors did well for
Afghanistan for that period. Even a pond enclosure to mimic
Afghanistan's well-known waterfowl lake, Ab-e-Istada, was included
where one could see Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber roseus),
Spoonbills (Platalea leucocoridia), Stilts (Himantopus himantopus),
Shelducks (Tadorna tadorna) and Ruddy Shelducks (Tadorna ferruginea).
In addition Afghan pheasants were kept and bred in a pheasantry
besides several exotic species. Afghan subspecies of the common
pheasant (Phasianus colchicus bianchii) lives only in northern
Afghanistan. Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impejanus) as well as
Koklass Pucrasia macrolopha is from Nuristan in east Afghanistan
(Nogge, 1973).
The zoo was very popular with visitors and press. In 1972 the number
of visitors was more than 150,000, an increase of more than 20% over
the previous (Nogge, 1973). Thus, public interest could be fired
about wildlife problems in Afghanistan. The first hunting law was
drafted with a proposal for the establishment of wildlife reserves in
different parts of the country. (Nogge, 1973)
Kabul Zoo was given a young female elephant, promised by Indian
President Sri Giri on the occasion of a state visit. Immediately
when the commitment was made plans were drawn up and construction
for the enclosure began. This was in late 1973. In the same year
Drs.Gunther Nogge who served as Scientific Advisor for Kabul Zoo left
and Mr. G. Kuhnert took over the job. (Anon., 1973).
Kabul Zoo today, according to the occasional visitor and welfare
organizations, is not faring well. It is still supported by the
Kabul Municipal authority or the Taliban Mayor of Kabul but the war
and political instability as well as social and economic
difficulties have taken a vast toll. There is no legislation or
official agreement for the zoo which, then, is at the mercy of the
inclination of the government officials which happen to be holding
the Municipal posts.
A report on 25 January 1998 from London Times correspondent in
Afghanistan, Stephen Grey indicates that the Kabul Zoo is in great
difficulty. At present the zoo hold a pair of lions, 6 bears, 1 wild
boar, 2 wolves, 2 foxes, and 6 rabbits. It is not known precisely
how many were killed during the recent civil war. It is known that
the male lion was blinded by a grenade explosion thrown by soldiers
in retaliation when the lion mauled a colleague who went into the
cage on a dare. A bear has a gunshot wound in the leg. Many
animals have been shot for food. What remain are freezing as there
is no power or fuel to heat their cages in the minus 19 degree cold.
An 60 year old head keeper who had worked in the zoo for decades was
taken from his hut and murdered by unknown persons. The animals’
position is far worse without Akbar - he stayed when the other keepers
left and sneaked out of the zoo at night to find food for the surviving
animals. Grey says the zoo is a "favorite of Taliban soldiers on leave from
the front line" - but for the wrong reasons: the keepers are unable to stop
them from throwing snowballs at the animals, who already have
tolerated more from man than any creature should.
The zoo is located 20 km from the front line of the civil war which
is too close for comfort - or safety - of the animals. It is, as Grey says, a "zoo of horror" today.
References
Anon., (1973) International Zoo News, Vol. 20.
Grey,S. (1998) Wounded Animals at Bay in Kabul's Zoo of Horror.
London Times, p. 14. London.
Nogge, G. (1972) Kabul Zoo the Show-window of Afghan Fauna. The
Outdoorman, Monthly, Volume III, Number (2&3), October/November:
1972.
Nogge, G. (1973) Kabul Zoo. International Zoo News, 20:4/114.
Afgha Dogs
Why Dogs Miss the Taliban...
KABUL (Afghanistan) — Say what you will about the freshly-ousted Taliban regime in Afghanistan; we've all heard how their strict, totalitarian form of government forbade kite-flying, beard-cutting and Arnold Schwarzenegger films. But one restriction will be sorely missed by many four-footed Afghans: the prohibition of dog-fighting.
Mama Kharay is the ringmaster for the games.
He had been imprisoned by the Taliban for violating
the dog fight ban, but now he's back in business.
(Photo: Jan 18, 2002, Enric Marti / AP)
As soon as the Taliban leadership was quashed, Afghan men wasted no time in reinstating the old tradition of Friday morning dogfights (I say "Afghan men", based on the observation that at the last spectacle there was not a single woman present amid some 500 spectators).
However, one important note must be made regarding dog fights in Afghanistan. Unlike the Western tradition of illegal dog-fighting, Afghan dogs do not fight to the death, and often there is no bloodshed at all. These dog fights have been described more like wrestling matches, where one dog is victorious after pinning its opponent to the ground or frightening it out of the ring. In addition, there is not (yet) any profitable motive, as the winner receives nothing more than applause, and betting, while present, is not widespread.
Two dogs, "Palang" (left) and "Shair" draw an enormous
crowd in the Kabul neighborhood of Chamane Babrak.
(Photo: Jan 18, 2002, Enric Marti / AP)
Here is one reluctant contestant, just before entering the ring.
(Photo: Jan 18, 2002, Enric Marti / AP)
...and after.
(Photo: Jan 18, 2002, Enric Marti / AP)
Under the Taliban government, sports such as football, cricket and martial arts were encouraged in lieu of dog fights and bird fights, but this crowd seems to have a less-refined taste in sports. Of course, as with any other major sporting events, vendors circulate through the audience selling peanuts, raisins, cigarettes and chewing gum.
Most spectators say that they are only casual observers who do not wager but merely stop by to see the excitement. A Radio Free Europe correspondent who was present at last week's fight quoted one Russian-speaking man: "We come by here every Friday. There are people here who [gamble] also. But we don't do that. We see the dog fights here so we stop and watch them." (Click here for the full report from RFE/RL.)
They're all waiting. The show must go on.
(Photo: Jan 18, 2002, Enric Marti / AP)
The dog fights, which begin at 10:00 each Friday morning, generally consist of only about three or four matches and last only an hour or so. Friday is a Muslim holy day, and spectators must leave to attend noontime prayers.
KABUL (Afghanistan) — Say what you will about the freshly-ousted Taliban regime in Afghanistan; we've all heard how their strict, totalitarian form of government forbade kite-flying, beard-cutting and Arnold Schwarzenegger films. But one restriction will be sorely missed by many four-footed Afghans: the prohibition of dog-fighting.
Mama Kharay is the ringmaster for the games.
He had been imprisoned by the Taliban for violating
the dog fight ban, but now he's back in business.
(Photo: Jan 18, 2002, Enric Marti / AP)
As soon as the Taliban leadership was quashed, Afghan men wasted no time in reinstating the old tradition of Friday morning dogfights (I say "Afghan men", based on the observation that at the last spectacle there was not a single woman present amid some 500 spectators).
However, one important note must be made regarding dog fights in Afghanistan. Unlike the Western tradition of illegal dog-fighting, Afghan dogs do not fight to the death, and often there is no bloodshed at all. These dog fights have been described more like wrestling matches, where one dog is victorious after pinning its opponent to the ground or frightening it out of the ring. In addition, there is not (yet) any profitable motive, as the winner receives nothing more than applause, and betting, while present, is not widespread.
Two dogs, "Palang" (left) and "Shair" draw an enormous
crowd in the Kabul neighborhood of Chamane Babrak.
(Photo: Jan 18, 2002, Enric Marti / AP)
Here is one reluctant contestant, just before entering the ring.
(Photo: Jan 18, 2002, Enric Marti / AP)
...and after.
(Photo: Jan 18, 2002, Enric Marti / AP)
Under the Taliban government, sports such as football, cricket and martial arts were encouraged in lieu of dog fights and bird fights, but this crowd seems to have a less-refined taste in sports. Of course, as with any other major sporting events, vendors circulate through the audience selling peanuts, raisins, cigarettes and chewing gum.
Most spectators say that they are only casual observers who do not wager but merely stop by to see the excitement. A Radio Free Europe correspondent who was present at last week's fight quoted one Russian-speaking man: "We come by here every Friday. There are people here who [gamble] also. But we don't do that. We see the dog fights here so we stop and watch them." (Click here for the full report from RFE/RL.)
They're all waiting. The show must go on.
(Photo: Jan 18, 2002, Enric Marti / AP)
The dog fights, which begin at 10:00 each Friday morning, generally consist of only about three or four matches and last only an hour or so. Friday is a Muslim holy day, and spectators must leave to attend noontime prayers.
Afghan lost Sometimes
Afghan tales: Conflict and chaos
Spies, soldiers, diplomats and ordinary people who have lived through Afghanistan's decades of turmoil speak to Alan Johnston, the BBC's former Kabul correspondent.
Shabibi Shah in the 1960s
Shabibi Shah (l) in Afghanistan during the 1960s
The old woman was gazing out of the glass doors into her small, neat, English garden. But as she talked, she was reliving a moment from her traumatic Afghan past.
"He was beaten," she said. "He lost his four front teeth."
Shabibi Shah was remembering her husband Zafar's emergence from prison. He had been jailed by the Afghan communists, who were then in power.
"He wasn't himself. We had to admit him to a hospital - a mental hospital.
"He went crazy for a while, until he got better - and then they put him in prison for other reasons. They were just trying to destroy people who were against them."
Eventually the family fled in 1980. Mrs Shah endured some of the hardest days of her life as she walked through the mountains with her children to the safety of Pakistan, before eventually settling in Britain.
I had asked her to tell me her story in the course of making a radio documentary - a history of modern Afghanistan.
Our project involved raking through three decades' worth of the BBC's archives. We contacted Afghans in Kabul and elsewhere, and spoke to soldiers and diplomats and former spies - Russian, American, British and Pakistani.
Upheaval
I was repeatedly and powerfully reminded of the sheer extent of the suffering that the many years of war and political upheaval have inflicted on the Afghan people.
Like Mrs Shah, almost every Afghan has an extraordinary story.
Abdul Baseer was just a teenager at the start of the communist era.
He told us how he was picked up on the street and flown by helicopter to a remote outpost in the mountains.
He was meant to be turned immediately into a soldier and put on the frontline in the regime's fight against the mujahideen guerrillas.
"They had mined the whole area around the garrison so you couldn't escape," said Mr Baseer.
"People were obviously thinking about how to get out of that place rather than enthusiastically thinking about being part of that wonderful army."
Brutality
One Russian officer, Oleg Kulakov, knew all about the brutal realities of life on Afghan battlefields.
He told the programme of the ambushes, and the fear and frenzy of mujahideen assaults in the night.
Mujahideen soldiers celebrate victory
The mujahideen drove the Soviets out in 1989 with the help of US weapons
"Sometimes there was very close combat - hand to hand," he said. "That was very difficult. You are thinking about survival."
He spoke of dust, and blood and men crying out in the darkness.
"I know of no-one who would like to live it again," he said.
After being wounded for a third time the officer remembers convalescing in a military hospital in Afghanistan.
He took a walk in the grounds and came across a stack of coffins. He asked who they were for, and was told that they were being readied for Russia's "future losses".
Inevitably, he wondered if one of the coffins might one day be his.
But of course, the Russian officer was lucky enough to survive, whereas perhaps around a million Afghans were killed in the war that his army waged with much brutality.
There were many reports of villages being laid waste, and of atrocities.
I asked the officer if he was ashamed of that.
After a long pause, he replied: "Sometimes."
Oppression
The mujahideen, with the help of American-supplied weapons, won their great victory and drove the Soviets out in 1989.
But they went on to disgrace themselves after eventually ousting the Afghan communists and seizing the capital.
Rory Stewart
To govern Afghanistan is a bit like being a Chicago ward politician in the 1920s
Rory Stewart, former diplomat
A former soldier in the communist regime, Sami Dinarkhail, told us of the day that he watched his old enemies march into Kabul.
He said some in the city had looked forward to the arrival of the fighters, but that they were soon disappointed.
He described seeing gunmen who had perhaps never driven a car before taking vehicles and crashing them, then finding another - and then crashing it too.
Along with the looting, there was the start of the fighting between warlords that would ravage the country for years to come.
And from that chaos emerged the Taleban movement.
Initially their restoration of a kind of order was widely welcomed in their heartlands, and even in Kabul.
But again there would be much disappointment.
The Taleban brought with them an austere, narrow interpretation of Islam that involved banning what they saw as corrupting distractions, like television, music, dancing and kite-flying.
There were strict regulations on dress and appearance, and women were banned from most education and employment.
And even more darkly, a young ethnic Turkman, Rahmat Wali, told the programme about the Taleban oppression of ethnic minority groups in northern Afghanistan.
He talked of how his uncle Hamid was dragged from his home, forced into a pickup truck and taken to a detention centre.
Later the family identified his body, one among many. Rahmat Wali told me that marks on his uncle's corpse showed that he had been tortured.
Holy war
And of course the Taleban attracted a dangerous friend - Osama Bin Laden.
Osama bin Laden, pictured in Afghanistan in 1998
The whereabouts of al-Qaeda's Saudi-born leader remain a mystery
He had been among the young radicals from across the Muslim world who had been drawn to and inspired by the Afghan holy war against the Soviets.
Now the likes of Bin Laden were ready to focus on that other superpower, the United States.
We talked to the former CIA man Michael Scheuer, who headed the unit set up by the agency to track the al-Qaeda leader as he moved across Afghanistan.
Mr Scheuer told me of his deep frustration at the Clinton administration's passing up of what he believes was an extraordinary opportunity to kill Bin Laden in the governor's palace in Kandahar one night late in 1998.
And after studying his target very closely for years, Mr Scheuer drew conclusions about Bin Laden's motives that you might not necessarily expect from a CIA man.
"The war that America is fighting now has nothing to do with what any American political leader has been willing to tell the Americans," he said.
"We're fighting people who believe that our foreign policy is an assault on their religion and on the people who believe in that religion. You don't have to agree with that, but you have to be an adult in the sense of understanding what motivates your enemy if you hope to defeat him."
Strategy
Among our interviewees there was much criticism of the strategy that the West has pursued on all fronts in the aftermath of the ousting of the Taleban.
It was argued that far too little in the way of troops and resources were thrown into the project, and that the Americans too quickly moved on to the Iraq war - imagining that their work was largely done in Afghanistan.
There was criticism too of the West's collaboration with the former warlords who have done so much damage to Afghanistan in the past.
But the former British diplomat Rory Stewart, who now lives and works in Kabul, took a slightly different line.
"To govern Afghanistan is a bit like being a Chicago ward politician in the 1920s," he said.
"It involves being very good in understanding power, understanding who has power in a local area, and an understanding that if you are going to remove them you have got to think very carefully about who you are going to replace them with."
Mr Stewart said that the aim in the long run must be to phase out the warlords. But, he said: "You're not going to get to the long run unless you make some compromises and are prepared to work with people who you might not like to have dinner with."
Spies, soldiers, diplomats and ordinary people who have lived through Afghanistan's decades of turmoil speak to Alan Johnston, the BBC's former Kabul correspondent.
Shabibi Shah in the 1960s
Shabibi Shah (l) in Afghanistan during the 1960s
The old woman was gazing out of the glass doors into her small, neat, English garden. But as she talked, she was reliving a moment from her traumatic Afghan past.
"He was beaten," she said. "He lost his four front teeth."
Shabibi Shah was remembering her husband Zafar's emergence from prison. He had been jailed by the Afghan communists, who were then in power.
"He wasn't himself. We had to admit him to a hospital - a mental hospital.
"He went crazy for a while, until he got better - and then they put him in prison for other reasons. They were just trying to destroy people who were against them."
Eventually the family fled in 1980. Mrs Shah endured some of the hardest days of her life as she walked through the mountains with her children to the safety of Pakistan, before eventually settling in Britain.
I had asked her to tell me her story in the course of making a radio documentary - a history of modern Afghanistan.
Our project involved raking through three decades' worth of the BBC's archives. We contacted Afghans in Kabul and elsewhere, and spoke to soldiers and diplomats and former spies - Russian, American, British and Pakistani.
Upheaval
I was repeatedly and powerfully reminded of the sheer extent of the suffering that the many years of war and political upheaval have inflicted on the Afghan people.
Like Mrs Shah, almost every Afghan has an extraordinary story.
Abdul Baseer was just a teenager at the start of the communist era.
He told us how he was picked up on the street and flown by helicopter to a remote outpost in the mountains.
He was meant to be turned immediately into a soldier and put on the frontline in the regime's fight against the mujahideen guerrillas.
"They had mined the whole area around the garrison so you couldn't escape," said Mr Baseer.
"People were obviously thinking about how to get out of that place rather than enthusiastically thinking about being part of that wonderful army."
Brutality
One Russian officer, Oleg Kulakov, knew all about the brutal realities of life on Afghan battlefields.
He told the programme of the ambushes, and the fear and frenzy of mujahideen assaults in the night.
Mujahideen soldiers celebrate victory
The mujahideen drove the Soviets out in 1989 with the help of US weapons
"Sometimes there was very close combat - hand to hand," he said. "That was very difficult. You are thinking about survival."
He spoke of dust, and blood and men crying out in the darkness.
"I know of no-one who would like to live it again," he said.
After being wounded for a third time the officer remembers convalescing in a military hospital in Afghanistan.
He took a walk in the grounds and came across a stack of coffins. He asked who they were for, and was told that they were being readied for Russia's "future losses".
Inevitably, he wondered if one of the coffins might one day be his.
But of course, the Russian officer was lucky enough to survive, whereas perhaps around a million Afghans were killed in the war that his army waged with much brutality.
There were many reports of villages being laid waste, and of atrocities.
I asked the officer if he was ashamed of that.
After a long pause, he replied: "Sometimes."
Oppression
The mujahideen, with the help of American-supplied weapons, won their great victory and drove the Soviets out in 1989.
But they went on to disgrace themselves after eventually ousting the Afghan communists and seizing the capital.
Rory Stewart
To govern Afghanistan is a bit like being a Chicago ward politician in the 1920s
Rory Stewart, former diplomat
A former soldier in the communist regime, Sami Dinarkhail, told us of the day that he watched his old enemies march into Kabul.
He said some in the city had looked forward to the arrival of the fighters, but that they were soon disappointed.
He described seeing gunmen who had perhaps never driven a car before taking vehicles and crashing them, then finding another - and then crashing it too.
Along with the looting, there was the start of the fighting between warlords that would ravage the country for years to come.
And from that chaos emerged the Taleban movement.
Initially their restoration of a kind of order was widely welcomed in their heartlands, and even in Kabul.
But again there would be much disappointment.
The Taleban brought with them an austere, narrow interpretation of Islam that involved banning what they saw as corrupting distractions, like television, music, dancing and kite-flying.
There were strict regulations on dress and appearance, and women were banned from most education and employment.
And even more darkly, a young ethnic Turkman, Rahmat Wali, told the programme about the Taleban oppression of ethnic minority groups in northern Afghanistan.
He talked of how his uncle Hamid was dragged from his home, forced into a pickup truck and taken to a detention centre.
Later the family identified his body, one among many. Rahmat Wali told me that marks on his uncle's corpse showed that he had been tortured.
Holy war
And of course the Taleban attracted a dangerous friend - Osama Bin Laden.
Osama bin Laden, pictured in Afghanistan in 1998
The whereabouts of al-Qaeda's Saudi-born leader remain a mystery
He had been among the young radicals from across the Muslim world who had been drawn to and inspired by the Afghan holy war against the Soviets.
Now the likes of Bin Laden were ready to focus on that other superpower, the United States.
We talked to the former CIA man Michael Scheuer, who headed the unit set up by the agency to track the al-Qaeda leader as he moved across Afghanistan.
Mr Scheuer told me of his deep frustration at the Clinton administration's passing up of what he believes was an extraordinary opportunity to kill Bin Laden in the governor's palace in Kandahar one night late in 1998.
And after studying his target very closely for years, Mr Scheuer drew conclusions about Bin Laden's motives that you might not necessarily expect from a CIA man.
"The war that America is fighting now has nothing to do with what any American political leader has been willing to tell the Americans," he said.
"We're fighting people who believe that our foreign policy is an assault on their religion and on the people who believe in that religion. You don't have to agree with that, but you have to be an adult in the sense of understanding what motivates your enemy if you hope to defeat him."
Strategy
Among our interviewees there was much criticism of the strategy that the West has pursued on all fronts in the aftermath of the ousting of the Taleban.
It was argued that far too little in the way of troops and resources were thrown into the project, and that the Americans too quickly moved on to the Iraq war - imagining that their work was largely done in Afghanistan.
There was criticism too of the West's collaboration with the former warlords who have done so much damage to Afghanistan in the past.
But the former British diplomat Rory Stewart, who now lives and works in Kabul, took a slightly different line.
"To govern Afghanistan is a bit like being a Chicago ward politician in the 1920s," he said.
"It involves being very good in understanding power, understanding who has power in a local area, and an understanding that if you are going to remove them you have got to think very carefully about who you are going to replace them with."
Mr Stewart said that the aim in the long run must be to phase out the warlords. But, he said: "You're not going to get to the long run unless you make some compromises and are prepared to work with people who you might not like to have dinner with."
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Pharma
U.S. Medics Reach Out In Afghanistan - Matt Mientka
Army Medic Stacey Osterhoubt
Army Medic Stacey Osterhoubt
KABUL, AFGANISTAN-Though the Department of Defense's (DoD) Central Command in Tampa, Fla., continues to prepare for a possible war with Iraq, American civil affairs officials here said they are staying for the long haul to help rebuild the country and inoculate the population against terrorism.
The United States began a dual military and humanitarian mission last year in which combat medical support teams began to conduct medical and dental outreaches into the local populations. This year, reserve civil affairs teams began to replace the combat medical providers to help rebuild the country's medical infrastructure and to conduct outreaches far into the Afghani countryside, away from the relatively sophisticated medical infrastructure of Kabul.
Currently, the U.S. deploys approximately 300 medical and non-medical civil affairs personnel-a higher number than at any other time during the war. These so-called Coalition of Joint Civil Military Operations Task Force teams include physicians, nurses, medics and other non-medical specialists, some of whom coordinate work with the many non-governmental organizations (NGO), such as the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, that operate here. The vast majority of the task force members are reservists.
Away from the greater Kabul area and the U.S. base in Bagram, seven medical teams composed of various specialists live in safe houses in the countryside, from which they launch medical outreaches to remote villages, providing clinics and meeting with village elders to assess medical needs. The teams also build water wells and restore schools.
Col. Elizabeth Steadman, NC, USA, told U.S. MEDICINE last month that DoD continues to play a leading role in rebuilding the country, assessing needs and coordinating the inflow of equipment and supplies from governmental and non-governmental donors. "The [Afghanis] have good plans," she said. "It's just really a matter of getting the resources to work with and the U.S. has helped significantly with that."
Col. Steadman said she has worked with the new Afghani minister of health, a female surgeon and retired four-star general, to plan Afghanistan's medical infrastructure. "Their focus now is on primary care and preventive status," she said.
Medical Infrastructure
Most hospitals in Afghanistan have not had the money to purchase new equipment and refurbish their buildings for the better part of two decades, Col. Steadman advised. "So most of the equipment is 20-30 years old in many cases and they don't have the high-tech things that we have in the U.S.-there are no CT scanners in Afghanistan, except one at the Army hospital," she said.
Officials interviewed by U.S. MEDICINE agreed that, although medicine is practiced in a Spartan, low-tech environment, the country has a wealth of talented, dedicated physicians who often work without pay. In contrast to a report from the American Forces Press Service that Afghani physicians treat everything with "egg yolk and spit," Col. Steadman advised that the primary difference between urban Afghanistan and U.S. medical care is technology.
"At Kabul, the treatment is basically the same as in the U.S. but without the high technology," Col. Steadman said. "They have the same medications that we do and they treat with [virtually] the same antibiotics that we have. Basically, if they had the supplies and equipment the treatment would be the same," she said, noting that a lack of radiology and other equipment precludes physicians from performing certain procedures.
Col. Steadman, who was at the tail-end of a nine-month tour last month, said she had traveled a few times from Kabul to Bagram and other points in the country but had worked primarily in Kabul. Among other tasks, she worked with officials from the Kabul Medical Institute, a medical school that, like the two sole pharmaceutical plants in the country, was ravaged by the civil war and the Taliban.
"After the Taliban left, there were no medical books in the library" at the medical school, Col. Steadman said. Since then, American personnel have obtained approximately 16,000 medical, dental, veterinary and nursing textbooks, as well as monetary donations for the school. "We rebuilt the library at Kabul Medical as well as the dental school and we've also sent a lot of [textbooks] out to some of the remote areas and villages to the physicians there," she said.
The Kabul Medical Institute was reopened in late October with U.S. and coalition help, according to DoD.
Currently, the task force is working to restore Afghanistan's pharmaceutical production capacity, which was greatly slowed when warring factions during the civil war stole scarce machine motors from the only two plants in the country. While one plant once employed 702 pharmacists, it is now down to 80 total employees manufacturing only two or three drugs. Col. Steadman said the task force is hopeful they will soon procure machinery to restore the pharmaceutical output to 25 per cent of its former capacity, allowing the country to reduce its import dependence on Pakistan.
Afghanis Receive American Personnel
Though American civil affairs teams have been well received in Afghanistan, military personnel continue to exercise caution because Taliban and al Qaeda sympathizers remain in the area. "There's a level of danger. Going out, we're always armed, we are always in uniform," said Col. Steadman. "I don't feel threatened, but I'm very cautious because we are still considered to be in a war zone."
Upon arriving in Afghanistan, Col. Steadman said she had doubts about how she would be perceived by the local male physicians because of her sex. "I have to say there has not been the first issue," she said. "They've been incredibly gracious and it's just amazing how wonderful they are and how much they appreciate us."
Working in Kabul, Col. Steadman said she has seen the "good parts" of Afghani society and has observed that, in just the last three months, fewer women are covering themselves with burkas. "It seems to be their choice now," she said. Currently, women are returning to school across the country, including the nursing school in Kabul, where there are now 25 female students among the 325 students. The task force is also refurbishing a women's surgical hospital that had long been neglected.
A Medic Teaches Afghanis
Likwise, Staff Sgt. Stacey Osterhoubt, USA, a medic, told U.S. MEDICINE last month that she and her colleagues have been well received in Afghanistan. "They're very curious about us, as we are about them, and I'd say that [medical outreach] has been very welcome."
Sgt. Osterhoubt, who is a nurse in the civilian world, said she and her colleagues commonly treat patients that suffer from the common cold. "They're very prone to [colds] as well as stunted growth simply because of malnutrition," she said. "So a lot of what we're trying to do is work with volunteer groups, furnishing vitamins in the area, doing teaching in schools to help along the way."
Although infectious diseases such as tuberculosis are common here because of poor sanitation and medical infrastructure, the most common ailments stem from malnutrition, and obesity is equally rare. "What we've done is go to villages outside of the city and spend a few days with them, treat them," said Sgt. Osterhoubt.
In a remote village far from Kabul, the hub of Afghani medicine, she once spent the day with a local midwife to reinforce the teachings she had done with the local women there. Sgt. Osterhoubt said she believes, as military leaders have been saying, that civil affairs forces will remain in Afghanistan for the near future to get the job done.
Last month, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs Torie Clark outlined the recent actions of civil affairs personnel over the course of "just a few days." Among their accomplishments, they provided medical care for 1,400 civilians-half of them children-in Kandahar. In northeastern Afghanistan, they treated 900 civilians for minor medical conditions and provided veterinary care for 700 area sheep.
Army Medic Stacey Osterhoubt
Army Medic Stacey Osterhoubt
KABUL, AFGANISTAN-Though the Department of Defense's (DoD) Central Command in Tampa, Fla., continues to prepare for a possible war with Iraq, American civil affairs officials here said they are staying for the long haul to help rebuild the country and inoculate the population against terrorism.
The United States began a dual military and humanitarian mission last year in which combat medical support teams began to conduct medical and dental outreaches into the local populations. This year, reserve civil affairs teams began to replace the combat medical providers to help rebuild the country's medical infrastructure and to conduct outreaches far into the Afghani countryside, away from the relatively sophisticated medical infrastructure of Kabul.
Currently, the U.S. deploys approximately 300 medical and non-medical civil affairs personnel-a higher number than at any other time during the war. These so-called Coalition of Joint Civil Military Operations Task Force teams include physicians, nurses, medics and other non-medical specialists, some of whom coordinate work with the many non-governmental organizations (NGO), such as the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, that operate here. The vast majority of the task force members are reservists.
Away from the greater Kabul area and the U.S. base in Bagram, seven medical teams composed of various specialists live in safe houses in the countryside, from which they launch medical outreaches to remote villages, providing clinics and meeting with village elders to assess medical needs. The teams also build water wells and restore schools.
Col. Elizabeth Steadman, NC, USA, told U.S. MEDICINE last month that DoD continues to play a leading role in rebuilding the country, assessing needs and coordinating the inflow of equipment and supplies from governmental and non-governmental donors. "The [Afghanis] have good plans," she said. "It's just really a matter of getting the resources to work with and the U.S. has helped significantly with that."
Col. Steadman said she has worked with the new Afghani minister of health, a female surgeon and retired four-star general, to plan Afghanistan's medical infrastructure. "Their focus now is on primary care and preventive status," she said.
Medical Infrastructure
Most hospitals in Afghanistan have not had the money to purchase new equipment and refurbish their buildings for the better part of two decades, Col. Steadman advised. "So most of the equipment is 20-30 years old in many cases and they don't have the high-tech things that we have in the U.S.-there are no CT scanners in Afghanistan, except one at the Army hospital," she said.
Officials interviewed by U.S. MEDICINE agreed that, although medicine is practiced in a Spartan, low-tech environment, the country has a wealth of talented, dedicated physicians who often work without pay. In contrast to a report from the American Forces Press Service that Afghani physicians treat everything with "egg yolk and spit," Col. Steadman advised that the primary difference between urban Afghanistan and U.S. medical care is technology.
"At Kabul, the treatment is basically the same as in the U.S. but without the high technology," Col. Steadman said. "They have the same medications that we do and they treat with [virtually] the same antibiotics that we have. Basically, if they had the supplies and equipment the treatment would be the same," she said, noting that a lack of radiology and other equipment precludes physicians from performing certain procedures.
Col. Steadman, who was at the tail-end of a nine-month tour last month, said she had traveled a few times from Kabul to Bagram and other points in the country but had worked primarily in Kabul. Among other tasks, she worked with officials from the Kabul Medical Institute, a medical school that, like the two sole pharmaceutical plants in the country, was ravaged by the civil war and the Taliban.
"After the Taliban left, there were no medical books in the library" at the medical school, Col. Steadman said. Since then, American personnel have obtained approximately 16,000 medical, dental, veterinary and nursing textbooks, as well as monetary donations for the school. "We rebuilt the library at Kabul Medical as well as the dental school and we've also sent a lot of [textbooks] out to some of the remote areas and villages to the physicians there," she said.
The Kabul Medical Institute was reopened in late October with U.S. and coalition help, according to DoD.
Currently, the task force is working to restore Afghanistan's pharmaceutical production capacity, which was greatly slowed when warring factions during the civil war stole scarce machine motors from the only two plants in the country. While one plant once employed 702 pharmacists, it is now down to 80 total employees manufacturing only two or three drugs. Col. Steadman said the task force is hopeful they will soon procure machinery to restore the pharmaceutical output to 25 per cent of its former capacity, allowing the country to reduce its import dependence on Pakistan.
Afghanis Receive American Personnel
Though American civil affairs teams have been well received in Afghanistan, military personnel continue to exercise caution because Taliban and al Qaeda sympathizers remain in the area. "There's a level of danger. Going out, we're always armed, we are always in uniform," said Col. Steadman. "I don't feel threatened, but I'm very cautious because we are still considered to be in a war zone."
Upon arriving in Afghanistan, Col. Steadman said she had doubts about how she would be perceived by the local male physicians because of her sex. "I have to say there has not been the first issue," she said. "They've been incredibly gracious and it's just amazing how wonderful they are and how much they appreciate us."
Working in Kabul, Col. Steadman said she has seen the "good parts" of Afghani society and has observed that, in just the last three months, fewer women are covering themselves with burkas. "It seems to be their choice now," she said. Currently, women are returning to school across the country, including the nursing school in Kabul, where there are now 25 female students among the 325 students. The task force is also refurbishing a women's surgical hospital that had long been neglected.
A Medic Teaches Afghanis
Likwise, Staff Sgt. Stacey Osterhoubt, USA, a medic, told U.S. MEDICINE last month that she and her colleagues have been well received in Afghanistan. "They're very curious about us, as we are about them, and I'd say that [medical outreach] has been very welcome."
Sgt. Osterhoubt, who is a nurse in the civilian world, said she and her colleagues commonly treat patients that suffer from the common cold. "They're very prone to [colds] as well as stunted growth simply because of malnutrition," she said. "So a lot of what we're trying to do is work with volunteer groups, furnishing vitamins in the area, doing teaching in schools to help along the way."
Although infectious diseases such as tuberculosis are common here because of poor sanitation and medical infrastructure, the most common ailments stem from malnutrition, and obesity is equally rare. "What we've done is go to villages outside of the city and spend a few days with them, treat them," said Sgt. Osterhoubt.
In a remote village far from Kabul, the hub of Afghani medicine, she once spent the day with a local midwife to reinforce the teachings she had done with the local women there. Sgt. Osterhoubt said she believes, as military leaders have been saying, that civil affairs forces will remain in Afghanistan for the near future to get the job done.
Last month, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs Torie Clark outlined the recent actions of civil affairs personnel over the course of "just a few days." Among their accomplishments, they provided medical care for 1,400 civilians-half of them children-in Kandahar. In northeastern Afghanistan, they treated 900 civilians for minor medical conditions and provided veterinary care for 700 area sheep.
Prostitution Thrives in Afghanistan
Prostitution Thrives in Afghanistan
The oldest profession is alive and well in carefully-concealed brothels and on the streets.
By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif
“I do not enjoy being with men. I hate them. But to keep them as loyal customers, I pretend,” said the young Afghan woman.
Dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, with shoulder-length black hair and wearing no makeup, 21-year-old Saida (not her real name) looked ordinary enough. But in this highly conservative society, she has sex with men for money, sometimes several times a night.
Saida’s father and older brother were killed in the civil war of the Nineties, and she lives with her mother and younger siblings in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
an ill-fated Afghan women who have been pushed into prostitution
RAWA Interview with some prostitutes
She has been a prostitute for six years, since the day her mother made a deal with a local pimp.
“One day an old woman came to our house,” Saida recalled. “She talked to my mother, and then took me to a house. A man almost 30 years old was waiting for me. He attacked me right away. It was horrible. I knew nothing; I felt only pain.”
According to Saida, she was left alone with the man for half a day before being brought home.
She told her mother what had happened, but she got no response.
“I now know she must have agreed because she was desperate,” said Saida. “I was in pain for a week. The old woman came again ten days later and took me back to that house. After that I started going on my own and getting money from rich people.”
Saida is now quite familiar with the world of prostitution, and accepts it as her lot in life.
“Having sex with men of any age or appearance is quite normal for me,” she said. “I don’t care who I spend the night with as long as I make a little money.”
She said she sometimes services five customers in one night, and has some regular clients, although she prefers to have a steady stream of new ones.
“My regular clients pay me less,” she explained. “The new ones give me a lot of money.”
Saida said that she charges from 1,000 to 2,500 afghani per night, between 20 and 50 US dollars.
“All men are the same to me,” she said. “At first I really hated fat men, or those whose bodies smelled bad, but now I don’t care.
She broadens her client base through referrals, and does not have a madam or pimp.
“Men give my telephone number to their friends, and that way I find new customers,” she said.
Afghanistan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude.
US State Department Trafficking Report, June 12, 2007
Afghanistan’s sex industry is booming, according to both private and official sources. Statistics are scattered, and few solid figures exist. But since the fall of the Taleban regime in late 2001, prostitution has become, if not more widespread, at least more open.
A police official in the northern province of Jowzjan, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that according to official figures, 2,000 families in his province alone had resorted to prostitution over the past 10 years. The true figure is likely much higher.
“The main factor is the lack of employment opportunities,” he said.
In many cases, prostitution becomes a hereditary trade, passed on from mother to daughter.
The Taleban strictly controlled sexual activity, meting out harsh punishments for extra-marital relations and adultery. Married women who had sex outside marriage were stoned to death; others were publicly flogged.
Sex outside marriage remains illegal in post-Taleban Afghanistan, and the prisons are full of women who have been convicted of “fornication”, a charge that carries a penalty of from five to 15 years in jail.
But this has not stopped women like Dilbar (not her real name), a 40-year-old madam who keeps a brothel in Mazar-e-Sharif.
Dilbar is a professional. She worked as a prostitute for many years, and has passed the trade on to her daughter, who helps her run the brothel. She no longer takes on clients herself.
“I am too old now,” she laughed. “I have children. But I help other girls to become prostitutes. I provide the means to make young men happy for a short time.”
Her customers call her “Khala” - “Auntie” - as a sign of respect.
Dilbar has ten girls who operate out of her brothel as well as making house calls on request. She requires a constant supply of new blood for her clientele, who are always seeking fresher delights.
“When I find a new girl I ask her to bring a friend,” she explained. “That way I get more and more girls. So I can get rid of those who become too old, or who get used up.”
Since prostitution is illegal, Dilbar has to be careful. She does not often allow customers to spend the night, to avoid attracting her neighbours’ attention.
“Most customers just spend a few hours during the day,” she said. She charges from 1,000 to 2,000 afghani, depending on the girl. “The younger, fresher ones get more,” she explained. She shares the proceeds with the girls, but did not divulge her percentage.
The business end of things has been made much easier by the mobile phone. Dilbar moves house frequently so as to avoid detection. With a mobile phone, she can alert her regular customers to her new location.
“Before we had mobile phones, I had to spend a longer period in each house,” she said. “Then when I moved, I would have to go personally to my customers to tell them where we were. These mobile phones are a great help.”
The capital Kabul, too, has its bordellos. In addition to a number of Chinese “restaurants”, which employ imported prostitutes and cater to an international clientele, the city sports several venues such as the house run by Kaka Faiz (again, not his real name).
The charges are steeper in the capital, with Kaka Faiz charging up to 100 dollars for a night with one of his girls.
“We address the needs of young men,” he said. “They exist, so we exist.”
Most of Faiz’s girls are under 25, and he has a well-heeled clientele.
“The men who come to my house work in NGOs [non-government organisations], and some of the city’s wealthiest people also come,” he boasted. “I have placed this entire house at their service, and they can feel quite safe and secure.”
Azita, 19, is one of Faiz’s girls.
“I do not want to do this,” she said, tears rolling down her face. “But I only have eight years of schooling. I wanted to become a doctor, but I couldn’t complete my studies. This is the only job open to me.”
While prostitution existed both before and during the Taliban, Afghan women's rights groups believe the number of sex workers in the country is increasing at a greater rate than before because the country has reached an unprecedented level of economic hardship and lawlessness.
South China Morning Post, April 9, 2006
While unhappy with her fate, she does not blame Faiz, who offered her assistance when she needed it.
“I did not know any boys, and they did not know me or my address,” she explained. “So I meet them in Faiz’s house. He is a good man. Even when there were no customers, he gave me some money. Otherwise, our family of six would die of hunger.”
Organised brothels may offer the girls some protection from the tougher customers.
Latifa, 25, who operates independently, complains that many of her clients are swindlers who refuse to pay after sex.
“Some men try to make us smoke or drink,” she said. “One night two men invited me to their house and said they would pay me 2,000 afghani. They offered me a drink, but I said no. Then they demanded that I have anal sex with them. When I refused they threw me out of the house at midnight, without paying me anything.”
But it’s not all bad, she added.
“There are a few good men who honour their agreement and pay in advance,” she said.
Street prostitutes have a difficult time.
Roya (not her real name), is 25 and comes from Pul-e-Khumri, but now lives in Mazar-e-Sharif, about two hours away.
She is a full-time beggar, and also performs sexual services for money. She goes into shops and offers to have sex with the owner for the equivalent of four dollars.
“Otherwise I have to stand out on a busy street for hours to make one afghani,” she complained. “I have been begging since I was a child. But when I got to be an adolescent, men would humiliate me and try to touch me. So I started having sex for money.”
Taxi drivers are a rich source of information on prostitution, since they interact with so many different types of people.
“I know an old man who came from a foreign country,” said a cabbie in Mazar-e-Sharif. “He didn’t know the city so he asked me for help. He likes young girls. So I took him to a few places. Now we both go once a week. He meets one young girl, and I get another one. He pays for us both, and then he gives me six times the usual taxi fare.”
One young man in Balkh province was unapologetic about visiting prostitutes.
“It’s entertainment - what else are we supposed to do?” he said. “I have relations with a lot of girls; they come to my shop and I pay them. It is good for both sides – I am not married, and they make money.”
The market was completely unregulated, he added.
“We pay from 100 to 5,000 afghani [two to 100 dollars] depending on age and beauty,” he said. “Half the population is involved in this type of activity.”
With so much underground sexual activity, the risk of disease is high.
Doctor Khalid, who runs the AIDS Public Awareness section of a Mazar-e-Sharif clinic, said the Afghan public is woefully ignorant of the risks of HIV infection.
“There are many factors in the transmission of [HIV/] AIDS,” he said. “But the main one is illegal and unhealthy sexual relations.”
When a prostitute has sex with many clients, there is scope for passing on not only the HIV virus which causes AIDS, but also other diseases such as syphilis and certain strains of hepatitis, the doctor explained.
“The campaign for public awareness is not satisfactory,” he complained. “Most people are not aware of the dangers.”
Exact figures are unreliable, but the Afghan health ministry listed 75 recorded cases of HIV in August 2007, representing a fourfold increase in just six months. The actual figure is likely to be exponentially higher.
If Dilbar’s views are any indication, Doctor Khaled is right to be worried.
“AIDS, shmaids!” laughed the brothel owner. “AIDS doesn’t exist in Afghanistan. I’ve never heard of anyone getting infected with AIDS. Here a girl will have sex with three men in a day without using a condom. These condoms are some kind of foreign thing. Myself, I’ve never used one.”
A police official in the northern province of Jowzjan, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that according to official figures, 2,000 families in his province alone had resorted to prostitution over the past 10 years. The true figure is likely much higher.
IWPR, Jan.16, 2008
The police say they are clamping down on prostitution.
“We are quite serious about eliminating these centres of prostitution,” said General Sardar Mohammad Sultani, the police chief in Balkh province, of which Mazar-e-Sharif is the main town. “Now no one dares to do this openly. If there are such centres, they are hidden, and those who use them are so skilled that the police do not know they are there.”
But one young man who had been arrested for having had unlawful sexual relations told IWPR that many prostitutes operate in collusion with the police.
“I once had an appointment with a girl at her house,” he said. “Ten minutes after I got there, the police showed up and took me to jail.”
He explained that this happened because he had not yet figured out how the system worked.
“Last year, I was taking a woman home. She was wearing a burqa, but the police stopped us and said they recognised her as a prostitute. She had a good laugh with the police, who demanded money. I gave them 100 dollars and they let me go.”
Police chief Sultani denies that his men are complicit in prostitution.
“If anyone has any evidence, they should come to us,” he said. “If we do not take action, then people can hold us responsible.”
Dilbar, the wily madam, just laughed when asked about police corruption.
“We have always existed, under each and every government. So have the police,” she said. “Somehow we find a way to do our job and keep everyone happy.”
Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.
The oldest profession is alive and well in carefully-concealed brothels and on the streets.
By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif
“I do not enjoy being with men. I hate them. But to keep them as loyal customers, I pretend,” said the young Afghan woman.
Dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, with shoulder-length black hair and wearing no makeup, 21-year-old Saida (not her real name) looked ordinary enough. But in this highly conservative society, she has sex with men for money, sometimes several times a night.
Saida’s father and older brother were killed in the civil war of the Nineties, and she lives with her mother and younger siblings in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
an ill-fated Afghan women who have been pushed into prostitution
RAWA Interview with some prostitutes
She has been a prostitute for six years, since the day her mother made a deal with a local pimp.
“One day an old woman came to our house,” Saida recalled. “She talked to my mother, and then took me to a house. A man almost 30 years old was waiting for me. He attacked me right away. It was horrible. I knew nothing; I felt only pain.”
According to Saida, she was left alone with the man for half a day before being brought home.
She told her mother what had happened, but she got no response.
“I now know she must have agreed because she was desperate,” said Saida. “I was in pain for a week. The old woman came again ten days later and took me back to that house. After that I started going on my own and getting money from rich people.”
Saida is now quite familiar with the world of prostitution, and accepts it as her lot in life.
“Having sex with men of any age or appearance is quite normal for me,” she said. “I don’t care who I spend the night with as long as I make a little money.”
She said she sometimes services five customers in one night, and has some regular clients, although she prefers to have a steady stream of new ones.
“My regular clients pay me less,” she explained. “The new ones give me a lot of money.”
Saida said that she charges from 1,000 to 2,500 afghani per night, between 20 and 50 US dollars.
“All men are the same to me,” she said. “At first I really hated fat men, or those whose bodies smelled bad, but now I don’t care.
She broadens her client base through referrals, and does not have a madam or pimp.
“Men give my telephone number to their friends, and that way I find new customers,” she said.
Afghanistan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude.
US State Department Trafficking Report, June 12, 2007
Afghanistan’s sex industry is booming, according to both private and official sources. Statistics are scattered, and few solid figures exist. But since the fall of the Taleban regime in late 2001, prostitution has become, if not more widespread, at least more open.
A police official in the northern province of Jowzjan, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that according to official figures, 2,000 families in his province alone had resorted to prostitution over the past 10 years. The true figure is likely much higher.
“The main factor is the lack of employment opportunities,” he said.
In many cases, prostitution becomes a hereditary trade, passed on from mother to daughter.
The Taleban strictly controlled sexual activity, meting out harsh punishments for extra-marital relations and adultery. Married women who had sex outside marriage were stoned to death; others were publicly flogged.
Sex outside marriage remains illegal in post-Taleban Afghanistan, and the prisons are full of women who have been convicted of “fornication”, a charge that carries a penalty of from five to 15 years in jail.
But this has not stopped women like Dilbar (not her real name), a 40-year-old madam who keeps a brothel in Mazar-e-Sharif.
Dilbar is a professional. She worked as a prostitute for many years, and has passed the trade on to her daughter, who helps her run the brothel. She no longer takes on clients herself.
“I am too old now,” she laughed. “I have children. But I help other girls to become prostitutes. I provide the means to make young men happy for a short time.”
Her customers call her “Khala” - “Auntie” - as a sign of respect.
Dilbar has ten girls who operate out of her brothel as well as making house calls on request. She requires a constant supply of new blood for her clientele, who are always seeking fresher delights.
“When I find a new girl I ask her to bring a friend,” she explained. “That way I get more and more girls. So I can get rid of those who become too old, or who get used up.”
Since prostitution is illegal, Dilbar has to be careful. She does not often allow customers to spend the night, to avoid attracting her neighbours’ attention.
“Most customers just spend a few hours during the day,” she said. She charges from 1,000 to 2,000 afghani, depending on the girl. “The younger, fresher ones get more,” she explained. She shares the proceeds with the girls, but did not divulge her percentage.
The business end of things has been made much easier by the mobile phone. Dilbar moves house frequently so as to avoid detection. With a mobile phone, she can alert her regular customers to her new location.
“Before we had mobile phones, I had to spend a longer period in each house,” she said. “Then when I moved, I would have to go personally to my customers to tell them where we were. These mobile phones are a great help.”
The capital Kabul, too, has its bordellos. In addition to a number of Chinese “restaurants”, which employ imported prostitutes and cater to an international clientele, the city sports several venues such as the house run by Kaka Faiz (again, not his real name).
The charges are steeper in the capital, with Kaka Faiz charging up to 100 dollars for a night with one of his girls.
“We address the needs of young men,” he said. “They exist, so we exist.”
Most of Faiz’s girls are under 25, and he has a well-heeled clientele.
“The men who come to my house work in NGOs [non-government organisations], and some of the city’s wealthiest people also come,” he boasted. “I have placed this entire house at their service, and they can feel quite safe and secure.”
Azita, 19, is one of Faiz’s girls.
“I do not want to do this,” she said, tears rolling down her face. “But I only have eight years of schooling. I wanted to become a doctor, but I couldn’t complete my studies. This is the only job open to me.”
While prostitution existed both before and during the Taliban, Afghan women's rights groups believe the number of sex workers in the country is increasing at a greater rate than before because the country has reached an unprecedented level of economic hardship and lawlessness.
South China Morning Post, April 9, 2006
While unhappy with her fate, she does not blame Faiz, who offered her assistance when she needed it.
“I did not know any boys, and they did not know me or my address,” she explained. “So I meet them in Faiz’s house. He is a good man. Even when there were no customers, he gave me some money. Otherwise, our family of six would die of hunger.”
Organised brothels may offer the girls some protection from the tougher customers.
Latifa, 25, who operates independently, complains that many of her clients are swindlers who refuse to pay after sex.
“Some men try to make us smoke or drink,” she said. “One night two men invited me to their house and said they would pay me 2,000 afghani. They offered me a drink, but I said no. Then they demanded that I have anal sex with them. When I refused they threw me out of the house at midnight, without paying me anything.”
But it’s not all bad, she added.
“There are a few good men who honour their agreement and pay in advance,” she said.
Street prostitutes have a difficult time.
Roya (not her real name), is 25 and comes from Pul-e-Khumri, but now lives in Mazar-e-Sharif, about two hours away.
She is a full-time beggar, and also performs sexual services for money. She goes into shops and offers to have sex with the owner for the equivalent of four dollars.
“Otherwise I have to stand out on a busy street for hours to make one afghani,” she complained. “I have been begging since I was a child. But when I got to be an adolescent, men would humiliate me and try to touch me. So I started having sex for money.”
Taxi drivers are a rich source of information on prostitution, since they interact with so many different types of people.
“I know an old man who came from a foreign country,” said a cabbie in Mazar-e-Sharif. “He didn’t know the city so he asked me for help. He likes young girls. So I took him to a few places. Now we both go once a week. He meets one young girl, and I get another one. He pays for us both, and then he gives me six times the usual taxi fare.”
One young man in Balkh province was unapologetic about visiting prostitutes.
“It’s entertainment - what else are we supposed to do?” he said. “I have relations with a lot of girls; they come to my shop and I pay them. It is good for both sides – I am not married, and they make money.”
The market was completely unregulated, he added.
“We pay from 100 to 5,000 afghani [two to 100 dollars] depending on age and beauty,” he said. “Half the population is involved in this type of activity.”
With so much underground sexual activity, the risk of disease is high.
Doctor Khalid, who runs the AIDS Public Awareness section of a Mazar-e-Sharif clinic, said the Afghan public is woefully ignorant of the risks of HIV infection.
“There are many factors in the transmission of [HIV/] AIDS,” he said. “But the main one is illegal and unhealthy sexual relations.”
When a prostitute has sex with many clients, there is scope for passing on not only the HIV virus which causes AIDS, but also other diseases such as syphilis and certain strains of hepatitis, the doctor explained.
“The campaign for public awareness is not satisfactory,” he complained. “Most people are not aware of the dangers.”
Exact figures are unreliable, but the Afghan health ministry listed 75 recorded cases of HIV in August 2007, representing a fourfold increase in just six months. The actual figure is likely to be exponentially higher.
If Dilbar’s views are any indication, Doctor Khaled is right to be worried.
“AIDS, shmaids!” laughed the brothel owner. “AIDS doesn’t exist in Afghanistan. I’ve never heard of anyone getting infected with AIDS. Here a girl will have sex with three men in a day without using a condom. These condoms are some kind of foreign thing. Myself, I’ve never used one.”
A police official in the northern province of Jowzjan, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that according to official figures, 2,000 families in his province alone had resorted to prostitution over the past 10 years. The true figure is likely much higher.
IWPR, Jan.16, 2008
The police say they are clamping down on prostitution.
“We are quite serious about eliminating these centres of prostitution,” said General Sardar Mohammad Sultani, the police chief in Balkh province, of which Mazar-e-Sharif is the main town. “Now no one dares to do this openly. If there are such centres, they are hidden, and those who use them are so skilled that the police do not know they are there.”
But one young man who had been arrested for having had unlawful sexual relations told IWPR that many prostitutes operate in collusion with the police.
“I once had an appointment with a girl at her house,” he said. “Ten minutes after I got there, the police showed up and took me to jail.”
He explained that this happened because he had not yet figured out how the system worked.
“Last year, I was taking a woman home. She was wearing a burqa, but the police stopped us and said they recognised her as a prostitute. She had a good laugh with the police, who demanded money. I gave them 100 dollars and they let me go.”
Police chief Sultani denies that his men are complicit in prostitution.
“If anyone has any evidence, they should come to us,” he said. “If we do not take action, then people can hold us responsible.”
Dilbar, the wily madam, just laughed when asked about police corruption.
“We have always existed, under each and every government. So have the police,” she said. “Somehow we find a way to do our job and keep everyone happy.”
Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.
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