News of Afghanistan ۴۶

Oh happy day. Shall we start with the News then?

From Maxwell Street, to Columbia? "A few years ago, anyone with a folding chair and a table could deal...now, eh..."

I can only imagine how busy the tazkera offices will be.... (the tazkera is a sort of cross between state ID and birth certificate and Social Security card).

Get out! Anyone who worries about how illegal immigrants might be treated in the US, Australia, etc., take note. [note - internal problems too.]

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (L) greets to his Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak (C) next to NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (R) during an informal meeting of NATO defence ministers in Seville February 8, 2007. The meeting will be held in Seville from February 8-9. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo (SPAIN)

Oooh, this isn't gonna play well....

Nor did this.

Artistes, arise!

© IRIN
Rights groups oppose a draft law which grants immunity to former warlords, such as Ismail Khan (left) and Rashid Dustum.

Good for her!

Note two things: the paper this review appears in, and the irony of the possible trouble the Iranian government is causing/has caused Afghanistan. I take more hope from this than dismay. The Iranian people have a great interest and bond with the Afghans - no matter what their regime's attitudes and actions.

Talk about squeezing blood from a turnip...

My favorite of all the pictures I took in Afghanistan. Opening day of a girl's school in Parwan Province

I'd bet you won't find much current US pop music allowed.

The AQ coming into Afghanistan - they couldn't care less who they hurt. Mortar shells hit kids - they don't care. Bastards.

Oh, that porous Pak border...

Good on ya moment of the week: The Aga Khan Foundation is helping rebuild the Babar Garden - one of the nice things the terrifying conqueror and founder of the Mughal Dynasty, Babar - the Tiger of the North - left behind. Go look at the pictures.