Day 6 - Istalif, Shomali Plain, Hindu Kush Mountains

Today is Friday, the Sabbath. We begin our day in the northern part of Kabul, where the sun is up, the dust is down, and it is warming up. As we travel north, up through the Shomali Plain, we witness additional evidence of decades of war - first, the Russians invaded along this route, so both the mujahedeen and Russians laid anti-personnel and anti-tank mines that remain today; then, the Taliban burned the remaining vineyards and orchards and forcibly resettled those who had remained in the area, due to their sympathies with the Northern Alliance. We pass many large graveyards in which the green flags of those who died as martyrs are prominently flown.

It is like a different world from Kabul. There are green fields of grass and rice. Almond, apricot, and cherry trees are beginning to bloom. In the distance, the snow-capped mountains of the Hindu Kush beckon.

Just outside of the village is the ruins of a guest house owned by the former leader of the Northern Aliiance, Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was assassinated by Taliban posing as journalists on September 9, 2001 - only two days before the attacks of 9/11 in the U.S. There are still soldiers guarding the bombed-out guest house; they invited us up to the terrace for tea and pictures.

The village was well-known in the past as being a haven for artisans, particularly potters. We visited the pottery of Abduhl Wahkeel, the Ishan shrine , and the bazaar. The village was featured in a recent NPR segment on rebuilding Afghanistan.

The thing that I liked the most about this trip is that our guides (aka our "minders" or "daddies") seemed to be relaxed, and they let us walk about without supervision or worry. This was to change, however, because once we returned to Kabul, we learned of the deaths of 4 American soldiers, two attempted assassinations, and the kidnapping (and subsequent killing) of four Macedonian/Albanian soldiers. Additionally, when we returned to Kabul that afternoon, one of the vans in our group had an unpleasant experience when their van was surrounded by a crowd and rocked while in the area of the Shah's tomb in Kabul, where they went to see kiteflying; we had tried to get there also, but Afghan soldiers wouldn't let us in the area because of heightened security and threats that had been made against Westerners that day (unbeknownst to us). Nothing like reality to ruin what was a perfect day.

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