Greetings from Kabul

[Darweshkhel]

Salamoona grano hewadwalo khwayndo wroono pushtunwalo

I am in Afghanistan right now, in Kabul city to be exact I may go to Jalalabad and Mazar also. As always Im gonna take a closer look at status of Pashto and Pashtuns and make some nice pics for you. Furthermore Im trying to find books, rare books, old books in Pashto. We have a great library here and its still growing. Ive seen already some old books about Pashtuns which were brought here from Peshawar Bazars. If you have any books, or articles in mind that you want me to look for then please make your request. Im gonna try to find them although its difficult because many books are not available anymore.

Regards
Darweshkhel

[Admin Khan]

1)How is security in Kabul?
2)How is employment for young Afghans?
3)Are Afghans actively enrolling in educational institutions?

[کیش]

More importantly how is the weather,I hear it's cold, but no snow
How's the pollution, am hearing for warmth, people resort to burning tires and other stuff?
Hows the overcrowdness?
The sanitation, and dust? Is it still rampant?

[Badlun]

kindly let me know whether Pashto is used in offices for writing oficial documents or not
whether youi se eplenty of sign boards in Pashto

Do you find standard pashto news papers in stalls

What about the developmental works going on
I ahve been asked by many friends whetehr its safe to accept jobs in Kabul and kandahar

Do you see women participation in social, political and economic activities

[tor_khan]

Salamoona grano hewadwalo khwayndo wroono pushtunwalo

I am in Afghanistan right now, in Kabul city to be exact I may go to Jalalabad and Mazar also. As always Im gonna take a closer look at status of Pashto and Pashtuns and make some nice pics for you. Furthermore Im trying to find books, rare books, old books in Pashto. We have a great library here and its still growing. Ive seen already some old books about Pashtuns which were brought here from Peshawar Bazars. If you have any books, or articles in mind that you want me to look for then please make your request. Im gonna try to find them although its difficult because many books are not available anymore.

Regards
Darweshkhel

Salaam Darweshkhel,

Good to hear from you. I'll be travelling to Kabul sometime shortly, to do some work on digital/adult literacy. Are there any concerted moves to transfer/scan some older titles into digital format (for e-readers/tablet computers etc). It's a sure way of preserving older texts and increasing distribution.

I must confess, I'm a little slow in catching on to e-books. I'm forced, time and time again, to hit "print" and wait. Something about turnable pages, I guess.

Stay safe Darwesh Jaana.

[Darweshkhel]

Salaam Darweshkhel,

Good to hear from you. I'll be travelling to Kabul sometime shortly, to do some work on digital/adult literacy. Are there any concerted moves to transfer/scan some older titles into digital format (for e-readers/tablet computers etc). It's a sure way of preserving older texts and increasing distribution.

I must confess, I'm a little slow in catching on to e-books. I'm forced, time and time again, to hit "print" and wait. Something about turnable pages, I guess.

Stay safe Darwesh Jaana.

Salam Torkhana,

Well I do scan these things. I bought me a scanner and convert pages into .jpg with Microsoft Office Picture Manager or into .pdf with a PDF converter. I think there is no other way I am also forced to scan books page by page thats why it takes so long. I have tons of books that I didnt convert yet.
I hope I answered your question wrora.
Anyway I bought an old book by a guy named Kakakhel with a title "Pashtana de rana pa tarikh ke" recently. It was published in Peshawar I quess and has more than 1000 pages, you heard of it?

Zhwanday wose grana
Regards

[Darweshkhel]

Please update us about the situation of the Pashtuns there.

Salam
I was able to take a look at the situation of Pashtuns in Kabul, Mazar Sharif and Jalalabad since I stay there most of the time. I was not able to travel to other regions yet and its a pity.
Jalalabad is a Pashtun dominated city and there is nothing to worry about. From what I have observed in the city of Mazar, it is a very nice, clean, quiet city with very polite people. However this city is dominated by other ethnics, there is very few Pashtuns who are traders and shopkeepers. The people however like Pashtuns and dont look down upon them. The people of Mazar seem to be very openminded. They like to go to school and educate themselves. There is almost no armed soldiers in Mazar, just that you see German troops from time to time.
Kabul city is quiet the opposite. Its dirty, loud and overcrowded. The original Kabuli people and generations are long gone and most of the Kabul citizens have arrived from other regions and migrated to Kabul. Only a small percentage of Kabulis have originated in this city. You see and hear Pashtuns however all the time. Most of the shopkeepers and traders are Pashtuns, they have expanded in business and have worldwide connections.

Regards

[Darweshkhel]

1)How is security in Kabul?
2)How is employment for young Afghans?
3)Are Afghans actively enrolling in educational institutions?

1) There is no security in Kabul. There are high walls and barbwire following you through the whole city. Every street corner and every house is turned into a fortress with a bunch of filthy cops hanging around carrying loaded Ak-47s. Cant go to a shopping center without screening you for weapons. You cant go 100 meters without seeing angry policemen yelling at someone. There is a police checkpoint called ring of steel on every street. The situation seem terrible to me. People dont like police and actually they fear them because they are so corrupt and greedy they shoot people for nothing. When they stop your car to check the papers they wont let you until you pay them thats for sure. If you have no money to pay them SHIRNEE they will ask you to take them some place like you a taxi driver. But dont you ever ever let a policeman sit on your backseat with an AK-47
These walls however would not be there if there was security in Kabul.

2) No employment. I have never seen so many begging street urchins in my life. They are everywhere and the only work they can find is to wash cars on the street or to sell cigarettes, mobile cards and some other different things. But the situation is a serious one. There are many young afghans that go to school but in contrast there are too many begging children begging at the street corners, in front of shops, they run behind you and cry, beg for money, complain that they have not eaten for days, seems that they have not changed clothes for months and their faces look old although many of them are not older than 13.

3) Yes but only in big cities. Many children go to school in the afternoon and wash cars at the morning. They have their schools bags with them. Its a pity. But still I know very little about the school situation there so I wont comment.

Feel free to ask

Regards

[Darweshkhel]

More importantly how is the weather,I hear it's cold, but no snow
How's the pollution, am hearing for warmth, people resort to burning tires and other stuff?
Hows the overcrowdness?
The sanitation, and dust? Is it still rampant?

Very cold but no snow, sometimes rain every now and then but still cold. Its warm in Mazar however. Its full of snow in Salang cant drive.
Kabul is polluted to the fullest there is no place for cars anymore, many old and dirty cars that pollute the city, there is a dark cloud over Kabul coming from houses - smoke from BUKHAREE that are used in most households.
People are burning stuff on every corner. There is so much crowd in Kabul its impossible to drive to the city, you are trapped in traffic every day for hours wherever you go.
There is mud and dirt everywhere because of rain. Quiet dangerous to walk around at dark since there is no street lights.

[Darweshkhel]

kindly let me know whether Pashto is used in offices for writing oficial documents or not
whether youi se eplenty of sign boards in Pashto

Do you find standard pashto news papers in stalls

What about the developmental works going on
I ahve been asked by many friends whetehr its safe to accept jobs in Kabul and kandahar

Do you see women participation in social, political and economic activities

One man from Kabul once told me "Pashtun-ha kulle dunya-ra gereftan" Pashtuns have taken the whole world. Pashto is distributed all over the country, on TV, newspapers, books, official documents, sign boards etc. There is a bunch of newspapers in Pashto, the speak both Dari and Pashto on TV. There are many Hollywood movies shown on TV in Pashto. I kinda like that Pashto is present and seems to be stronger than ever.
I see women in offices, banks and schools, there are no women in shops however. Many women wear western clothes, most of them are young unmarried girls.

Regards

[graveyardofempires]

1) There is no security in Kabul. There are high walls and barbwire following you through the whole city. Every street corner and every house is turned into a fortress with a bunch of filthy cops hanging around carrying loaded Ak-47s. Cant go to a shopping center without screening you for weapons. You cant go 100 meters without seeing angry policemen yelling at someone. There is a police checkpoint called ring of steel on every street. The situation seem terrible to me. People dont like police and actually they fear them because they are so corrupt and greedy they shoot people for nothing. When they stop your car to check the papers they wont let you until you pay them thats for sure. If you have no money to pay them SHIRNEE they will ask you to take them some place like you a taxi driver. But dont you ever ever let a policeman sit on your backseat with an AK-47
These walls however would not be there if there was security in Kabul.

2) No employment. I have never seen so many begging street urchins in my life. They are everywhere and the only work they can find is to wash cars on the street or to sell cigarettes, mobile cards and some other different things. But the situation is a serious one. There are many young afghans that go to school but in contrast there are too many begging children begging at the street corners, in front of shops, they run behind you and cry, beg for money, complain that they have not eaten for days, seems that they have not changed clothes for months and their faces look old although many of them are not older than 13.

3) Yes but only in big cities. Many children go to school in the afternoon and wash cars at the morning. They have their schools bags with them. Its a pity. But still I know very little about the school situation there so I wont comment.

Feel free to ask

Regards

good observation thats how is saw it too,i was to kabul jalalabad and kunar and i must say kunar was the most cleanest and "peaceful"(there was active war but still).

i also saw many children in kabul polishing shoes and when i asked many of them,where they are from,they would say kunar ,laghman and they were going to school but had vacations.one boy told me his father was injured or sick and they had to move to kabul from laghman.

situation is kabul is really bad:you get to see armed men riding around in their big cars and the city is overcrowded.

jalalabad also has many poor begger and shoe polishers but kabul is full of people in such situation.

in jalalabad i saw many kids working in small shops repairing electricity generators,motorcycles and any other things and they were around the age of 10 to 16.

[Admin Khan]

Darweshkhel,

I hope you are safe.

[کیش]

I was supposed to go to Peshawer, and Kabul this summer. No money though

[Laila]

Oh God, i hate the police in Kabul City. Its as if you would have thought the police of your own country would be good men, honest, and trustworthy. I was so disappointed.

Numerous times, there were problems in the middle street and major traffic....not once did I see a police officer do something about it. Most of the time in Dari they were saying like there is nothing to worry about, blah blah blah. They either will stop you, and ask to check in your car, or you will have to pay them to pass through. Very disappointing.

You are right, there are more beggers than ever before! Women in burqas, their husbands, will sit on the ground in the middle of the street, begging for money. And yes, you want to help them out, but then there is soooo many beggers. Right when you give a couple of them money, a few seconds later, another whole 20 boys will come after you.

And the sad thing is, the kids that are begging fight amongst each other. It was so sad to witness.

How was the dust problem?

I used to think that Kabul City was dominated with Dari.......but i saw for myself, and you saw yourself too, that was not the case. If anything, the big major companies make sure Dari and Pashto are both being used. Many shopkeepers spoke Pashto.

I was happy to see females going out to school, university, and in the work field. Etisalat, a big phone company, has many educated female workers.

I am going to Afghanistan again, in summer of 2012......i wish to see some improvement.

[کیش]

then get a job while your in school (no big deal). grow up and be a man. work at a cafe or something.

Im thinking of working at Helmand Restaurant in Boston (owned by the Karzais) so I can find out about their crooked ways and their lifestyle. I just want to do it once a week.

its not even that expensive to travel anymore

I don't want to hijack thread but what ducking job can I get? I mentioned already that I have 2 herniated disc on my lower back. Unless theirs a job I can get lying down. am going crazy, or I am already.

Not expensive? Are you nuts? A trip over their will easily coed 4,000