62 votes

Afghans Pin Hopes on Resurrected Buddha, Afghans Hope a Resurrected Buddha Can Breathe New Life Into Their Impoverished World by admin in Culture visit site

Five years after the Taliban blew them up, Afghan laborers are picking up the pieces of two once-towering Buddha statues, hoping they will rise again and breathe new life into this dirt-poor province. While they wait for the Afghan government and international community to decide whether to rebuild them, a $1.3 million UNESCO-funded project is sorting out the chunks of clay and plaster _ ranging from boulders weighing several tons to fragments the size of tennis balls _ and shelt...

60 votes

Afghans Welcome Koreans If No Religious Strings Attached by admin in Culture visit site

The people of Afghanistan welcome Koreans with open arms__ that is, as long as there are no evangelistic activities involved. That was the view expressed by Fatima Gailani, president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, on Friday when she answered questions about a recently cancelled “peace festival” in Kabul.

27 votes

Religious police trigger heated debate in Afghanistan by admin in Culture visit site

Afghans are deeply divided over plans to revive a religious police body, with some saying it harks back to violent Taliban rule while others feel it is just what Afghanistan's recalcitrant society needs. Under the Taliban, the religious police patrolled the streets, punishing women if they went out without wearing an all-enveloping burka and men who trimmed their beards or were caught listening to music.

37 votes

Afghan authorities crack down on alcohol sales by admin in Culture visit site

Afghanistan authorities have destroyed 630 bottles of wine and 3,300 cans of beer in Kabul as a public demonstration of the government's crackdown on alcohol in the Islamic state. The alcohol was stacked up in a park in the capital, then smashed, set alight and rolled over by a bulldozer in front of a crowd of police and journalists. The contraband had been snatched in a raid on four guest houses, where 11 non-Afghans were detained and are set to be returned to their country of ...