Afghan Pilgirim-7
Mazar-e-Sherif, a colorful city with sad sides
Muhammad Tahir

Mazar-e-Sherif (October 10, 2006)- From time to time I repeat a phrase that ‘I will die for this or that thing,' of course it has little seriousness, but the tradition of Afghan hospitality, especially hospitality of the Afghan Turkmen, is one of such things I am really impressed by.
While we were on the way to Mazar-e-Sherif, the preparation to host us has already been completed. When we arrived to the home of Nejibullah Bahmen, his father ‘Abdulkerim Bahmen’ and the Professor of Balkh University Muhammad Salih Rasikh was already expecting for lunch- which was ready for being served.
From the outside Bahmen ‘senior’ was an old and traditional Turkmen tribesman, but in a while, opposite to other people of his age, I witnessed a pen in his pocket. It meant he had some level of education- but later he shamed me by presenting at least 10 books written by him. It was impressive since this was only a minor part of his achievement or activities, despite being in his 70s, Bahmen was working as an editor of a monthly literary Journal ‘Olus’, and in addition he was in his final stage of completing another poetry book.
During the lunch- which was made up with the rich Turkmen cuisine ‘Pilaw- soup-boiled meat and potatoes; different kind of salads; and side dishes’ I also had the chance to meet Mr. Salih Rasikh, one of the few University teachers from ethnic Afghan Turkmen. He was also authored a book on the history of Afghan Turkmen in the Persian language.
As a part of tradition, Bahmen had also invited some other relatives and friends living in Mazar-e-Sherif such as: Abdul Mejit Sabir, Abdul Rasool Nazari and etc. I knew these gentlemen from my office- as they used to work as contributors for the Turkmen Service of Prague-based Radio Liberty.
After having lunch at the residence of Bahmen, Mejit Sabir a ‘kind man’ was willing to take us on a tour of Mazar-e-Sherif. His old Russian made Volga model taxi car was capable enough to carry even an overloaded burden of ‘6 people.'
It was my second trip to Mazar-e-Sherif, the major hub in northern Afghanistan. This city is attractive enough to impress the visitors by its multicultural ethnic based composition, historical attractions and as well its open minded people and relatively well organized city structure.
The downtown area of Mazari-e-Sherif, especially the surrounding region of Rawza Sherif, ‘according to some local believers where the tomb of the 4th Islamic Caliphate lies’ is really beautiful.
According to some historians, Mazar-e Sharif was formerly the capital of the historical province of Afghan Turkistan, and this city is located near to the much older cultural center, Balkh, which was destroyed by Genhis Khan.
The dominant language in the city is Dari, but the Turkmen and Uzbek languages also among the widely spoken local languages. The population is 183,000 (2002 official estimate.) The city continues to be a major tourist point of interest because of its fabulous Muslim and Ancient Greek architecture. In July 2006, the discovery of Greek remains was announced.
This city also played an important role in the recent history of Afghanistan. In the 1990's, Mazar-e Sharif remained a stronghold of opposition groups (notably the Uzbek-Afghan leader Abdul Reshit Dostum, and those who followed) for several years after the Taleban took control of much of Afghanistan. Between May and July 1997 the Taliban unsuccessfully attempted to take control of the city until August 8, 1998, reportedly leading to a six-day killing frenzy of Hazaras and other locals.
On November 9, 2001 the Afghan Northern Alliance recaptured the city, after heavy battles with help from the United States. An alleged massacre of Taleban soldiers by US allies is said to have taken place near the city.
In the days while I was in the city- ‘May 2006’ the German Armed Forces, which is establishing a significant presence there, have seen characterizing the situation in the area as "neither quiet nor stable." But taking the security situation in the other parts of Afghanistan into account, I declare Mazar-e-Sherif no doubt ‘a quiet stable town.' As I have seen no man carrying Kalashinkov and other types of automatic guns any more- the business structure seems to be functioning quiet normally; restaurants were full and people were freely walking, talking etc.
But walking on the streets of Mazar-e-Sherif, especially surrounding area of Rawza Sherif, everything was not so pleasant, it was always the children who broke our hearts. The girl in the red scarf in the picture is one of hundreds of children who, instead of school, everyday take the way to Rawza Sherif early in the morning and sit on the door of the main entrance of the tomb ‘which is also a mosque’ to wait for alms. Devout Muslims are supposed to give to the poor after their prayer. But most of the Muslim men however, were very poor themselves and the small change this girl and other beggar received was often too little.
Besides visiting Rawza Sherif and the surrounding region- I would definitely recommend visitors to taste the mango juice of Mazar-e-Sherif, which is one of the few things in the town you could find ‘pure.' But please be careful if you are going to change money or planning to buy electronic equipment or CDs DVDs. I bought few DVDs and CDs of my favorite Tajikistani singers, which was widely available, unfortunately I didn’t test it before I left the shop, later I realized that the cover picture of CDs and DVDs wasn’t the same as CDs.
After a having brief visit of the downtown area, we headed toward the residence of Abdul Mejit Sabir, where besides poet Abdul kerim Bahmen, I had the opportunity to meet a very interesting man, Akmyrat, ‘the man in charge of Turkmen language programs at Radio Balkh’.
This dinner with rich cuisine soon turned into the stage of a drama theatre with the funny jokes of Akmyrat, who seemed to specialize in jokes. His story of love affaires with the daughter of his uncle was especially interesting, which is definitely could be considered one of the longest affaires ‘without any result’ in recent history. According to Akmyrat it’s almost 30 years since affaires have begun, but because of refusal of his uncle, this relationship has not yet been translated into marriage as the ‘couple’ wishes.
Today Akmyrat is almost 50 years old, but their affaire seems very deep since neither of them has any intention of giving up the struggle, despite they had no chance of a face to face meeting during the last 10 years. To the question why his uncle is refusing to allow his daughter to marry Akmyrat, he said, ‘because I never had a well paying proper job, so I hardly could give a reasonable dowry.' In fact the old China made bicycle was the only property he had in his life. However he was one of the few university graduate ethnic Afghan Turkmen but it seemed it is not enough for his uncle to let his daughter marry Akmyrat. During the discussion, the crowd gave a variety of solutions, some said to use people who may have some contact with his ‘possible future father in law,' some suggest to run away with the girl. But I don’t think any of them were useful for Akmyrat, since he also didn’t want to hurt his uncle whom he thinks is living the last years of his life.
This was an incredible night, we sat till the late hours discussing different kinds of interesting stories, and also I eat a lot- unusual compared to back home- after mid night we walked toward the host family ‘Bahmen’ to take a rest. We decided to leave Mazar-e-Sherif the next day early in the morning to Kabul. A kind friend Abdul Mejit Sabir didn’t let us go on our own, as he arrived with his taxi before we woke up. He took us to the taxi terminal of Mazar-e-Sherif and choose a taxi after enough bargaining ‘in price’ with the taxi driver.
Now we were on a way by the popular means of transport ‘the taxi’ to the capital Kabul after visiting almost the entire north of Afghanistan in less than 5 record days. This journey was going to take some 5 hours.
The next part of my diary will be the final report from Afghanistan, which originally took place between May 18-28, 2006. Please keep following this strange vacation in a dangerous zone.