From sports played with dead goats, to instruments that have been played there for over 2,500 years, to brand new democracies, Afghanistan is an amazing country. There are many things that make Afghanistan unique, including their government, food, sports, music, and education. Afghanistan is also changing very rapidly. A few years ago, it was a war zone. People were afraid to go there. Now, thanks to much help from the United States, people are beginning to visit Afghanistan as a vacation site, much like they did before the Taliban took over.
Lately, Afghanistan has been in the news very frequently. The most recent headlines have talked about the food supply. Even though there is a new government, the Taliban is still strong. They keep food from the citizens, as a way of religious torture, so that the Shiite Muslims will convert to Sunni Islam, the religion of most of the members of the Taliban. The United States tried to solve this problem by dropping food supplies from military airplanes into villages of Afghan people. This plan did not work because the food was dropped from an altitude that was too high, and was either crushed by air pressure, or smashed when it hit the ground. The food that did make it to the ground safely would sometimes sit untouched for weeks before being found. During this time, bacteria and mold would have started to grow in the food, allowing more sickness and disease to infect the already sick Afghani people. The military also colored the parcels yellow, so that they could be seen. This was a mistake. It was unknown to the government that the people of Afghanistan had been taught to avoid yellow, because it was usually the color of insurgent bombs. The military also made the mistake of dropping the food in the wrong places. In late 2006, two young children were killed as they walked into a minefield to retrieve the box of food that had fallen from the sky.
A slightly happier bit of news is Afghanistan's new government. For many years, Afghanistan had been run by a “dictatorship”. While not a true dictatorship, ruled by one person, the people obeyed two groups: Al Qaida and the Taliban. These two religious terrorist groups made many rules that limited the rights of citizens, mainly women. The groups destroyed anything that represented any religion other than Islam, the main demonstration of this being the destruction of the Buddhist statues in Bamiyan. The Taliban also put many Christian missionaries in prison for trying to convert Muslims. The United States got involved when the attacks moved to our soil. In 2001, Al Qaida operatives hijacked four planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, killing thousands. The United States ordered that Al Qaida turn over Osama Bin Laden, who was believed to be in charge of the attacks. Al Qaida refused, saying they were ready for Jihad, or “Holy War”. American and British bombers made air strikes on many Taliban and Al Qaida bases, in response to this declaration of war. After several years of bombings and warfare, the country's streets were, and still are, a disaster, but the Taliban was finally brought down. In late 2001, the Taliban fled from Afghanistan, leaving the United States free to help rebuild Afghanistan, which is just what is happening. In 2004, the first democratic election took place, and the people chose the United States-backed candidate Hamid Karzai to lead them. Under Karzai's rule, Afghanistan has been much more peaceful, and the country is beginning to be rebuilt.
While the government is new, many aspects of Afghanistan culture are the same as they have been for hundreds of years. The people are very respectful to their elders and ancestors, and therefore attempt to keep the ways of those before them sacred. For example, Islam has been the main religion of Afghanistan for over one and a half millennia. Even when the Mongol leader Ghengis Kahn, who worshipped the sky, tried to take over Afghanistan they held him off, and two generations later his descendants were living as Muslims in Afghanistan.
Afghan food is world renowned for its rich blend of spices and its exotic flavors. It is very different from our food, and is very healthy. Some favorite afghan recipes are Pulao, Boulanee, and Shorma. Pulao is the most popular food in Afghanistan, and is the most widely recognized Afghani food in the United States. It consists of steamed rice, cooked with raisons and carrots, and then served with a meat, usually lamb, but sometimes goat, beef, duck, chicken, or goose. Afghan's do not eat very much pork, mainly for religious reasons. Boulani are another famous Afghan food. They are mashed potato and meat turnovers. Potatoes are not used very much in Afghan cooking, but this is one of the rare recipes that include them. The meat, in this case, is usually ground beef. Shorma, while not a food in itself, is the Afghan word for soup. Soups are eaten at almost every meal in Afghanistan and they almost always include chickpeas, a kind of broth, and many spices, such as cinnamon or nutmeg, as well as some sort of meat. Yogurt is also used very much in cooking, but not the kind we have in the U.S. The yogurt they have does not come in different flavors and is usually very watery. It is made by letting milk sit in the open for a couple of days until it starts to separate, and is then used in many different recipes.
