Word: afghanization
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...foundations, its role as a Silk Road caravansary, its 16th century revival under the great Mughal Emperor Babur and its recent troubles. Encircled by the snowcapped Hindu Kush, Kabul is a small city, with its history compressed. As a result, Buddhist stupas are hidden in Muslim graveyards, and elaborate Afghan façades can be glimpsed between Soviet-style apartment blocks...
...tour starts at the hilltop mausoleum of the father of former Afghan King Zahir Shah. Kabul's neighborhoods, both modern and ancient, unfurl in all directions, and Rahimi points at landmarks to illustrate his narrative. Gesturing to the majestic ruins of the 5th century Bala Hissar citadel and the crumbling city wall, he describes the successive waves of invaders that sought to make Kabul their own. Shafiqullah Zarif, Great Game's chief security officer, who also doubles as a guide, picks up the tale with the Soviet invasion and the subsequent civil war. As the local Red Cross security chief...
...dusty streets and city alleyways of Pakistan and India. Driving across Sri Lanka two weeks ago, I saw farmers playing atop the banks dividing their rice paddies. Even Afghanistan has been touched by the contagion: Since the fall of the Taliban in 2002, thousands of returning Afghan refugees who fell in love with the game during their years in Pakistan now play on the rock-hard fields around Kabul...
...Your article on Afghan warlord Haji Bashar Noorzai listed possible negative consequences of his arrest [Feb. 19]. Assured by a U.S. agent that the trip would be "like a vacation," Noorzai went to the U.S. to offer his cooperation against the resurgent Taliban. Now in jail, he can no longer supply intelligence, move his tribe away from the Taliban, persuade his followers to give up poppy farming or sway other warlords toward the political path. But worst of all, his 1 million tribespeople will now be convinced of U.S. perfidy, duplicity and treachery and therefore be converted into implacable enemies...
There are flashes of Middle Eastern awareness emerging: the midseason sitcom Andy Barker, P.I. features an Afghan kebab-house owner who defensively festoons his shop with patriotic kitsch. Still, in Axis Aron Kader complains that even today he meets people who can't pronounce Palestine. "Come on! We're responsible for half the terrorism in the last 50 years!" he rants. "How many rocks do we have to throw...