When I was in Afghanistan, I thought I had a fairly good
understanding and knowledge of my country's natural geographical
heritage, at least virtually, as do many other Afghans. Now,
I realize that I had limited knowledge, more limited than did
previous generations. I believe the knowledge held by my generation is
a scant picture. Since we can remember, a
war has been raging - a war which has put a
continuous halt to all kinds of exploration inside our
beautiful country.
I recall my first plan for a road trip in 1979. I
had to convince my parents to allow me to take such an adventure
and then to find a travel partner. Other than the major
cities and the surrounding countryside, I had not visited most
of Afghanistan and was looking forward to the trip.
The plan was to follow a route from Kabul to Salang,
Mazar-e Sharif, Jozjan, Maimana, Badghis, Herat, Farah,
Kandahar, Ghanzi and back to Kabul.
It was a delight to be out of Kabul and in the Shumali
Valley and then to the province of Parwan. The valleys of
Salang and Khenjan were the most beautiful valleys we had
ever come across. After a week, we reached Sherbarghan, the
capital of the province of Juzjan. Here trouble awaited us.
A rebel attack on our bus resulted in our journey discontinuing.
So, I failed in finishing my adventure,
but the trip triggered a strong passion in me towards nature
in general and in particular, the nature in Afghanistan.
I became so obsessed with the beautiful landscapes of my country,
such as the mighty Hindu Kush, that I chose geology as my
career. Since then I have used any opportunity to travel around
Afghanistan. I succeeded to travel to the Northern provinces and
partially the Eastern and Southern ones. Yet these journeys were
limited by the on-going war and I was restricted from doing the things
I wanted to do and seeing the places I wanted to see.
As a student of Afghanistan's nature, I remember with frustration
how little we were taught of the geography of our country. I
could imagine how little other students knew of their country's
geography and natural landscapes and how ignorant the general
public was. I do not blame them for there were few general
geography books in the schools and they did not have any major
content material on Afghanistan's geography. They held names of
capitals, provinces and outdated information. More so
it was and is almost impossible to find a geography book on
Afghanistan in the national languages of the country.
Although I am very appreciative of the contribution of works by
foreigners on the subject, I believe their general view is from a
different angle. To my notion they
are not reflective of the realities of our land. I have read
stories by foreign travelers on our country and found them
to be very similar to the geography books used in our schools:
superficial. They failed to discuss the diversity of our
environment, people, culture and the country as a whole.
Recently, I was thrilled by the beauty of a travel story
written by Hussain Fakhri, a well known Afghan novelist and
writer, in Amin (a magazine published in Meshad, Iran).
In beautiful Dari prose he reported his recent trip
to Koh-e Baba region in central Afghanistan (Amin- No4,
Sunbola-e 1377). I was familiar with the geology of the
Koh-e Baba region and was informed of the beauty of central
Afghanistan by instructors who had experience in the geological
work in that region. Though it was the first time I could visualize
the beautiful valleys of Dara-e Ali, Yaka Olang, Dehkada-e
Nashar, Dara-e Sar Qol and Dara-e Targhi Panjaab.
However, Fakhri is more a story teller than a nature writer or
geographer. It was through his story that I became familiar with
many of the real characters living in those valleys. I got in
touch with their culture and was faced with the challenging
realities of life imposed on them by their land. It
was a celebrated success for an Afghan writer in introducing a piece
of our home to us, a piece that we may never had imagined. There
are many other enthusiast Afghans like Fakhri who are fond
of traveling in the country and writing their stories for
us to read and enjoy.
I think one of the causes of the ongoing war in Afghanistan
is the fact that we Afghans don't appreciate the advantages of
the diversity in our home, in ourselves, in our culture and
diversity in our landscape. Because of our ignorance, some
think that this is a disadvantage and should be eliminated by
creating a pure ethnic or cultural state, a mistake that ruined
our beautiful home and devastated our environment and took
millions of lives. I hope that the new generation of Afghans,
especially those who have grown up in the Western world, will
act as candles in the darkness of this era. They can illuminate the
beauty of our land and cultural diversity. It is for us to get
in touch with our motherland.
To appreciate her beauty and be proud of it, we are to
rediscover it. We can get in touch with it only if we
discover it by ourselves. We can put an end to the
misery we have, only if we are to understand our home,
a knowledge that we have ignored in acquiring, because of
our ill designed Afghan educational system. This is the
challenge of our time. Can we overcome this challenge?
The editors of Lemar-Aftaab feel that we all can
participate in the rediscovery process. Thus we created
Afghanistan Geographics. This section is to feature travel
stories, research papers and other geographical and
environmental issues written by Afghans. To appreciate the work
of our Afghan writers, each year we will give an award for the
best story for the section. The recipient will be granted a
certificate, US $200, a book and a "green leaf" from Afghanistan.
We are ready to provide financial and technical help to all young
Afghans living in Pakistan, Iran or inside Afghanistan
who are interested to write an exclusive story for Lemar-Aftaab
on any subject related to the geography and nature of Afghanistan.
We invite all our readers to join the rediscovery team by
writing travel stories and other research papers for
Lemar-Aftaab and reaching our word to all Afghans.
There are no limits in the length or the topic of the papers.
Feel free to write anything about Afghanistan that interests you or
travelogues of places visited other than Afghanistan.
Submissions can be in English, Dari or Pashto. Translations
will be conducted by the staff.
Please forward your comments, inquires or submissions to
afghangeo@afghanmagazine.com.
We look forward to your submissions.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other work by
Daud Saba:
Faryab Journey (Oct-Dec 98)
Zabul Journey (July-Sept 98)
Balkh Journey (April-June 98)
The "Hamaam" (Jan-March 98)
Helmand Journey (Jan.-March 98)
Laghman Journey (Oct-Dec. 98)
Herat Journey (July-September 97)
The State Of Environment in Afghanistan
& Our Stand (Oct-Dec 97)
Related links:
Road Back to Afghanistan
by Farid Shah Karimi (Oct.-Dec.97)
Summer of 96 in Kabul
by Sayed Ehsan (Oct.-Dec.97)
