The Ancient Code of Honour That Is Key to Afghanistan's Future ; Somerset-Based Writer and Publisher James Crowden Believes Understanding the Unique Culture of Afghanistan Is Essential to Bringing Peace - and Bringing Home the Troops

Summary

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On the same day we learned that Stonehouse -based 30 Commando is being re-commissioned for "information exploitation" in Afghanistan, we also learned of the death of Richard Holbrooke the American Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Holbrooke's nickname in Bosnia was the 'Balkan Bulldozer'. He was architect of the Dayton peace accord. Agreement in Afghanistan was much further from his grasp and he had fallen out with Hamid Karzai. Being a 'bulldozer' in Afghanistan is just not poetic enough . One wonders how he would have fared playing Buzkashi - the ancient Afghan game played on horseback like a wild version of polo where the bait, once a decapitated man, is a calf or goat stuffed with sand. There are very few rules. As a spectator, you often got your money refunded if no one was killed. The sense of fun and gamesmanship in Afghanistan runs deep in their veins. Buzkashi was banned by the Taliban as immoral but is now back again. Afghanistan is not so much a country as a tribal state of mind. There are Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbegs, Turkmen, Hazaras and other smaller factions, including new warrior tribes: Americans, British, Canadians, French, German, Finns even Swedes, let alone NATO, UN and aid agencies.

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The Ancient Code of Honour That Is Key to Afghanistan's Future ; Somerset-Based Writer and Publisher James Crowden Believes Understanding the Unique Culture of Afghanistan Is Essential to Bringing Peace - and Bringing Home the Troops

Afghan loyalties are not always easy to predict from the outside. There is an old Pashtun saying that when Allah created the world he had a big pile of rocks left over. He dumped the...

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