14 Jan 2012 | no comments » Children
What happens if you have more than one brother and you all need to share one bike? This is an example which is quite common in Afghanistan. The drive told me: “You shouldn’t be worry about injuries, it’s fun and memorable and more importantly a fast way to avoid Kabul traffic.” In 2007, a research center found this: The 179 out of 500 persons were literate, of which 2.8% have 1-3, 34% have 4-7, and 63.2 % have over 8 family members. However from remained 321 persons 4% have 1-3, 43.8 % have 4-7, and 52.2% have more than 8 family members.
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12 Jan 2012 | no comments » Children
Tushla bazi (glass marble game) is the most famous traditional game among Afghan children. These glass made marble balls are found everywhere in Afghanistan. Children’s pockets could be empty of anything but marble balls. In Tushla Bazi, the winner would go home with full pocket of marbles and losers would go empty and upset. Recently, children have been gambling over stationary like pens and pencils. It’s said that marbles have been played by children since ancient Egyptian times. If you see Afghan children, glass marbles could be a valuable gift for them.
04 Nov 2011 | no comments » Children
UNICEF says more than 30 percent of children of elementary-school age are working on the streets in Afghanistan and are often their family’s sole breadwinners. That means that millions of children are not going to school. Child labor in Afghanistan is also rampant, with many impoverished families selling their kids into forced labor, sexual exploitation, and early marriage. UN says a total of 1,396 children were killed or maimed (486 killed & 910 maimed) in 2010. This is a 35% rise compared to 2009, mainly owing to an increase in indiscriminate methods of warfare and asymmetric attacks by armed groups.
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30 Oct 2011 | no comments » women
During the Taliban regime women were locked up in at home, they were not allowed to go out for shopping or work in the public places. Since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, many would agree that the political and cultural position of Afghan women has improved substantially. Today, Afghan women have a predominant presence in the Afghan political domain. According to UN, women represent almost 28% of Afghanistan’s National Parliament, 9% higher than the world’s average of women in parliament.
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18 Oct 2011 | no comments » people
Ulama are the most influential figures in Afghan society. They do not have a visible presence in the government nor in the public domain, however, they are a great tool for governments. Recently, the council of ulama issued a fatwa saying that rejecting food and dying from hunger is against Islam. The next day, Afghan police raided the Afghan female politician tent Semin Barakzai, who was in a hunger strike for more than 12 days. Semin Barakzai, a 30-year-old mother of three and one of nine MPs expelled from the national assembly over vote-rigging claims, had refused to eat until she is reinstated to her parliamentary seat or her case is re-investigated.
In Afghanistan, the ulama keep an important position among the mass. Unlike Iranian ulama who were heavily involved in the Tobacco Movement, the 1979 revolution, and many other national political movements, the Afghan ulama have never been a threat to governments and have never opposed the power of Afghan Amirs and kings. They have always been used as a tool when they were needed. They are disorganized and corrupted but they have only one powerful tool: Sharia. They issue fatwas and even sometimes their fatwas do not stem from Quran or Sharia but they are an invisible force in the Afghan public domain.
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