Buzkashi, the national game

Buzkashi is a traditional Central Asian game and the national sport of Afghanistan. This game is also widely played in northern Pakistan, Turkmenistan, some parts of China and Kazakhstan. The game is such that skilled horse riders are suppose to grab a goat or calf from the ground while riding a horse at full gallop. The goal of a player is to grab the carcass of a headless goat or calf and then get it clear of the other players and pitch it across a goal line or into a target circle or vat. A Buzkashi player is called a Chapandaz. It is mainly believed in Afghanistan that a skillful Chapandaz is usually in his forties. This is based on the fact that the nature of the game requires its player to undergo severe physical practice and observation. Similarly horses used in Buzkashi also undergo severe training and due attention. A player does not necessarily own the horse. Horses are usually owned by landlords and highly rich people wealthy enough to look after and provide for training facilities for such horses. However a master Chapandaz can choose to select any horse and the owner of the horse usually wants his horse to be ridden by a master Chapandaz as a winning horse also brings pride to the owner. The calf in a Buzkashi game is normally beheaded and disemboweled and has its limbs cut off at the knees. It is then soaked in cold water for 24 hours before play to toughen it. Occasionally sand is packed into the carcass to give it extra weight. Players may not strap the calf to their bodies or saddles. Though a goat is used when no calf is available, a calf is less likely to disintegrate during the game.
But the game is now banned in Afghanistan. Buzkashi is the national sport and a "passion" in Afghanistan where it is often played on Fridays and matches draw thousands of fans. During the rule of the Taliban regime, Buzkashi was banned in Afghanistan, as the Taliban considered the game immoral. But since the Taliban regime was ousted the game is being played again.
The game is a part of several movies and books. For e.g John Huston’s film, The Man Who would be the king and was also a part of the opening scene of a hindi movie Khuda Gawah. It was also briefly mentioned in the book, the Kite Runner. This game was highly opposed by the Animal Rights Commission and hence is not played extensively today.

The rise and fall of the Ruthless power

The Taliban came to power in 1991, when the former mujahid, Mulla Mohammad Omar became the mullah and head of the Kandahar province in Afghanistan. His students called themselves Taliban, which means seekers of knowledge. Many others who became the core members of the group were the commanders and were mainly from the Pushtun tribe.

Their aim, as they stated, were to regain stability and enforce their interpretation of the Islamic Law. In the early years, the Taliban gained a reputation of military prowess. It attacked the headquarters of a local commander who had been responsible for numerous rapes, murders and lootings and carried out similar campaigns against other warlords. By 1994, the group had attracted the support of Pakistan and they saw Taliban as a way to secure trade routes to Central Asia and establish a government in Kabul, friendly to its interests. The Taliban captured arms and enormous quantity of military material, including rockets, ammunition, artillery, and small arms. They also captured heavy weapons like MiG fighters, helicopters and tanks. By December 1994, the Taliban had spread to north and east to the outskirts of Kabul and west towards Herat. With half of Afghan under their control, the Taliban now joined hands with Al Qaeda which was the army of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. In 1997, the Taliban attacked villages, killing around eighty six civilians. In August 1998 again they opened their third assault and massacred at least 2000 people and killed an unknown number of people in the aerial bombardment.

Fighting in the entire region along with combined effects of drought, drove thousands of people into the arms of death again. The 9/11 attacks in the U.S, according to the reports were a coalition between Taliban and Al Qaeda. In mid 2000, the Taliban split into 3 groups, one of which became a sub army of Osama Bin Laden and was called Wahabi. The group believed in bringing strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan. The group enforced the strict dress code, undermined women’s rights and even disallowed music and film. The second group was made of Pakistani ISI agents who set out to destroy the national identity of Afghanistan and destroy its art and culture completely. And the third group were the actual students of Islam, who called themselves Jihadis and saw Jihad as a pillar of their religion and found it as their duty to preserve their faith and fight foreign invaders

On October 7, and less than one month after the Twin Towers fell, the U.S., aided by the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries including several from the NATO alliance, initiated military action, bombing Taliban and Al-Qaeda-related camps. On November 12^th, the Taliban retreated from Kabul and   surrendered their arms after an attack by the U.S troops. The Taliban also agreed to surrender their last stronghold of Kandahar. The Taliban fighters handed over their weapons and control of Kandahar to local commander Mullah Naqibullah.

Violation of human rights in Afghan

The face of Afghanistan changed to following of strict Sharia laws from being a country which gave rights to men and women equally. Rules for women changed drastically while for men, they remained almost unchanged. The Taliban believed that a woman was a source of corruption and hence imposed such rules on women that were inhuman and were against the rights of a human being. It was not only purdah system that the women had to follow, 80% of marriages in Afghan were forced.

Coming to health, the rules were such that women were not allowed to be treated by ,ale doctors unless they were accompanied by a male who was the elder member of the family, which led to illness remaining untreated most of the time. Family harmony was badly affected by mental stress, isolation and depression that often accompanied the forced confinement of women. Surveys by health care organisations showed that 97% of women showed signs of serious depression and 71% reported a decline in their physical well being. With fewer health professionals in the field, the distances women had to travel for treatment increased and the provision of ante-natal clinics declined. Even though some women established informal clinics in their homes to provide health care facilities to family and neighbours, the medical supplies were hard to obtain and the medicines were mostly ineffective.

The apartments were nothing less than a prison. The windows were to be covered by dark coloured sheets so that women could not be seen from the streets. To add on, women were not even allowed to walk on the streets without a male accompanying them. Taliban restricted the cultural presence of a woman in the society. Even the names of places including the word “women” were changed. Women were forbidden to laugh loudly as it was improper for a stranger to hear a woman’s voice.

Punishments were carried out publically and civilians lived in fear of harsh penalties. It was so harsh that a woman the tip of her thumb cut off for wearing nail varnish. The only thing that women are men have common in is the punishments. Men and women alike are beaten up brutally in the country. The punishments range from chopping of body parts to killing. Afghanistan’s National security agency, has been accused of running its own prisons, torturing suspects and harassing journalists. Child labour and human trafficking remains common in the country. Civilians frequently have been killed in battles between warlord forces. Poor conditions in the overcrowded prisons have contributed to illness and death amongst prisoners.

Afghanistan, under the rule of Taliban, faced immense torture and mainly women became its victims. The Taliban violated the most basic rights of a human being apart from education, which was completely denied at a point of time. The country failed to follow the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which are at its basic level. Hence the country was destroyed not only due to wars, but due to internal violence and regulations.

Afghan and its ties with India

In 1990s, when Pakistan –backed Taliban came into power in Afghanistan and occupied more than half of the country, the shared history between India and Afghanistan and the ties between the two countries started blurring , majorly. Even though the ties were blurring, India did not want to lose on its getaway to energy rich Central Asia states such as Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Therefore, during this period, India provided aid and assistance to the anti-Taliban resistance, the northern alliance in Afghanistan that mainly comprised of Tajik and other non- pashtun ethnic groups. Since 2001, India has offered $1.2 billion for Afghanistan’s reconstruction, making it the largest regional donor in the country. By helping rebuild a new Afghanistan, India strives for greater regional stability and also hopes to counter Pakistan’s influence on Kabul.

In 2006, when there were increased number of kidnappings and attacks in Afghanistan, India sent country’s mountain-trained parliamentary force tasked with guarding its border with China. There are about 500 police deployed in Afghanistan currently. India provided the country with a lot of reliefs and reconstruction projects and in 2009; India completed the construction of the Zaranj-Delaram highway in southwest Afghan, near the Iranian border. Also, it has trained the Afghan police officers, diplomats and civil servants and has provided support in the areas of health, education, transportation, power and telecommunications.

Bilateral trade between the two countries have increased to $358 million in march 2008, even though Pakistan does not allow goods to move from India to Afghanistan but it allows Afghanistan transit rights for its exports to India.

In 2005, India proposed Afghanistan’s membership in the SAARC. Both nations also developed strategic and military cooperation against the militants in afghanistan. The country strengthened ties with India in wake of persisting tensions and problems with Pakistan, which was suspected of continuing to shelter and support Taliban.

In July 2008 the Indian embassy in Kabul was attacked by a suicide-car bomb, which was the deadliest attack in Kabul after the downfall of the Taliban reign. Two Indian officials were killed along with 58 other people in the attack. The Afghan government had then claimed that there was an involvement of the Pakistan’s Inter- Services Intelligence in the attack.

The relation between the two countries is strengthening increasingly and in the 15^th SAARC summit in Columbo, India pledged further aid for Afghanistan. Though the country shares good ties with each other for personal benefits,  the countries are going strong in their relationship with each other. Where  India is providing aid by seeing Afghanistan as a route to the Central Asian states, Afghanistan is getting aid from the country and assisitance in fighting against the militant groups.

crimes against women in Afghanistan

Afghanistan and its laws have been known for suppression of women. Violence against women is not only common in this nation, India and other countries are also known for it. In most countries, women are the weaker sex and nations that follow the patriarchal society norms lead to oppression of women to an extent of torture. Recently, the country was in news due to the Sahar Gul case. The country sent shockwaves across the world with this news.

Sahar Gul, a 15 year old married girl was rescued from her in-laws house in the northern Bhagian province in December 2011. The girl was in a critical condition for over a month. Later when she was interviewed, she said that her husband and his family tortured her as she refused to work as a prostitute. Her in-laws gave her electric shocks and more over pulled out her hair and ripped off her fingernails. She was brutally beaten with cable wires and was barely given food and water. What was more shocking was that the teenager was stubbed all over her body with cigarettes and chunks of her flesh were cut out with pliers. This young girl suffering both physically and mentally has become a bruised face of women’s rights in Afghanistan.

One of the other shocking incidents which come under crimes against women in Afghanistan is of Gulnaz. She filed a case against a man who raped her and was imprisoned for adultery. She was later forced to marry the man who raped her so that the society doesn’t look down upon her family.

Instances of violence against women still persist till date and the women’s committee in Afghanistan is now helping women in such conditions to fight for justice denied to them.

The culture of Afghanistan

The culture of Afghanistan is like India, diverse and multi- culture. It is mostly a tribal society with languages like Pashto and Dari. Afghan is one country where all the tribal societies have different regions having different traditions. The culture in Afghan has also been influenced by Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East. In the southern and the eastern region of the country, an ancient lifestyle of the Pushtun culture is followed which is followed till date. The Afghans in the northern and the central region are culturally Persian with some small regions being Turkic whre as in the western region, the country has a mixture of both Pushtuns and Persians.

               Since the 1990’s, Afghan stated using western techniques in art before which Gandhara Art existed between the 1^st and the 7^th century. Previously, art was considered as a mans job but now, women are have also started taking interest and are entering the Kabul University for art programs. In Afghan, art is largely concentrated in Kabul in the Kabul museum and the National Art Gallery of Afghanistan. Traditionally, only men were involved in theatre, but in the recent years, women have begun to take the centre stage and the country owns the 47^th largest theatre club. Also, the Afghan carpet is extremely popular worldwide for its unique print. Music and poetry existed on a large scale in the past but now the Taliban government has banned instrumental music and public music making. Yet, a few people continued to trade their music and now Pakistani cities like Karachi, Peshawar and Islamabad are a hub for the distribution of Afghan music. People generally write the lyrics in the languages Persian and Pashtro, which are the local languages. But, it is astonishing that bollywood songs are very popular in the country. The region has made a huge contribution to the world when it comes to art. The UNESCO has declared Minaret of Jam and the Valley of Bamiyan as World heritage sites, but the Taliban destroyed these. A lot of recognised architechture is also found in Herat, Ghazni and Mazari Sharif.

               According to their culture, the Afghan women have to wear long colourful dresses with long , round skirts and a piece of cloth to cover their heads. Females of all age groups have cover their heads even while at home of within their families. Men on the other side wear salwar kameez and wrap Keffiyehs on their heads. The clothes vary by regions, ethnicity as well as tribes in the country.

               Islam is the main religion followed in the country. 80-89% of Muslims are Sunnis and 10-19% is Shias. Apart from Muslims, 1% is Sikhs, Christians’ and Hindus. There are about 50000 Hindus living the country but this 1% are generally concentrated in big cities like Kabul, Kandahar and Jalalabad.

                The culture in the country has declined in the recent years due to the presence of the Taliban. The country has been unable to progress as the music, the art, education, architecture has all been destroyed. The only thing that remains in the country is the religion and the systems, the rules that the women have to follow have been there since centuries and exist till date.

The economic condition of Afghanistan

The economic condition of Afghanistan has been deteriorating since the Soviet invasion in 1979. The limited infrastructure of the country was destroyed and also interfered enormously in the patterns of economic activity. What adds on is the drought which hampered the only livelihood of the people- agriculture. In the past, the economy of the country has changed from traditional to centrally planned economy and after 2002; it was replaced by free market economy. The country is now only living on the international aid provided to them. The reason behind such economic depletion is not only the severe climatic conditions but also due to civil wars and invasions.

The only source of income for the Afghanis is agriculture as the country is known for some of its finest fruits, especially apricots, grapes, pomegranates, melons and mulberry. Wheat and cereal production is the country’s traditional agricultural mainstay. But the production has declined over the years due to instability. Even though the country has plenty of water reserves and the climatic conditions are suitable for fish farming, due to wars, the country’s water resources have majorly fallen and now Afghanistan faces acute problem of water even for drinking purposes.

Afghanistan was once known for its timber, but due to the depletion of forest, now this source of income has also stepped back. A report shows that since 1980, only 3% of the land has been forested. The natural forests in the country are mainly of two types- oak and walnut and the country is known for its dry fruits. Roundwood is also produced in the country, 40% of which is used as fuel. Forest fires, increasing number of pests and plant diseases are some of the nature’s curses to Afghanistan that has wiped out the economy of the country. Afghanistan is also endowed with a wealth of natural resources. these include deposits of naturalgas, petroleum, coal, gold, copper, iron ore, salt etc; precious and semi-precious stones.

The economy turned a new leaf in the mid 1990’s when the waste and depleted area was being used for agriculture. But soon the Taliban took over and today 90% of the country is owned by them. and then in recent years it was struck by severe drought in 1999 until today. As a result large and increasing numbers of people have lost their means of livelihood. Afghanistan’s economic situation has significant regional spill-over effects through unofficial trade, narcotics, terrorism and extremism and financial flow thus forcing the economy to completely collapse.

the issue of malnutrition in Afghanistan

                                             

Afghanistan has been going through a traumatic phase in the recent past. The country has poor economy and hence is resulting in malnutrition not only in children, but also in women and men of the country. The disaster struck country is the way it is not only because of the severe weather conditions but also the disaster man is creating. Due to this, living conditions in the country have been consistently miserable. Reports on the country’s health conditions show that it has a very high rate of stunting in children, which is 60.5% and 50% children suffer from Anaemia.  71.9% of school going children have iodine deficiency in them, whereas in case of women, it is about 75%.

Malnutrition in the country is a cycle. Economically, the country is poor which means that there is very low income in Afghanistan. Due to this, the food intake in people is less and insufficient and people have become infection-prone. The concept of family planning has not been developed in the country and hence with low income the mouths to feed have increased. Due to the poor physical status of the people, the productivity has substantially decreased. Therefore, due to lack of efficient health care and resources, the malnutrition cycle has continued in Afghanistan.

A U.N Security Council report has a startling statistic that states that 25 times more people die from under nutrition than from violence. The food insecurity has curiously received less attention even though it is a bigger issue to handle. The country has the 3^rd highest child mortality rate in the world and nearly 300000 children aged 5 and below die every year due to severe living conditions. Afghanistan has been facing. The climatic conditions have made the situation worse in the country. Extremely cold winters and burning hot summers have wiped out the livestock of the farmers in Afghanistan and scarcity of water adds on to the tragedy. The food prices also have increased by 50% which means that food is being catered to only a handful of people who have funds available.

The conflicts of the country with other nations in the past one year have led to the upset of the distribution of resources which not only include land, but also water. The drought struck country has got more to handle than just this issue. A major problem in the crop yield is also due to pests like locusts that come in large numbers and destroy the farms. This has resulted in the reduction of crop yield up to 64%.

It has become important to spread knowledge to the people in the country about hygiene, sanitation, clean water and education about proper feeding habits of women. A step in this direction will lead to decrease in the number of deaths due to malnutrition in the country. The country has been in the situation of war for the past 10 years and 60% of the population are being tried to reach to provide aid. The living conditions of the rest can only be imagined and guessed as these people are literally trapped in the critical areas.

                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                   manuhaat singh