Afghanistan Trip

[Darweshkhel]

Salamoona grano khwayndo ao wroono

Ive recently returned home from AFG where I spent almost a month. This was the first trip to AFG in many years. I finally had the chance to see things with my own eyes and to take a look at things from a different perspective. Of course I was glad to see the mountains, zemong watan de neeka gano.. But even more important to me was to see faces, to talk to people, to find nice books, to get first impressions how people live, to comprehend, well seeking my own answers for this or that. Not that I was looking for enlightment I was just trying to broaden my horizon^^
I spent most time in Kabul and Mazar Sharif but I also payed Jalalabad a visit. I have bought almost the whole bookstore, got a plenty of nice Pashto literature=) I have shot thousands of images, I been to many Zyarats, drunk pure Salang water coming down the mountain, experienced great and funny things as well as things that poured my heart with grief and sorrow. To sum it up I spent very pleasant time.
If there is any desire for a story or two GET AT ME with all your questions maybe we can discuss=)

[Nokia_Apridy]

Sanga wu haga da Kali Tut chay mung ba tarna Tutan khwarlu haga

da Chendu Zmaka chay mung ba pa Gada Chendruganay kawalay......

DK Berta pa Khair raghlay Staray Mashay Sanga wu PUKHTUNISTAN

Kali gawan ka Aman wu ........Sa Naway Ehsas da Rawray da

nu mung sra gad (share) ka......

[IamDZJ]

you look outside the car and see people walking in every direction. i couldn't help but stare and grin about how they were allll afghans. you know you when you are abroad, your eyes keep searching for brown faces....? it's like, THEY ARE ALL AFGHANS!

[Feroza_Banu]

Welcome back

tell me more about your experience...

how did you feel when u first stepped your foot on Afghan Soil...

and also... it would be really nice if you could post some pictures here... or may all of the thousands you have taken

[Darweshkhel]

Sanga wu haga da Kali Tut chay mung ba tarna Tutan khwarlu haga

da Chendu Zmaka chay mung ba pa Gada Chendruganay kawalay......

DK Berta pa Khair raghlay Staray Mashay Sanga wu PUKHTUNISTAN

Kali gawan ka Aman wu ........Sa Naway Ehsas da Rawray da

nu mung sra gad (share) ka......

Nokia wrora everything was delicious there I tried to taste everything I could get while my family didnt want me to eat this or that since they feared that Im gonna die catching some lethal bacterium..^^=)

Yea Fero, why not? Wait Im gonna upload several hundred pics for you in-a-minute^^=)
Feroza khorey landing in Kabul was like coming to another planet. I was fascinated by the beauty and that harsh and extreme environment, people here must be harder than bruce willis, I thought=)
I was feeling like Im home already until we flew over a laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge area taken by US for their military equippment where I saw hundreds of jets and helicopters. Thats when I realized that some military guy that wouldnt even show up his entire mission comes into MY COUNTRY build walls that rise up to the sky and you dont even know what hes doing behind that walls. If you come near you dead without warning. Dont even dare to ASK about what is this guys doing on my fathers soil. Oh I forgot there are 51 other military guys who all want to help. Unfortunately they always leave dozens of people dead every place they go. But lets forget politics for now=)

[Admin Khan]

Darweshkhel,

can you please elaborate on the status of Pashto in the Afghan capital?

Tell us what you observed and witnessed.

[Darweshkhel]

Can you please share those thousands of pictures and answer these questions.

How was status of Pashtuns and Pashto? How was education? Any schools being built, you know tell us the regular.

my impression of pashto in kabul. officially both languages are equal. while walking down kabul streets I noticed that the government is trying to avoid language disputes and most signs or pamphlets are written in both languages. many places and streets have pashto names, radio and TV channels are also broadcasting in both languages, daily you can watch dozens of news reports, movies, shows, cartoons etc completely in pashto.
I used to watch shamshar TV sometimes and I managed to catch some docus about colonial wars, khuday khidmatgar, pashtun personalities like ahmad shah baba and pashto nasheed.
But it was nice to see so much bilingualism on TV.
The fact that Kabul I heard pashto speech on each and every corner. there are large pashtun communities living in macroyan, shahre naw etc. a great number of pharmacies, trading companies, large distributors, hotels, merchands, car dealers, construction and all kinda shops are in pashtun hands who seem to multiply their money. to sum it up I met pashtuns all the way until up north to Mazar, starting from Kabul, passing Sorubi, Qarabagh, Pule Khomri, Chashme Sher etc. However this all seems to be a facade since most policemen and majority of Army in Kabul are supporters of massoud. His images are on almost every corner declaring him a national hero hanging next to Ahmad Shah Baba. In Mazar however you wont find massouds images.
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However analyzing Pashto status by judging education and school system I can tell that majority of schools and education facilities in Kabul remain in Dari teaching Pashto as a second language by teachers who are often incompetent. Pashto teachers often dont speak Dari with their pupils making it difficult to motivate them. People told me that while having Pashto lessons theres not enough time to clear questions, to analyze grammar and to explain a particular question.
Pashto books are available in many book stores which made me very happy. Most of book sellers are also Pashtuns. By looking for particular Pashto titles in book stores reveals a different reality. A lot of titles which were written during Wesh Zalmyan era are simply not available. Books by Benawa, Mohmand, Reshad are not only very hard to find but book sellers themselves often never heard of those books and just apologize for not having them. In comparison to this a large amount of Dari books from different eras can easily be found in Kabul as well as other places around Afghanistan. In Mazar Sharif people didnt even know Benawa or Ulfat and pashto books were of course a rarity.

[Darweshkhel]

Any schools being built, you know tell us the regular.

There a lot of schools being built in Kabul and seems that majority of children is in school today. All schools look like military fortresses surrounded by great walls, fences, ID check-points, speed limit barriers and soldiers.
However girls' schools are often closed due to death threats. Many teachers refuse to teach because of low wages. They are still afraid of becoming victims for teaching girls and of course many parents leave their daughters at home because they are afraid of bomb blasts.
Going to Jalalabad and to Mazar I seen tribal schools where children were placed in tents having their lessons on the ground. Of course tribal schools didnt have any security measures they were open just being guarded by a couple of young guys.

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[tor_khan]

What the general perceptions of key things like safety and security, for locals, for visitors?

[Laila]

Welcome back how was it? omg i wanna talk to you about your trip lol i bet we have many funny stories to exchange.

LOL first off, i wanna know who did your flight to Kabul go? usually something funny, like a big fight or argument goes down.....Shayesta khorey knows what i am talking about

Did you get sick there? did you eat the Kandahari grapes? did you eat bolani from the womens kitchen? did you visit the tandori house? did you eat shorwa with shrombay in salang? did you eat kabab in Qargha? did you visit Gul Bahar center? Did you go to Paghman on a Friday? Did you visit the zyrats? did you got bothered by the hundreds of spand boys? Did you hear Ahmad Zahir in the bazaars?

[Darweshkhel]

What the general perceptions of key things like safety and security, for locals, for visitors?

There is no such things like security or safety.
Fact is that Kabul is full of soldiers on every corner armed with machine guns. Checkpoints called Ring Of Steel are placed in the middle of the street, speed barriers slow you down every 500 m, when your stopped by police at dark you better turn on lights inside so the policemen can see the passengers.
Driving a car with a license plate from outside Kabul they pull you over and search your car.
Policemen and soldiers seem to be really aggressive, they yell at drivers and swinging with their AKs. Majority of them seem to be very young, I would give the most of them 20-25 years not older.
High walls, fences, gates, barbwire, all kind of barriers and cameras follow your car almost everywhere you go. I have friends in microyan they have barricaded the whole floor with a big gate and a camera.
In microyan you cant leave your car on the street after 11 at night. Due to bomb blasts its not allowed to park near houses.
Of course rich people have all kind of security measures for themselves and when they go shopping they take the whole army with them.
There are huge black jeeps on every corner without any license plate, they have a special permission and drive always first, these are high tech bulletproof jeeps with shaded black windows, these are mostly US personal and agents armed with heavy weaponry.
Kabul was just a fortress to me. A lot of people carry weapons. I have witnessed once a man pulled out a gun arguing with another one over a parking space.
However these security measures should only guard US and foreign facilities. But I think once americans gone, Taliban could take the city within days.
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[pukhtana]

How did the women dress? Burkah?

[Nokia_Apridy]

PUKHTANA ofcrse maray BURKAH kha da kna.........

PUKHTUNISTAN da sa IRAN Parsiwan khu na da NAMUS khu zmung

EMAN da...

[Darweshkhel]

PUKHTANA ofcrse maray BURKAH kha da kna.........

PUKHTUNISTAN da sa IRAN Parsiwan khu na da NAMUS khu zmung

EMAN da...

Jalalabad ao nor Pashteenkhwa kshe shedzee pa jaraweeno gerdzawee kho da keechyano shedzee khpel makh pet' ne kawee.

[Feroza_Banu]

^ did you get an opportunity to find out what the majority of people think about the current government... America's invasion and talibaan? who do they support. I am talking about people in kabul... because kabul now has become like a melting pot... people from all over afghanistan has poured into kabul...

the last time i went was a year ago... and i got all mixed messages... what did you get out of talking to people?