Feature Articles
Afghanistan's Internal Refugees: "Trapped at the Margins"
By Mir Hekmatullah Sadat
In April 1992, another bloody phase of the Afghan tragedy started, one that has led to the current fighting. These dramatic events plummeted Afghanistan into ethnic/linguistic/religious sectarian conflict and warfare. Consequently, massive migration resulted which aligned regions with a particular ethnic group.

Afghanistan's Natural Heritage
By Daud Saba
At the time that environmental concern and sustainable development is the agenda of international community, Afghanistan's war-ravaged land is facing a devastating social as well as environmental crisis in her history.

Drought in Afghanistan
By Khaleda Atta
For the past four years, an alarming drought is spreading across the country, threatening millions of lives with dehydration, famine and disease. It is the worst drought to hit Afghanistan since the 1970's, killing thousands of livestock, destroying crops and forcing people to migrate yet again.

Culture Shock/ Reverse Culture Shock
Cultural Transition from Home Country to
Host Country and Back Home Again
By Dr. Amin Azimi
Periodically, ever since Afghans began coming to the U.S., in various circles one may hear of their desire to return to their beloved homeland once the political upheaval comes to an end. Some of these individuals have been waiting many years for such a glorious day to leave this country. Emotionally and intellectually, they have not made the compromise needed...

Feminist Perspective: September 11th and Afghan Women
By Dr. Huma Ahmed Ghosh
In this paper, I will try to wrestle with questions pertaining to an understanding of Afghan women's lives and issues as an integral part of global politics and international wrangling. An attempt will be made here to frame the "woman question" in a historical perspective.

Travelogue
Home After 20 Years: Travel to Herat
By Fariba Nawa
Flies buzzed and circled around my face. I swatted them away with my hands as I slowly looked up to a dozen men watching me. Standing in line at the Iranian border waiting to cross into my hometown Herat, Afghanistan...

Goodbye to all That: A Gloomy Vista of a Leading Light
By Idress Zaman
It was a hot sunny day in June this year in Kabul. As a student of history, I had a wish to see historical monuments and the last remnants of historical personas of my country. Obviously, the first preference was none other than Kabul's famous cemetery, Shuhada-e-Saliheen (The Pure Martyrs).

Diary of an American Doctor in 1997 Kabul
By Dr. Barbara Trott
Dr. Barbara Trott was sent by chance to Afghanistan in October 1997 and worked in Kabul until December 1997. She shares with us an except of her personal diary on her travel from Paris to Kabul and her stay in Afghanistan.

Essay
The Afghan-American Response
By Nadia Ali Maiwandi
It was a confusing time for all Afghans, to say the least. For years a foreign element has invaded our home, taken it hostage, and exploited its grounds to train human killing machines and warp the minds of young. Now that element had struck out to attack our new home--a place we had run to, to escape similar brutality.

My Suitors
By Nargis
My mother loved the guy. He would make the perfect son-in-law. Our mother became fast friends. My father loved the guy. "He has character", he said after first meeting him. So did my sister, my brother and family friends who knew him.

Surviving The Guilt
By Sonia Rahel
The focus of this article is on the Afghans that have fled the country in the last two decades and live in exile. Like many other Afghans, I too had left with my family in the early 1980s. I often wondered what happened to this friend, that neighbor or thought of an extended relative that I had not seen for a while.

Music
Khoshnawaz brothers keep Herat's music alive
By Fariba Nawa
Smiling wider than their faces could comfortably stretch, three brothers with 100 years of music in their blood sat cross-legged in front of me, tuning their instruments.

Visual Arts
Afghan Art Debuts In Northern California
By Farhad Azad
In a time when art is endangered in Afghanistan, the San Francisco Bay Area showcased a healthy dose by some of the finest Afghan artists.

Photography of Najia
Interview by Zaheda Ghani
Najia Jalah, talented 17 year old photographer from Los Angeles spoke to Zaheda Ghani about inspiration and the black and white of taking pictures.

Cartoons
The Broken Heart of Afghanistan
By Solaimon Olumee

Film
Kandahar Calling
By Rahat Kurd
It isn't everyone who can claim to have inspired Mohsen Makhmalbaf with a script idea - and then be asked to portray herself in his extraordinary new film about the lives of Afghan refugees on the Iran-Afghanistan border. Kandahar premieres at Cannes this month. Niloufar Pazira tells Rahat Kurd about becoming the production crew's impromptu translator and payroll clerk, bonding with Pashtun women on location - and the unexpected challenge of getting ready for her close-up, chador and all.

Poetry
A Painting from Bamiyan
By Rahim Elham
Translated from Dari By Dr. Sherif Fayez

Home
By Donia Ghobar

Brooklyn
By Zohra Saed

Influential
By Zaheda Ghani

Constant Stillness
By Dr. Amin Azimi

Masked
By Mizgon Zahir

Fiction
Aya
By Donia Ghobar
The faint light of a candle trembled in the bareness of what was their home. Dusky shadows quivered over the narrow drugget, clean-swept mud floor, rusty stove, rolled up old blankets beside the wall, few cracked dishes upon a shelf, and the only window with some of its panes covered by old newspapers.

Identity Card
By Wali Shaaker
"Now that I am here in Pakistan, what should I do next?" I asked myself while I was listening to Ahmad Zaher's song, "Tanhaa Shodam Tanhaa", in a small room that I had to share with four other young Afghan men.

This is How the Leaves Live
By Zarin Anzor
Edited by Mir Hekmatullah Sadat
They had found him the only man in the whole village. There was no other male left there. The governor of the district had ordered to bring forth every adult male found in the village to his courtyard.

Commentary
The Great Game of the 21st Century:
"Civil Liberties, Social Justice & Nation Building"
By Mir Hekmatullah Sadat
Almost a century later, Afghanistan again stands at the crossroads of a new version of "the Great Game" between oil companies and political fanatics. Besides the obvious factors of oil, politics, economic globalization, and geo-strategic maneuverings, today's struggle, oddly enough, also involves terrorism, civil liberties, social justice, and nation building.

History
The Game for Afghanistan (Format: PDF)
By Farhad Azad
The history of Afghanistan's struggles in the "Great Game": 1837 - Present

History of Afghanistan: Timeline 1919 - 2001(Format: PDF)
A detailed timeline on the course of Afghan history: 1919 - 2001

Royal Family Tree and Rulers(Format: PDF)
Extended family tree of the royal Afghan family and images of royal Afghan rulers: 1747 - 1978

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May not be duplicated or distributed in any form without permission.