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The Mullah and The Activist: Two New Autobiographies

Written by Farhad Azad on January 6th, 2010

Here are a pair of autobiographies that represent two ends of the Afghan political spectrum.

The Activist

A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice

Women’s rights and anti-fundamentals activities Malalai Joya’s has written her account in A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice.

Publisher’s excerpt:

While many have talked about the serious plight of women in Afghanistan, Malalai Joya takes us inside the country and shows us the desperate day to-day situations these remarkable people face at every turn. She recounts some of the many acts of rebellion that are helping to change the country — the women who bravely take to the streets in peaceful protest against their oppression; the men who step forward and claim I am her mahram, so the fundamentalists won’t punish a woman for walking alone; and the families that give their basements as classrooms for female students.

A controversial political figure in one of the most dangerous places on earth, Malalai Joya is a hero for our times, a young woman who refused to be silent, a young woman committed to making a difference in the world, no matter the cost.

Find it on Amazon

The Mullah

Abdul Salam Zaeef, a senior former member of the Taliban, has written about his life in My Life with the Taliban.

Publisher’s except:

His memoirs, translated from Pashto, are more than just a personal account of his extraordinary life. “My Life with the Taliban” offers a counter-narrative to the standard accounts of Afghanistan since 1979. Zaeef describes growing up in rural poverty in Kandahar province. Both of his parents died at an early age, and the Russian invasion of 1979 forced him to flee to Pakistan. He started fighting the jihad in 1983, during which time he was associated with many major figures in the anti-Soviet resistance, including the current Taliban head Mullah Mohammad Omar. After the war Zaeef returned to a quiet life in a small village in Kandahar, but chaos soon overwhelmed Afghanistan as factional fighting erupted after the Russians pulled out. Disgusted by the lawlessness that ensued, Zaeef was one among the former mujahidin who were closely involved in the discussions that led to the emergence of the Taliban, in 1994. Zaeef then details his Taliban career as civil servant and minister who negotiated with foreign oil companies as well as with Afghanistan’s own resistance leader, Ahmed Shah Massoud.

Zaeef was ambassador to Pakistan at the time of the 9/11 attacks, and his account discusses the strange ‘phoney war’ period before the US-led intervention toppled the Taliban. In early 2002 Zaeef was handed over to American forces in Pakistan, notwithstanding his diplomatic status, and spent four and a half years in prison (including several years in Guantanamo) before being released without having been tried or charged with any offence. “My Life with the Taliban” offers a personal and privileged insight into the rural Pashtun village communities that are the Taliban’s bedrock. It helps to explain what drives men like Zaeef to take up arms against the foreigners who are foolish enough to invade his homeland.

Find it on Amazon

Now, we are waiting for an autobiography from a centrist political figure.

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Strange fruit

Written by Roya Aziz on November 3rd, 2009

It’s a time of uncertainty in Kabul. It bee ’s also getting colder and when that happens, I bake and cook more because it warms up the kitchen. So while I could regale you with some theory of the current political situation and the probable outcomes, I thought I’d share something lighter. My family recipe for quince jam.

It’s quince season, or as the fruit is called in Afghanistan, “bee”. It’s not an Afghan dish per se, and I don’t know if all Afghan families make this jam, but my grandmother and mother traditionally do.

I have a quince tree in my backyard here in Kabul, which inspired this note. Raw, quince is a bitter, strange fruit, but it smells lovely. Cooked, it makes a great jam that tastes amazing with fresh, homemade Afghan bread (or muffins and croissants). Quince jam reminds me of Sunday mornings in California when my mom bakes fresh bread, which she serves with homemade jams stored in preserved jars.

You might be able to find quince jam and jellies in speciality shops in the States sold as something French or British, but I think quince is more prevalent in the greater Central Asian region.

I have to warn you. I don‘t make the applesauce version, nor am I a fan of quince jelly. My quince jam, like my mom’s, is chunky and messy.

Ingredients you will need:

Some quince
Caster sugar (to taste)
Cardamom pods or fresh ground cardamom

Directions:

I don’t peel my quince (the skin will melt and become soft during the cooking process). I scrub them well until the fuzz is gone. Just like an apple, quarter and core them to remove the seeds. Dice into chewable, tiny squares, or grate with a cheese grater. Transfer to a pot, and cover with water, but not too much, just so that they are submerged. Bring to a boil for about 30 minutes. Then let rest for another 30 minutes. Next, drain the liquid and discard.

Now add sugar to the quince and one cup of water over medium heat. Generally you can add one part sugar to two parts fruit. You have to stir frequently (quince jam is a labor of love). Add cardamom pods and some fresh ground cardamom to taste. Let the quince simmer over the heat until its color changes. At the end stage, your quince will look pink with black flecks of cardamom sprinkled throughout. You’ll know your jam is ready when the excess water is gone and you have a semi thick consistency.

Serve with butter, bread and some black chai.

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Why Did I Vote?

Written by Roya Aziz on August 23rd, 2009

Kabul — I knew I would regret voting.

First off, I have no identity issues about my hyphenated nationality. I was recently called a “foreign Afghan” (khariji afghan-ul-‘asl) by the Ministry of Information and Culture — it was a pithy effort to undermine me, and therefore the credibility of an electoral media monitoring project that I manage that has been critical of the state media.

Yesterday, a colleague who noticed my ink-stained finger asked why I don’t respond to the minister and prove him wrong. I have nothing to prove. I am an Afghan. I was born here. My mother, my grandmothers and great-grandmothers were born here. Apart from my mother, these women did not learn to read and write, and they gave birth to generations in their homes, placing their faith in God and the women around them. So I don’t lose sleep over the minister’s lackeys trying to define who I am.

I registered for a voter card in 2004, before the first presidential election when I worked as a journalism trainer and freelance reporter during a summer break from graduate school. I dug it out months ago just to see if I still had it, and then I misplaced it in a stack of books. I didn’t plan on voting. I was going to be tied up in the office with the media monitoring, and all the paranoia about polling station security made voting a non-issue.

At the last moment, in a surge of my own ever-present naivety and optimism, I voted. Part of it was the reporter in me. How can I not see a polling station during a historical election? Part of it was the woman in me. What if my children ask me where I was during the 2009 presidential election? And part of it was my sense of civic responsibility. After all, I even voted in California county and state elections.

I went to Lycee Zarghoona, an all-girl’s high school around the corner from my rented home. The polling station was nearly empty. When I entered the women’s voting area, there was only one other voter in the room, a middle-aged woman who bravely took a provincial council ballot as well (there were more than 300 candidates in Kabul, and the ballot was stapled together like an oversized booklet).

A teenage poll worker dipped my finger into the disputed indelible ink and another handed me a folded presidential ballot. Once inside the booth, I didn’t linger. Candidate, check.

Today, two days after the election, I’m asking myself, why did I vote? I don’t believe in national myths, even if those myths are necessary. I don’t believe that people power rests in voting. In fact, I believe that after the armed revolution or peaceful resistance, the dream dies and reality, that is to say corruption and compromise, follow. And that’s not pessimistic. The struggle and conflict is the romance and the rest is human nature.

Plus, this is no organic democracy, thought that’s irrelevant, as the International Community claims. It’s an imperfect vote in an obviously imperfect country, and free and fair is relative. One could write an entire book about Orientalism & the Afghan elections.

Meanwhile, many Afghans will just continue to call democracy, “da-mor-kussy,” which is not a quaint Afghan pronunciation. It means, literally, your mom’s (blank) in Pashto.

So while I don’t have an identity issue, I have contradiction issues. I don’t believe that voting will bring change to Afghanistan, or at least the kind of changes that are absolutely necessary now. Afghans are keen politicians, but the political machinations taking place now are sad, like a baser version of a Shakespearean play. To be unorthodox is impossible in Afghanistan. To be, God forbid, independent is foolish. To be conniving and clever, in contrast, is smart.

So in an election where voter cards were bought, traded and fabricated (Britney Jamilah Spears’ voter card, resident of Kandahar, comes to mind), and where ballot stuffing existed, and where the only plausible rival wears Armani suits that cost more than an average Afghan’s annual income, what was the point? Did I participate in a farce, or did I participate in an event that in the long term will be (mis)labeled as revolutionary? Both prospects depress me.

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Afghanistan 90 Years Later

Written by Farhad Azad on August 21st, 2009

August 19th marked the 90th anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence.

In the 90 years since Amanullah Shah led and won Afghanistan’s right for self-determination from the British, Afghanistan’s history has taken some good and ill turns.

The Afghanistan of today was not in Amanullah Shah’s remotest vision. And we could wonder what he would have thought about the recent presidential elections—the winner yet to be determined.

To commemorate this anniversary, it is befitting to see Farhad Darya’s new music video recorded on the ruins of Amanullah Shah’s palace—bombed, burned and looted by the same people that run the current government of Afghanistan. Darya sings the late Qahar Asi’s poem “My Beloved Land”.

Here is the poem’s translation by Dr. Sherief Fayez, the Founding President of the American University of Afghanistan, we published back in October 1999:

My Beloved Land

My beloved land
My dream, my conviction
My honored blasphemy and religion
My seventh heaven

What a valiant people!
What sun! What fire!
Rising like the Resurrection,
No obstacle to their will
Not mountain nor hill.

Across the land
Passionately they scream:
Martyrdom and determination!

No house without a Rustem
That great warrior
No fortress without an Arash,
That great archer

What a brave nation!
What a proud people!
Let the dust of their footpath
Be an honor on my temple!

– Qahar Asi, Kabul 1987

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Green Energy in Afghanistan

Written by Farhad Azad on June 18th, 2009

Only Afghanistan’s major cities have the luxury of electricity. The Afghan government estimates that less 10% of the country has access to power. There are many hydroelectric dams, but due to the drought, they have produced less electricity while demand continues to soar.

Last month, there was a positive shift in Kabul where close to 20 hours of electricity is available for most citizens thanks to a power line from Uzbekistan.

But what about the rest of the country, specially the rural areas? And what about green energy? Afghanistan has plenty of sun, rivers and wind that can produce clean, efficient energy.

Wind Power

This news report covers a small wind farm in Panjsher developed by the US. But instead of powering people’s homes, it powers the governor’s office. And that isn’t the only surprise.

Solar Power

Can Afghanistan invest in solar farms? If so, when can it be ready? I think we shouldn’t hold our breath.

In the mean time, on a grass roots level, there could be creative ways to harness the sun’s power.

Jennifer McCarthy runs the blog WaterFlows. She raised money through her “living on a $1 a day” campaign. With the funds, McCarthy financed the construction of a much needed well in the village of Ahmadabad in Faryab province.

Aside from clear water, the villagers requested access to electricity. Getting a power line to the village is a major challenge– most likely due to the thick red tape within the Afghan government. And it would cost an estimated $35,000 to get full solar panels for each household.

So she purchased two inexpensive solar mats that provide enough power to charge a cell phone or lamp batteries to light a room.

A resident of Ahmadbad charging his cell phone with a portable solar mat. Photo by Jennifer McCarthy

How can each village household have access to his own solar panel mat? One idea is to subsidize the cost. Until a major green energy initiative can deliver, could this be one interim solution to solve the most basic needs of the rural population?

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The Emerging Young Professionals in Afghanistan

Written by Farhad Azad on June 9th, 2009

While the majority of the Western media’s attention in Afghanistan focuses on the US military, the Taliban and drugs, little is said about the emerging young professionals.

Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, higher education in Afghanistan has remarkably flourished with the revitalization of Kabul University, creation of The American University of Afghanistan and the establishment of private colleges. This enthusiasm for higher education is fueled by a new generation of Afghans ardent to learn and excel in the modern world.

Here is a rare CNN interview with Afghan professionals in Kabul, including a young female law professor from The American University of Afghanistan. The reporter, Atia Abawi, is of Afghan descent, perhaps a reason why we are hearing from this group rather than older, out of touch government officials and technocrats.

They are hopeful that things could change under President Obama, but are looking for quick positive actions.

You have to agree that now is time for the West to begin fostering partnerships with this new generation of secular and educated Afghans who could be future leaders of Afghanistan.

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“Amir: An Afghan Refugee Musician’s Life in Peshawar, Pakistan”

Written by Farhad Azad on June 4th, 2009

The British ethnomusicologist John Baily conducted fieldwork on the music of Afghanistan, focusing mostly in Herat, between 1973 -1978. In 1985, he produced the documentary film “Amir: An Afghan Refugee Musician’s Life in Peshawar, Pakistan”. In Peshawar Baily reconnects with Amir Mohammad, a musician from Herat and the film’s main character. The film is an insightful look in the lives of musicians who fled the war in Afghanistan in the mid 1980s.

Here is a short clip introducing the main character:

By the early 1990s, the fundamentalist “mujaheddin” government took over Afghanistan, which viewed music as unacceptable, leading to a wave of persecuted musicians becoming refugees. Finally when the Taliban stormed into power, all musical forms were banned.

It is unfortunate to see the naive outlook by Afghans– at that time, or even today– about the true roots of the USSR-Afghan war where Afghanistan was used as a pawn in the US game to trap and deliver the USSR its Vietnam in Afghanistan.

You can purchase or rent the documentary from Amazon.

Here you can download the study guide (pdf format).

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Band-e Amir: Afghanistan’s First National Park

Written by Daud Saba on June 1st, 2009

Band-e Amir (photo by Daud Saba)

With this news on Earth Day 2009, for me and other friends of environment in Afghanistan, a wish has come true. In August 2004 issue, I wrote: “In 1973, the Afghan government named Band-e Amir as the first national park. Because it was not ratified into law, Band-e Amir does not have legal status to be officially protected. In the past three decades of war, governmental protection of Band-e Amir National Park has been less than a priority.”

I am more than satisfied that the hard work of many friends of environment in Afghanistan, with generous support from the international community has finally paid off. From now on, this piece of pristine wilderness in Central Afghanistan has a legal status to be protected. Thus, ways to practically protect the fauna and flora of the Band-e Amir National Park becomes a new mandate for the friends or environment in Afghanistan.

We can’t leave the whole task to the government. We have to help the community understand the value of their natural heritage, so they could be brought on board to find a solution for immediate problems that Band-e Amir faces today. The issues are: unregulated grazing and uprooting of shrubs that degrades the delicate vegetation cover, fishing by electrification or dynamite explosion methods, serious soil erosion around the dams, unsustainable reeds harvesting that degrades waterfowl habitats in the valley, and finally motor boating. The natural setting is littered by trash and human waste. This is damaging the pristine environment and serenity of the park.

As we expect that the number of visitors to Bamiyan and Band-e Amir increase, each of the above mentioned problems needs urgent due attention. Only by the community involvement through sound natural resources management, Band-e Amir National Park could serve its purpose. The National Environmental Protection Agency of Afghanistan (NEPA) must immediately introduce pragmatic guidelines for the use of this natural heritage site.

All friends of environment should see it as their duty to raise awareness for the preservation of the park’s beauty. Keeping the park well preserved will allow the local people a better quality of life not just from a safer environment, but also through the business of tourism, which should eventually become a lifeline to this struggling community.

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Remembering the Influential Zaland

Written by Farhad Azad on May 30th, 2009

From the early 1950 to the late 1960s, Jalil Zaland was one of the most popular radio stars in Afghanistan. His originality centered on his open and unrestricted style of singing and appealing selections of songs. But more than anything, he greatly influenced the a generation of vocalists.

The late Ahmad Zahir told Zaland, “When I was a kid, I wanted to sing like you.” Zaland replied, “Now I wish I could sing like you.”

On April 30, 2009, Jalil Zaland passed away at the age of 74 near Los Angles, California.

Most of his recording are in the Radio Afghanistan archives, which could do a great service by releasing those songs in a commercial box set commemorating Zaland and his influential legacy.

One favorite song is “Zulf-e Shab Rang-e Tou Karda Zawalanam”:

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The song has an air of romance and reminds me of a moonlit summer night. No doubt the arrangement is by the late Salim Sarmast, which you can hear his rhythmic trumpet throughout the song.

And here is Zaland in 1985 performing another classic tune with an aging Radio Afghanistan orchestra.

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Welcome!

Written by Farhad Azad on May 21st, 2009

Welcome to the new face of Lemar – Aftaab (afghanmagazine.com). After a long hiatus, we are back and plan to publish in a new format. Stay tuned!

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