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In and , students from religious schools in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan--the Taliban--spread throughout the country, proclaiming hostility to the West and establishing a reordering of society based upon a strict interpretation of Shari'a, or Islamic law. After the September 11 attacks on the United States , carried out by members of Osama bin Laden 's al-Quaeda forces who were sheltered by the Taliban, the U.
Afghan society and infrastructure, already decimated after two decades of war, must be rebuilt. Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, is situated on a high, barren plateau some 5, feet above sea level , and surrounded by rugged, treeless mountains. Commanding the main approach to the historic Khyber Pass between Afghanistan and what is now Pakistan, the city lies in the eastern section of the country, miles from the Pakistan border. The Kabul River which winds through the city is, except for an interval in early spring, little more than a partially dry, but always polluted, stream.
The climate of the city is varied. Kabul is in a low-rainfall area, and almost all precipitation occurs between November and May. The remaining months are virtually dry. Strong afternoon winds, accompanied by dust storms, occur frequently in summer.
Severe earthquakes are rare, but tremors are common. In March , however, an earthquake in the northern Baghlan province about miles north of Kabul , killed thousands and was felt as far east as Pakistan. It came to prominence early in the 16th century as the capital of the Mogul kingdom. There are old city walls in Kabul, the mausoleum of Timor Shah, the son of Ahmad Shah Durrani who moved the capital of Afghanistan from Kandahar to Kabul, and the Arg or palace built to operate the Bala Hissar citadel, or seat of the rulers of Afghanistan. Great Britain 's desire to control the routes to India precipitated the first of the Anglo-Afghan Wars , and it was at Kabul that British forces were ambushed and nearly annihilated.
The city was occupied again in during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, a struggle that established Afghanistan's borders with British India and Russia. After , Kabul grew as an industrial center. Afghanistan's capital city is the site of Kabul University founded in , which was closed in due to war.
The Taliban reopened it in , but women were banned. The medical school was the only institution to make an exception to the ban on women: only female doctors could treat female patients. With the defeat of the Taliban, 4, students have taken entrance exams for a new semester, and of them are women. There have been donations of books from abroad.
There are several other schools in the city, including Kabul Polytechnic Institute, which has been in operation since The Institute of Arabic and Religious Studies has headquarters here, and maintains satellite centers in other cities throughout the country. The Afghanistan Academy of Sciences also is located in Kabul, as are several research institutes and a museum. As of June , it is unknown to what extent these institutions are operational. As a result of war with the Soviet Union , civil war, the destruction wrought by the Taliban, and the bombing campaign, the infrastructure of Kabul largely has been destroyed, including roads, the telephone system, electricity, and water sanitation.
However, international relief organizations are engaged in reconstruction efforts. The people of Kabul have begun to sift through the rubble of destroyed buildings, selecting usable bricks and building materials for the construction of new schools and other facilities. It is estimated that as many as 60 percent of Kabul's buildings are damaged or destroyed.
Gravel from them is being used to patch roads. Signs of a rejuvenated Kabul were beginning to emerge in New restaurants have opened, and there are stalls selling such varied items as fruit, snacks, balloons, and laptop computers.
However, the increase in market activity has also brought theft, assaults, and murder, which are now more prevalent than under the Taliban. Buzkashi like rugby on horseback , is the national sport. In buzkashi , riders struggle for possession of a goat, calf, or sheep carcass, and scores are counted when one of the teams is able to fling the animal's body into a designated circle on the field.
At the end of March , the first movie made in Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power was shown in Mazari-i-Sharif: Chapandaz is an Afghan production, shot, edited, and released in the country, featuring the sport of buzkashi.
Indian movies are also popular. Other pastimes that have returned in are dog fighting, camel fighting, motorcycle stunts, and karaoke. Soccer began to be played in Kabul's sports stadium in December , a venue that had previously been used for executions. Such western novelties and food items as bubble-gum, soda, cookies, and juices have been arriving from Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Russia, Egypt , Turkey , and India.
In March , an earthquake measuring 6. Baghlan's rich agricultural region was also the victim of a plague of locusts in the spring of It was a center for trading wool, fruit, and corn, and was famous for its embroidered sheepskin coats. The city's most famous ruler was Mahmud of Ghazni who conquered regions in the area and made Ghazni the capital of a kingdom extending from the Tigris to the Ganges rivers. The kingdom was overthrown in by Mohammed of Ghor. Two impressive ancient minarets jut into the sky in Ghazni.
The population was estimated at 39, in In March , Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels remained in Ghazni province. Dueling factions of Tajiks, Hazaras and Pashtuns are refusing to surrender their weapons. In May , a radio station went into operation in Ghazni, broadcasting from 6 to 8 pm at night.
Two women have been hired to read the news and announcements, and listeners leave messages at the station requesting songs to be played. However, as of June , there were no telephones and no electricity in the city. The city is situated in the western part of Afghanistan, over miles west of Kabul.
It is known for magnificent huge earth-works and defense walls. There are also tombs, palaces, and mosques here. It was severely damaged by the Mongols in and ; rebuilt, it prospered as an independent Afghan kingdom. Its population was estimated at , in Thirty percent of the population left Herat during the military campaign. Since it began to subside, one local warlord who seized a great deal of power in Herat is Ismail Khan, who courted hard-line conservatives in Iran.
Iran is reconstructing the road from Herat to its border, while the United States is cleaning out the area's canals. Khan has appointed mullahs and archconservatives to high positions, and has opened an office for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice. His army numbers 50, to 60, The city, with a population that was estimated at , in , was a trade center with sugar processing facilities and handicraft shops. There were large gardens and tree-lined avenues, as it served as a winter capital.
Two festivals that were held were the Mushaira or Poet's festival devoted to Jalalabad's orange blossoms, and Waisak, a religious festival. Jalalabad has been in existence as a city since the second century BC, and Akbar , regarded as the greatest Mughal ruler of India, started the town in its modern form in the s. It came under Afghan rule in , and was later occupied by the British in the Anglo-Afghan wars.
Eleven km south of the city is Hada, a sacred spot of the Buddhist world, where pilgrims have come to worship at its many temples. These were maintained by monks and priests in large monasteries. It is said that the Buddha visited Hada.
Conclusion This article has described the main tenets of the just war theory, as well as some of the problems that it entails. The aid program was also bedeviled by waste and by confusion over whether civilian or military authorities had responsibility for leading education, health, agriculture, and other development projects. Axis of evil Mission Accomplished State of the Union address The Jus Ad Bellum Convention The principles of the justice of war are commonly held to be: having just cause, being a last resort, being declared by a proper authority, possessing right intention, having a reasonable chance of success, and the end being proportional to the means used. Afghans do not, however, feel positively about Pakistan in general and specifically believe that, contrary to its claims, it is not pursuing the Taliban. The end game and hence the jus post bellum certainly merit attention before the battles are lost or won: what should be the ruling affairs once the peace is proclaimed?
Jalalabad is also a military center, with an airfield. The University of Nangarhar was opened here in As of January , the road from Kabul to Jalalabad was unsafe, as there have been robberies, car-jacking, thefts, and murders. It is the second largest city in the country with a population that was estimated at , in The most sacred shrine in Afghanistan is the Kaherqa Sharif shrine in Kandahar, which contains the cloak of the prophet Mohammad.
Also, the Chel Zina monument is noted for its 40 stairs leading to a chamber carved into rock, which was built by Babur, the founder of the Moghul empire.
Other shrines in the city include Haratji Baba, Baba Wali, and the bazar Charsuq, which is composed of four arcades. Kandahar was the site of fierce fighting in , and the Taliban only surrendered the city in December. It is estimated that 80 percent of the population of southern Kandahar left in Music, which had been banned under the rule of the Taliban, returned to Kandahar after the military campaign, as singers returned from exile in Pakistan. In the marketplace, cassette tapes are played at high volume, which are sold alongside radios, televisions, and video players.
Pet birds, which were also banned under the Taliban, are now sold in the marketplace. During the rule of the Taliban, there were seven schools in Kandahar that enrolled 5, boys. As of March , co-ed schools have opened in the Kandahar district, and more than 30, children are enrolled, one-fourth of them girls. Because Kandahar is almost entirely Pashtun, it does not suffer from the ethnic fighting in northern Afghanistan that has emerged in Kandahar International Airport was established as the American base in the war.
It is surrounded by mine fields and and barbed wire. Taliban and al-Qaeda suspects are kept there in a high-security area. There are 3, military personnel based at the airport. The population here was estimated at , in The city was named for the shrine of the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Mohammad, Hazarate Ali, who was assassinated in and buried near Baghdad. Legend has it that his followers feared that his body would be desecrated, so they put his remains on the back of a white camel which wandered until it fell and died.
The body was buried on this spot, and knowledge of its existence remained unknown until , when Seljuk Sultan Sanjar ordered a shrine to be built upon the spot. Genghis Khan destroyed the building, and the grave remained unmarked until None of the 15th-century decoration remains, but efforts have been made to restore the building's beauty. Mazar-i-Sharif means "The Noble Grave. In March , Mazar-i-Sharif was one of the sites of New Year celebrations at the beginning of spring Nowroz , the most elaborately celebrated festival in Afghanistan. The city was a major trading center famous for Turkman carpets, high-quality cotton, and lambskins.