Word: kandahar
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...Afghani children in Kandahar, by Kiarostami's compatriot Mohsen Makhmalbaf, do not smile. One comely lad in a Taliban school loads a Kalashnikov rifle and obediently proclaims its virtues?it "kills the living and mutilates the dead"?as a mullah praises his recitation. ("Weapons," a visiting doctor says later, "are the only modern thing in Afghanistan.") Another boy, an orphan in the desert, will peddle anything, including himself, to keep going. He attaches himself to an educated Iranian woman who has returned from Canada to save her sister. As Makhmalbaf showed in Gabbeh, he is Iran's great colorist; here...
...Buddhas to New York was rebuffed by Taliban officials. Last week a very faint ray of hope faded when Pakistan, the Taliban's closest ally, failed to dissuade them from going ahead with their plans. Pierre Lafrance, a UNESCO special envoy, was sent to talk to Taliban mullahs in Kandahar, but he found that "there was not the slightest hint of bargaining in their position. Their standard is definitely extreme compared to other countries...
...Meanwhile, aid workers say over a million Afghans are now at risk of starvation caused by years of war, drought and their government's ineptitude. To many, losing a part of their heritage in Bamiyan?and at the other Buddhist sites in Jalalabad, Ghazni and Kandahar?is only one of many tragedies inflicted on them by 20 years of ceaseless turmoil...
...first visit in 40 years by a U.N. Secretary-General, will convene a council of tribal elders to appoint a two-year transitional government. Donor countries linked pledges of more than $5 billion in international aid to democratic controls. But security remained a key issue as U.S. forces near Kandahar killed 15 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in the fiercest clashes...
...government of Hamid Karzai in Kabul says it wants to put an end to rule by local magnates, yet in a series of quick-fix deals, it has put them in charge of places like Herat, Kandahar and Khost. In time, Karzai says, the local leaders will be replaced by professionals who are not part of local power structures. Anyone trying to do this in Khost could be in for a tough time. The brothers, fervent royalists, fly the royal banner from official buildings, not the current national flag, and pictures of deposed King Mohammed Zahir Shah adorn their cars...