ninme

From Chrenkoff’s (endangered) Good News From Afghanistan, Part 15:

And a successful program that [brings Afghan students to the United States continues:

Four teens from Afghanistan will arrive in Fort Wayne this month to spend a year with area families learning about American culture and attending local schools.

This is the second year teens from the war-torn country will visit Indiana and several other states across the country as part of Youth Exchange and Study, a program under the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Three of the teens will arrive Sunday after a monthlong training session to help them adjust to life in the United States and two weeks before school begins at Homestead, Heritage and Woodlan high schools, where they will attend.

We used to always have someone from Europe staying with us when we were kids. Never students, but recent graduates or gap-years, I guess. It was fun. And it’s something I’d like to do when I get to that point in my life where I have a dedicated guest room. And:

And on a less serious level - yes, Bollywood is officially conquering Afghanistan:

Doors for Bollywood have opened now even in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. Performing in front of 30,000 audiences will be Suniel Shetty, Sonu Nigam, television stars Rahul Roy and Hussain.

Afghanistan is a huge market for Bollywood and is very excited for this first of its kind show, informs the Indian organiser of the event.

Suniel Shetty has more reasons to smile than the rest going, as action films are a huge favourite there. Looks like Suniel will soon be adding hordes of fans to his fanclub!

Long forgotten - or worse still, destroyed – historical heritage of Afghanistan is finally being preserved and looked after. For example, “experts from the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, are back on the ground in western Afghanistan. They’re working with local authorities on a $1 million project to preserve the crumbling, centuries-old minarets in Herat and Jam, which are in danger of collapse.”

In the capital, meanwhile, “reconstruction work began on July 2 at the Khwaja Eshaq Khatelani shrine, also known as Shah Shahid, located in Kabul’s 8th district. Sayed Makhdum Rahin, the minister of information, culture and tourism, addressed a ceremony to mark the start of work and said, “Shah Shahid is one of the historic shrines of Kabul city, and based on agreements between the information ministry and USAID, it will be reconstructed in four months at a total cost of 34,530 US dollars.” The present shrine to Khatelani dates back to reconstruction work carried out under 18th Afghan king Ahmad Shah Durrani, but has suffered recent environmental damage.”

And a Japanese archeological team has discovered the one that the Taliban didn’t manage to find and destroy - an ancient Buddhist mural in a cave in Bamyan, near the dynamited giant statues of Buddha.

And in sport news, the Asian Cricket Council is planning to promote the game that is so popular in neighboring Pakistan, as well as India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The Council will spend $60,000 trying to nurture young talent in Afghanistan.

I think I could actually enjoy cricket. I was watching an old Inspector Morse episode last night, about a cricket player, and there was this big long scene that was entirely a cricket game with a few meaningful glances cast around in the meantime, and every time the plot intruded I was very upset.

On the topic of urban renewal, one historic city will be expanding: “A government delegation including reconstruction minister Mohammed Yusuf Pashtun attended the inauguration of a project to expand the town of Bamian, provincial capital of the central province of the same name. Bamian, is the site of the two giant Buddha statues, is not only important for Afghanistan, but is a historical and archeological site of world significance, said Pashtun. The government has therefore decided to expand the city, because Bamian is seen as the most attractive historical site for tourists in Afghanistan, he said.”

And the same name of my new favourite restaurant!

Iran has contributed to making Afghanistan’s highest airport at Bamian safer to operate by installing weather-related instruments. Meanwhile, a new, $3-million traffic control system has been unveiled at the Kabul airport on 12 July. More about it here.

Pity Iran’s so, y’know, bloody-minded and insane. They could be such an asset.

A new program aims to revive Afghan tourism:

Afghanistan has struggled to surmount decades of war and poverty. Now, newly trained trekking guides plan to help visitors climb the country’s majestic peaks in an effort to revive tourism.

A total of 22 Afghans from across the country graduated Thursday from an internationally sponsored mountaineering training course in the capital, Kabul, the U.S. Agency for International Development said in a statement.

The guides, hailing from northern Nuristan to central Bamiyan province, are part of a program to establish environmentally friendly tourism in Afghanistan, the statement said. They include two young women and seven former soldiers…

Besides USAID and UNEP, other sponsors include Mountain Wilderness International, an Italy-based group dedicated to preserving mountainous regions around the world, and the Aga Khan Foundation, a Muslim development fund.

Forget the mountaineering; polish up some restaurants! I don’t think I can stress enough how good that restaurant is. Food tourism is just the best.

USAID’s forestry project aims to rehabilitate pistachio woodlands in the pistachio belt extending from northern to north-western Afghanistan and conifer forests in eastern Afghanistan; provide cash-for-work opportunities to vulnerable people through labor-based reforestation projects; develop the technical and managerial capacity of the Government and local forestry experts; and promote conservation and stewardship of forests in rural villages surrounding forest rehabilitation projects. USAID works too achieve these ends in collaboration with the Afghanistan Conservation Corps (ACC).

Egad, pistachio woodlands? How intriguing. Hmm. And 5,000 tons of apricots to Saudi Arabia. Still nothing on my brilliant saffron idea, eh?