Street children in Jalalabad city

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Bloody Ashura in Kabul

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Ashura, the 10th of Muharram is a holy day for Muslims and especial day for Shi’a. This day is a remarkable day of Muharram in Islamic calendar, the day of mourning for the martyrdom of Hussian the son Ali and the grandson of Muhammad in the unequal battle of Karbala in the year 61 (AD 680).

Hussain was the son of Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fatima in which Muhammad said: Hussain is from me and I am from Hussain, may God love whoever loves Hussain. Apparently Hussain with his 72 colleagues whom were all from his own family and relatives killed in the battle took place in Karbala in the land of Iraq on the shore of the Euphrates River.

Ashura is a fasting day for Sunni Muslims; they cook food such as Nazr and distribute it to their neighbors and poor people. In Afghanistan, Sunni take this as a holy day; they respect and believe in the sacrifice of Hussain, the grandson of Mohammad.

Last year Ashura was a bloody day in Herat, the ceremony turned to violence and killed tens of people. This year in all circles and Takyakhana where the people hold the ceremony they were taking tight security measures.
This year in Ashura, the priests of both sides, Shi’a and Sunni, had speeches including the government authorities, legislators, leaders and President Karzai.

As you see in the video, people are beating on their backs, shoulders and chests with sharp knives at the end of chains. They make bloody like, slaughtering to show their feelings in Ashura and Hussain’s martyrdom. Although making bloody is banned from Shi’a Muslim leaders but this still goes on and never stopped. This is not only for the people in Afghanistan but different countries like; Pakistan, Iraq, Palestine and Iran.

I got a chance to ask questions of a few of them - why are they beating and making bloody.
A young man said; I have wishes to gain, before I bloody myself I have reasons for that. When I asked him to tell me what your wishes, he to me; is I want to get marry, I don’t have money.

Another told me I am not using chains with the sharp knifes at the end because I last year I did in order to get the result but I didn’t.

Some people believe using chains with the sharp knifes at the end is a passion more than mourning on Husian and his 72 colleagues sacrifice. Many get naked in public and want to show their body and arms. Some times if you asked them the reason they will give you no reason except their personal nonsense beliefs.

Look at the pictures of Ashura here

Died from exposure

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Children are playing soccer by the river of Kabul, while others are running on the streets to sell matches, cigarettes and plastic bags in order to earn money for their families.

This winter, three children with their mothers died from exposure, who were lying down in front of a giant building in which the bottom contained the Cinema Pamir, a place which shows Indian Bollywood films.
Not very far away are UN offices and other international NGOs who drive by in their modern luxury cars every day.

I Need help

I am working on my Podcast to launch it as soon as I can. I would broadcast in two languages: English and Farsi. Programs will be different like, interviews, discussion with civilian and international, may be if I had access to ISAF military I will go to them to interview and also US military in Afghanistan. I had already contact with two US military commanders but lost them. If you have any contacts with them please provide me. I would also have Video Podcast from Kabul and some times in rural areas. But you shouldn’t expect me good quality in Video because I am catching video with 5.00Mig handy camera that I always use it for my photography.

What I need is your help. First, if anyone knows about jingles, sound effects and soft harsh melodies to use in my Radio Sohrab

Second, I kindly asking you if anyone knows how to make the Paypal account. Third, how is it possible to get Net MD recorder or any voice recorder I will pay through western union bank, because in Afghanistan these tools are not available.

Cock Figh in Kabul

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Cock fighting is a new sport in Afghanistan; it dates back years ago, not only in Afghanistan but throughout Europe, Latin America and Asian countries.

Morgh Janngi which means cock fighting is a traditional winter sport as is dog, Camel fighting and donkey racing. In Morgh Janngi, men (only) come from all over Afghanistan to enter their prized cocks in the Kabul arena. Morgh Janngi is highly complex in its rules, brutal in its savagery and can be expensive for the gamblers involved. Most competitors have a non-formal support group of men who help raise the stakes in betting and argue for or against a decision of which cock wins. The cocks fight until blood is drawn, then the owner will pull his chicken out of the ring, for repairing the animals wounds and refreshing its vitality with a mouth of water, blown into the cocks face.

The competition is not cheap, men risk money on the result of each fight, sometimes betting 100,000 to 200,000Afghanis ($2,000 - $4,000 US). Sometimes the betting exchange becomes so heated that groups will bet amount exceeding $5,000.

See the rests of Cock fight pictures here and the gallery here

Kabul Express

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An offensive parts of Kabul Express a Bollywood Movie which released on December 15, 2006 by Kabir Khan an Indian documentary filmmaker. This video record after september 11 but it's very weird that they are following the story so cruelly. For example part of this film is about Hazara people which always humiliated and genocide in the country. Part of the movie is focused on them and telling how the Hazara are wildest than US troops plane.
The movie is a complete humiliation and insolence for Afghanistan in common and Hazara in particular. In the movie, they refer to Hazara as bandits, looters and sodomites.



Dialogue of the movie

- If we escaped from the Americans, we can not escape from Hazaras.
- What is Hazara?
- This area belons to Hazara mujahideen. They are the most dangerous tribe of Afghanistan. Looting is their business.
- What’s he murmuring?
- He says they are Indian journalists. They were kidnapped by Taliban. The Taliban escaped.
- Keep smiling at them… I feel something is wrong.
- Take them
- take them to the commander.
- Commander, they are journalists…
- What if they are journalists? We take them.
- He says he is the man of a great commander. He takes you to make a report about Taliban.
- Not you! These two.
- He says I am not needed… you have to go.
- Be careful.
- What is going on?
- They were Hazaras. They would have looted and naked you. Then would have hit you in the head with the nail. Then would have sold your car in Pakistan.
- Light a cirgarette!
- Thanks for saving our life.
- No need for thanks. If you got killed, getting on the road might have been difficult for me.
- Son of a bitch! What’s the difference between you and these dogs? You people can shoot anyone for your interest…Bastard! You pissed in front of me. Now I will shoot you and throw you among these dogs… before dying, tell who started the war first?
- We did!
- What?
- Pakistan…
- Take his gun!

Small shepherd in central part of Afghanistan

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On the course of Silk Road

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The biggest pass which created fairs and favor to travelers was the “Haji Yaqub” pass. The Haji Yaqub pass is the biggest and the highest one. We already had passed lots of others. The pass was filled with snow and it was stormy. An old traveler with his wife who came pilgrimage was behind me, they were telling weird words of God’s names and lots of others whom are followed by lots of people like prophet and imam. They were asking God’s help repeatedly.

When we were going to a slope and reached almost the end, the old man behind me shouted “Oh! There, the smoke comes up from the house We survived!”

The other whispered, “Yes we really survived. This was the most dangerous pass not only difficulty with snow, but robbers too.” They pulled their hands up, spelling words of Arabic and thanked god.

More than two hours later we were going into the darkness. The narrow road caused a traffic-jam and we stopped until the others left the road. After a few hours we reached a small coffee shop, which was almost full. There was only one room, where food was served. It had also a place for sleeping. I asked people where we were and what the name of the place stood for.

“This place is called Sarayee Markhanah” said the owner of the coffee shop. He told me the long history of this road and the “Sarayee”. He insisted that this was one of the roads linked with Asian countries.

I didn’t have a voice recorder to record the story. He was very old, almost 80 years old.
I realized that I am on one of the “Silk Road” routes. The Silk Road is the famous route where the Asian countries linked together. The Silk Road recently became a symbolic political aim for the western world to follow their worldwide political strategies in central Asia. Today, this road has a lot of specific signs telling its history.

“Sarayee” is a Farsi word meaning a big garage with lots of rooms for travelers and their horses. Lots of custodians took care of the luggage. People came from Japan and other Asian countries, through this route to India.

Several Sarayee still have their signs for counting time and distance. For example from this Sarayee to another one takes a whole day walking until the next one is reached.
I just asked the people and they named a few of them like: “Sarayee kotal onai”, “Sarayee duzdqol”, “Sarayee saisang”, “Sarayee Du Sang”, “Sarayee Markhanah” and “Sarayee Kotale Mullah yaqub”.

In the books written by historical writers, the Silk Road continues until Bamian but the end seems lost, it’s never mentioned where it goes after that. The reason why the history writer couldn’t follow continuing the Silk Road is still not mentioned and it remains anonymous.
But now I am on the route of one of the Silk Roads and in one of the famous Sarayees with the name of “Sarayee Markhanah”. I am writing this post from a coffee shop in this Sarayee. I don’t know the name of coffee shop. My travelers and others who came late in the evening are all sleeping. I am writing my diary and two others are talking about their adventures of being in different frontlines of fights during the Soviet Union invasion.

This place is in “Behsood” district, part of “Maidan Wardak” province. The room is almost 5x10m, more than 25 people sleep stuck to each other. Their breath makes me think of the sound of a generator, but not normal.

Tomorrow I should follow my way to the destination and step by step get it gets clear where I am going. I never before stepped around here, or heard the name of these places.

I just went to the toilet; I saw a young boy shivering out of the door, wearing a summer suit. “From which tropical climate you came here?” I asked him. “From behind the backside of this hill, called Gurdam, just 30 minutes walking” he answered. “How did you come here? By car or walking?” I asked him. “I came by walking here, there is no road where a car can pass, but a motorcyclist can get through the narrow passage.” He answered.

He told me there is a big valley, where 3500 people live, “But we don’t have road, we don’t have a clinic, we don’t have schools.” I asked him if they don’t have a hospital where they take their patients. “Mostly they die, but it happens rarely that they are taken to a hospital for treatment, because the hospital is so far from our place. The nearest hospital is 60 kilo meter away from us”, he said.

Almost sixty thousand people, and they have to take their patients to Tagab hospital in Behsood.
This is after five years of Karzai government.

In the last five years billions of dollars were spent in Afghanistan, but if you ask the people if they ever received any help from the government, they answer, “we think we are forgotten and we are probably not from Afghanistan.”

.............!!!!!!!!?........

Trip to Forgotten Land

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I left Kabul on a misty morning. Dust and smoke covered the face of the city, the laps of the mountains had been filled with snow by the clouds that came rolling down. It was different from other mornings. I couldn't see a hundred meters away, and worried about what would be ahead of me. But I left anyway.

We were 14 passengers, including the drivers, planning to reach the mountains in a van. I bought a small radio to listen to the news. As I walked out of the garage, the driver yelled: "Hey man, hurry up! We're leaving soon!"

The driver was afraid to leave the main road. The reason, he said, was the traffic police. "The traffic police always makes problems and asks money for nothing," he explained. I was sitting on a bench in the van with three guys from the Ministry of Education. The two beside me started to talk. Their breath smelled horribly and even the chewing gum I offered them did nothing to end the nauseating odor. I covered my nose with a shawl and didn't remove it during the whole trip.

We passed the Maidan shar, where three cars had been robbed by the Taliban not too long ago. The Afghan National Army (ANA) fought with insurgents here recently. Going down a hill, we saw the wreckage of a car that had been blown up.

"My brother and my wife were killed in this car," the driver sighed. "My brother worked for an international NGO."

Just minutes later we reached a narrow passage entering a small valley. "Look! This is the place where the three carred were robbed by the robbers!" said Ali, the driver.

We arrived at an old bazaar where we'd stop for lunch, and I couldn't take my eyes off wrecked cars ridden with bullet holes. This was Siakhak, in the district of Jalez, with a population of about 40,000 people. Eight years ago, when Kabul was captured by the Taliban and I fled from the city, I passed here on my way to Mazara-e-sharif. Then, this was a very busy and crowded bazaar. Now it was empty. I walked down the street and took pictures of the walls with all the bullet holes. I saw some people and asked them what had happened. They told me that when the Taliban captured this place they destroyed it because the bazaar was the main source of income for the Hazarajat and there was a military base of the Hizbe Wahdat party nearby -- they were fighting the Taliban.

This was not the first time the bazaar had been destroyed. When the Soviet Union invaded in 1979, the same had happened.

We continued our trip and reached the top of the Onai mountain, covered in snow. We arrived at another small bazaar called Tagab and halted again, this time for praying. That gave me time to talk to people and take some pictures. I asked a small boy if he went to school. "If I go to school, who is going to give me food? I am a shepherd here," he answered.

A young man, asked about education in the area, pointed at some place in the distance and explained that there was the only and first intermediate school ever in the area, built last year. Turning around and pointing to another part of the village: "Here is the only hospital which was newly constructed for us. Before that, we had to take our patients to Kabul, most died on the way, only a few survived."

The hospital has only three doctors. Patients are being brought here from all over the Behsood.

/
I'll post more if I survive and have internet access again

Going to unknown trip

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I had always dream of discover, where I lost my kids, where I stared to fox’s green-eyes. The day, when I found my treasure, was an old book. It was a bunch of love poems. This book, later helped me to write in top of my love letter to my beloved but she never looked back and never heard my heart beat. She went until I swallow my tears. She went but drove me to trace her in poems, story and sounds.

Later on I wrote down for her absence:

Burned my garden of tulips,
Gone flower of my side
Without you, I have neither color nor scent
Oh, your step is my spring

And now I am going to unknown trip. Where Paulo Cohilo found her love “Fatima” in the oasis of Egypt in red dress carrying jug of water, where he was searching to discover his treasure which a gypsy woman whispered him. No, I am not going to feel in love but not certain again. Oh I am going to discover some where but where? That is unknown for me.
A trip to unknown territory may be which is not discovered yet.

My absence here has two powerful reasons:
Either I am gone to the land of dead
Or I am alive but don’t have access to internet.


Your comments make me courage and feel not alone.

But the news never heard from media

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"Early morning my mother gave me these eggs to sell them in the street in order to buy food. It was too cold to hold these in my frozen hands.
The eggs were supposed to help us survive, but i am not to go back like this..." the child said.

Excerpt: Nowadays, many Afghan children are working and selling eggs, cigarettes, plastic bags, chewing gum, and lots of other cheap things in the streets. Many others lay naked on the streets to attract passionate people to give them money.
Many others have been taken from the streets and smuggled into Pakistan. A few smugglers have been arrested but they are still active.

Day by day live is becoming more frustrating for Afghan children. There's no safe shelter nor places nor funds to educate them. There was horrible news from an orphanage in Kabul of which the manager was a man. He raped several children of different age, but the news never heard from media.
I heard this from a 12 years old girl who was allowed to enter and talk with some of the orphans. Many of them told her, "We were raped several times by our manager".

Who is hearing these voices? Who cares about Afghan children?

Last night i chatted with a friend of mine in the Netherlands. I was telling him the news from Kabul, that over the last year 1107 innocent people had been killed.
He said "when I am hearing such news i get sick".
But i told him that such news is very familiar to us, hearing about suicide attacks, that injure lots of people.

When is Afghanistan going to be healed?
That would be a dream i think, for each Afghan.


Link
Five Year old girl Raped in Kabul
Related Story from NewsMAX journalist in Afghanistan

Coming Tough winter

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It is only a few days after heavy rains in Kabul. Kabul city is surrounded of mountains these mountains covered of snow now. The weather is going freezing day by day to reach the sub-zero.

Last year it was 18,20 minus zero. More than 15 people died and frozen in passages and roads. The year before more than 200 people died but for the government it was only news to say we are sorry for people who die.

There was a story in news; a beggar who came early morning on the street to attract the runner’s attention to compassionately receive helps but frozen.
People from the vehicles were throwing money to him but he was not moving, while in the midday his son came to him to take him for launch. Calling his father “papa lets go to eat launch” but papa is not alive anymore.

This winter coming to freeze the poor people. Fuel, woods and gas are getting higher and higher price day by day. One kilogram gas costing 0.90 cents, 7kilo woods costs 0.90 cents and diesel costs 0.65 cents per liter.

Terrorist uses Graveyard

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Based on press release from Kabul police authorities a number of explosives things and some IDs found in an old graveyard in the central capital of Kabul.

The explosives and evidences were placed in a special pocket hidden in the cemetery. The documents were containing instructions on bomb-making and suicide attacks against internationals.

There were also some passports which were representing the identity of foreign citizens. Kabul police says most of the passports were belong to Pakistan citizens including some Arabic countries.

Nearly it is two months since the explosion in front of Interior ministry and a number of other explosions in the south. For the last two month people where living in a peaceful condition in Kabul and now this indicates the terrorists are active to their foreboding decisions.

Women Born Into 'Bad Luck' in Afghanistan...

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Here are two exclusive stories by Okke Ornstein an internationally acclaimed journalist working on assignment for NewsMax.com in Afghanistan. He reports from Kabul:

Women Born Into 'Bad Luck' in Afghanistan
Five-year-old Fawzia was lying in the sand and didn't move. She was bleeding heavily from what was left of her private parts. Mohammad could only stare at her, frozen in awe. Five minutes earlier, he had been at the back of his house chopping wood when a child came running up to him. "They've kidnapped her!" the child yelled. "The man with the white scarf has taken her!" That man with a white scarf had come to the playground where Fawzia frolicked, punched her in the face and taken her to a garden.
There, he raped her.

"These crimes are common in Afghanistan," says Sajeda of RAWA, an organization that fights
for women's rights. Read this story here

Also here another story by this pen in NewsMAX

Click on Taliban Threatens 'Grow Poppy or Die!'

Policemen in Afghanistan are not happy with their lives. The highest-ranking officer makes about $80 per month, and "the Taliban pay better," one policeman tells me.
Would he go fight with them? "They haven't asked me. But I have to survive. If they asked me I would," he replies. Read the whole story here

Poppy legalization banned in Afghanistan

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The committee of counter narcotics which was made by a group of parliament member rejected a part of the law on drugs that was legalizing poppy cultivation for research and medicines purposes.

Both officials of the narcotics ministry and committee rejected the legalization of growing poppy cultivation for healthy purposes in a meeting on Sunday. Mullah Taj Mohammad Mujahid, head of the parliamentary committee on narcotics, said to media, allowing growing of poppies for whatever purposes was against the country's constitution.

A few weeks ago, the Senlis Council also stopped to run there policy on narcotics. The Senlis council was working for licensing opium in Afghanistan but interior minister asked them to stop and close their office.

Abdul Khalil Shirzai, head of the law enforcement section of the ministry of counter narcotics, told, they were supporting decision of the lower house committee.

Earlier, he said they wanted to have some poppies in the country to be used in painkiller medicines and research purposes. Shirazi said: "Now we are agreed to ban poppy cultivation as it is against constitution and the law enforcement agencies are too weak to control its growing for the specific purpose."

The draft banning poppy cultivation has been prepared by ministries of counter narcotics, justice and interior as well as the Supreme Court and Office of the Attorney General. Mujahid said he was discussing the draft law with representatives of the counter narcotics to have a well-prepared version of the law presented to the parliament soon.

One ISAF soldier killed and 2 injured

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On Tuesday one ISAF soldier killed and two others injured when their vehicle hit a roadside explosive device in Panjwayee district of the southern Kandahar province.

A press release issued on Tuesday said the soldiers were conducting patrol as part of the countrywide joint ANA- ISAF Eagle Operation.

The wounded troops were evacuated to the ISAF hospital at Kandahar for treatment. The release did not mention health condition of the injured soldiers.

Accordance to NATO policy, ISAF does not release nationalities of casualties prior to the relevant national authority.

Tired small shepherd in central Afghanistan

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Afghan Leader Warns of Another 9/11

Okke Ornstein is an internationally acclaimed journalist working on assignment for NewsMax.com in Afghanistan. He reports from Kabul.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- One of Afghanistan's leading members of parliament, Mrs. Malalai Joya, warns that the current U.S. policy in Afghanistan is virtually certain to lead to another 9/11. Read this exclusive story here...

Two U.S soldier killed and 3 injured

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According to the news, Two US soldiers were killed and three more wounded following a clash with militants in the remote district of the eastern Kunar province Yesterday evening. One soldier of the Afghan National Army (ANA) was also killed in the clash.

The US military stationed at Bagram, announced the soldiers were operating as part of a combat patrol that made contact with enemy extremists. The unit engaged the insurgents with small arms and artillery fire.

Based on the news from U.S military station at Bagram, All the wounded US and Afghan soldiers were medically took to a US treatment facility in Asadabad, capital of Kunar, where their condition is stated to be stable.

Over 7,000 Afghan and US troops are operating in eastern Afghanistan as part of the Operation Mountain Fury. Kunar is the mountainous province situated in east of the country. The province is abutting Pakistan's Bajaur tribal agency, which was once considered the safe haven for al-Qaeda and fugitive Taliban leaders.