Soccer with the Boys
The cook scored 3 goals. The mechanic Sadik stayed in goal. The guard Metin scored 7. I scored 9.
read more »Disaster Services
Yesterday Megan and I taught CPR to a group of University Students who have taken it upon themselves to form a Disaster Response team and are trying to amass skills and knowledge that will be of use to them and their communities. One of the boys, Hameed, is part of our informal “geek squad†at the Taj and wrote the previous post on this blog. Of the four he was the only one who spoke fully fluent English. Two could…
read more »My Moment of Heroism
Morning rolled around. After having breakfast with my uncle, I headed towards Jalalabad bus station in Kabul. I sat in the rear seat of a wagon. A man with grubby clothes, long hair, dirt-caked hands, wearing a big baggy vest with swollen pockets, lines etched into his tanned face, creases framed his eyes and his mouth, came aboard and sat next to me. His face was pale and his eyes were frightened, like the eyes of a hunted animal. In…
read more »A Small Adventure
(Note: This is the first post by Hameed. Get used to it!) I have an American friend named Jeremy. He is my Pashto language student as well. Our friendship is very tight, and it goes beyond the teaching. One day, Jeremy asked me to travel to Kabul with him because of security problems and to help with translation on the way from Jalalabad to Kabul. I agreed to his suggestion. It was a bright Thursday morning of humid summer, promising heat,…
read more »Introducing Hameed!
We kick off the New Year with a new author on our site. Meet Hameed Tasal. Here Hameed is aligning the Satellite receiver dish atop the Taj. See the earphones? He’s not rocking out to blasphemous tunes, but listening to the diagnostic pitch that tells him if the info cannon is hitting the target. And he’s no stranger to big name publications (such as Jalalagood) having been interviewed for the Boston Herald this April. Worth a read.
read more »Happy New Year!
Thanks to Anselm for coming up with it, we have a new tagline: Adventures in Khyberspace! Get it? We’re focused on bringing technology to the Khyber Pass. Just a few days ago, we took a drive to it’s Western Edge, the Torkham Gate. This street scene brought to you by JD, a friend of the TAJ:
read more »Nan Factory
While walking down the streets of Kabul last week I stared a little too inquisitively into a nan store/factory pumping out the long, flat bread that is eaten with every meal in Afghanistan. The man stretching the dough noticed my prying and invited us in to see the whole process up close, encouraging us to take photographs and film the intricate, six man team working together to form the vat of dough into identical diamonds of flat bread. The bread is baked in a…
read more »Links
This has floated across my linkspace over the past week: Pajhwok News — a local Afghan run news service, recently signed contract to provide video and photos to CNN. How to write about Afghanistan — amusing reading. (Thanks Ben Atlas!)  I guess we have to study it harder, since we’re failing so far. Jim Gant: the Green Beret who could win the war in Afghanistan — inspired reading. Kuchi, Afghan Nomads — Megan has been called a Kuchi, in particular by one enthusiastic boy.  Supposedly since the…
read more »Glossary
Terms picked up along the way: ISAF — International Security Assistance Force is what the US-led NATO coalition forces are called in Afghanistan. CommVoid — of as in, “Sorry, I didn’t hang up, we got CommVoid!” Â Because many IEDs are triggered by cellphone, ISAF and UN convoys frequently travel with cellphone jammers creating a communication void in their vicinity. Â As I have been informed by people who have experience with such things, the most dangerous place to drive is at the…
read more »Afghan National Dresses
I found this scanned calendar of Ariana Afghan Airlines from 1973 and am reposting here. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157625559950781”] Clicking on an image will bring up a lightbox. Then you have to click on the sides of the lightbox to pan around. And you should take a look at this photo series from Foreign Policy Magazine, which will totally blow your perception of Afghanistan’s recent past: — Biology Class in Kabul University, circa 1960s
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