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 Kuchi wander great distances in remote places, they are proficient smugglers.  A Kuchi tribe has currently taken up winter residence in Jalalabad (a temperate lower valley).  There is a Kuchi outpost right across the street.  Dave says I shouldn’t peer in with binoculars.  “That’s the kind of thing that will get you shot.”
The Kuchi people have Kuchi Dogs which come in Sub-variants like: mountain-type, lion-type, tiger-type. Â Last line in Wikipedia article cautions: “They are still a very primitive breed; perhaps not suited to gentle society.” Â Then again, you can get them in the Bay Area.
Pashtun Dances: Attan — spinning similar to whirling Dervishes, and Khattak.  I’m sure someone somewhere has analyzed the similarities of various spinning dances, such as Lezkinka of the Caucus, the Dervishes, or stick dances of the Tharu, etc.
I find this peculiar —> Theory of Pashtun Descent from Israel:
Israel is planning to fund this rare genetic study to determine whether there is a link between the lost tribes of Israel and the Pashtuns. (Wikipedia)
“Of all the groups, there is more convincing evidence about the Pashtuns than anybody else, but the Pashtuns are the ones who would reject Israel most ferociously. That is the sweet irony.”
—Shalva Weil, anthropologist and senior researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Extreme Tourist — Australian Travel Show about Afghanistan.  One of our contacts here in Jalalabad has worked as the local fixer for the show.
NYT Video: Ashura in Afghanistan — Kabul’s annual Ashura festival, in which Shiite Muslims whip themselves to the point of blood, reflects new freedoms and old traditions in today’s Afghanistan.
Graphic Photos of the same event —“Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year in which fighting is prohibited… [I guess the alternative is to focus agression inward.] The tenth day of Muharram is called Yaumu‑l ‘Ashurah, which is known by Shia Muslims as ‘the day of grief’. On this day the death of Imam Huessein, grandson of Prophet Mohammad, is mourned. He was killed in the 7th century battle of Kerbala.”
A friend in Kabul told us about the best place to get the downlow of social happenings about town. He had forgotten the name of the site, so he called a friend. Can you guess what it is? CouchSurfing Group Afghanistan. I’ve been impressed by CS in the past, say by how many couches are on offer in Iran, but I had not until that point considered surfing in Afghanistan 😉 Have a look for yourself.
