Kabul, Afghanistan
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Ah Kabul, Sunny and warm. Reminds me of home. All except for the ever present heavily armed police, crazy traffic, constant dust, the hum from a myriad of dodgy home made generators lining the streets, the war weary buildings hastily being replaced.
Despite all the bad press of late it’s not all bad news. For the most part the city is peaceful and the people are friendly. And although Kabul is emphatically not being a tourist town, it still has it sights.
Amongst them is Kabul Museum (yes Kabul actually has a museum). That said one of it’s most noticeable features is it’s near emptiness. Decades of war has taken it’s toll on Kabul’s culture scene. First The Museum was ransacked by the Mujaheddin’s in the 90’s and a lot of what was left got a hammer taken to it in Taliban times by the the ironically named Minister for Culture. Apparently they took a disliking to the un-Islamic nature of Afghanistan’s early Buddhist history. None the less, Thanks to the Dutch embassy, a lot of the rubble has been pieced back together and put on display. It should be taken as a success that Kabul has a Museum at all.
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Sitting next to this is Darulaman palace built in the 1920’s. It too has seen better days. It’s war-torn shell stands on a peak which makes it a nice place for a military base. Thus now it is, resplendent in it’s razor wire and gun turrets. Still, the people are forever hospitable and after drinking copious amounts of tea and and chatting with the guards, a short wander around the Palace/military stronghold is made possible.
photos follow.
Feel free to comment below.
Kabul
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Kabul Museum.
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Darulaman Palace
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October 21st, 2008 at 9:48 am
well i only look at 20% of the stuff in a museum anyway, so why not smash the other 80% to save space?