Visiting Mazar-e-Sharif - Radio Afghan Style

I went to the North of Afghanistan to visit Mazar-e-Sharif, where the Embassy currently has a consulate.  I was checking on the status of a radio station that received a grant from the U.S. Government.  This grantee is building radio stations in many of the major cities in Afghanistan. 
The station works like this: They don't have any DJs who talk on air - they simply allow people to call in and say what they want on the airwaves. The radio station will post topics (like Afghan elections or traffic in the city) and then allow the conversation to flow. Of course, it doesn't go on air without some checking.  They do edit the calls to put them in order or to make sure they aren't offensive - so the calls aren't live) but they do not edit the content. In some places, there are neighborhoods where each morning people call in at the same time to warn people about traffic problems in that part of the city.  There are also conversations about how things are going in parliament, or results for the Afghan national sports teams.  But the owner told me it can also be much like the United States with kids calling in to give "shout-outs" to their friends.  It is an interesting model that is giving Afghans a voice on radio. It is extremely popular in some cities and we went up to check on the antenna and facilities that were being opened in Mazar for the next station.  
Afterward, my colleagues and I visited a sports complex the USG is also funding for a local Mazar neighborhood, and then we went to lunch at a local restaurant.  I don't get to go out for Afghan food much (read - three or four times total the whole year) but it was exciting to sit in a restaurant surrounded by Afghan families and men on their lunch breaks and just have some Afghan food.  It gives me hope to see that kind of living in Afghanistan, to remind me that there is a quotidian life that continues and that you can still get good chicken in a restaurant. 

Three Years to Destruction - Buddhist Complex at Mes Aynak

Mes Aynak is a copper mine about a ten minute helicopter flight from Kabul city that is, I believe, the second largest copper deposit in the world.  In 2007 the Chinese bought the rights to the mine (well, leased them), ensuring a huge financial investment and important income source for the Afghan Government.
However, this copper mine has been attracting civilizations for centuries.  Buddhists from more than one thousand years ago also used the copper deposits here, and built a big city around the mine.  And of course, probably other cultures made it a home base too predating the Buddhists.  In excavating, they have found manuscripts that may talk about Alexander the Great's troops and the world's oldest wooden buddha which was brought to the Afghan National Museum for display.   (see a few more photos here from google images)

The United States Embassy has a Cultural Heritage Specialist on staff full-time right now in this critical time to help do what we can to preserve Afghanistan's cultural heritage (hence her title) and help the Afghans improve their collections and build a new National Museum.  She is an archeologist who is working with the French archeological team DAFA as well as Afghan archeologists on many projects throughout Afghanistan, but when I traveled with her to Mes Aynak, I could tell this place was incredibly special to her and her excitement was infectious.

The Chinese agreed to give the Afghans some time to preserve what they could, but at the end of a finite time period, the area will be mined and what is not removed will be destroyed, so it is a race to remove or photograph what they can from the site. 

Because of security, we could only be out there for about forty minutes, but we saw the countless Afghan men working on the site or serving as the security to guard the relics they uncovered.  Looting is a HUGE problem at archeological sites around the world and Afghanistan is no exception.

The statues are covered in tarps but are being degraded by rain and weather in some cases.  We saw a beautiful statue laying on the ground, and a fresco with paint still on it and you could still see the vivid color of the buddhas.  The Afghan in charge of the expedition was obviously working as hard as possible to do the work to document and save what they can, and he showed us stupas and standing and reclining buddhas, and so many amazing things in our short time. 

These finds will continue up until the last day when the mining starts. And then the mine will offer a great deal of money to the Afghan Government to pay for roads, schools, hospitals and other necessities.  It is a real conflict between preserving the past and building a future, but at least they are working every day to get what they can.  You can see a video about the site and read more here.

LA Times Article About the Site
BBC Article
Talks about the Site

NPR rocks - Even in Afghanistan

You know you are officially old when meeting someone from NPR is like meeting a rock star. NPR has a correspondent in Kabul, but they send out some of their heavy hitters to do more in-depth reporting.  They look at the war effort, but also try and tell the story from the Afghan perspective.  For an event at the Embassy, Renee Montagne, who hosted All Things Considered in the late 1980s, attended and was part of the press corps.  A bunch of people (including myself) wanted to take a photo with her (State Department types can be very nerdy).  Yep, officially I now listen to talk radio more than music in the afternoons.  As a friend pointed out, I look like her bodyguard but that is just how I dress for work.    

Three Months Ago Today - A Simple Reminder

38 individuals died on August 6 in the deadliest day in the War in Afghanistan since 2005 when a Chinook helicopter was shot down three months ago today.  For me, it coincided with my trip back home to the United States a month after my father passed away, so I was home Iduring the aftermath of that attack and saw how it was reported and how our nation mourned.  Many here saw it as a sign that we should get out of the war.  Others saw the heroism of the soldiers who died,   Their personal stories were everywhere and one of the soldiers that was killed came from South Florida so I heard the voice of his wife in the days following the downing.  
 
It was poignant and difficult for our country to see so many lives lost in one moment.  However, it is three months later, and I wonder where this incident, or the many others that are happening daily in Afghanistan, are in the minds of the American people. 

This isn't a call to remember the fallen (though November 11 is Veteran's Day and we should take that as an opportunity to reflect this week) and it isn't to shame anyone for not putting Afghanistan and the war and all the suffering that happens moment to moment in the front of your mind. We all have our lives and need to live them in the present.  But from time to time, I have to reflect on what I saw and experienced, and remember that others are still going through that war. For the families of the victims of the Chinook accident it is still very very real. 

Whether or not you think we should be in Afghanistan, we are there and by we I mean many tens of thousands of American individuals (and our allies, and of course, Afghans) who are experiencing it.  Take that for what it is, a simple reminder, nothing more.