Tag Archive | "Afghanistan"
The Great War in Colour
On this day, ninety-one years ago, the guns that raged over the battlefields of Europe for more than four years fell silent. Never before had slaughter on such an industrial scale been conceived of, and never again would the lives of those who survived be the same again. Environmental Graffiti has compiled a collection of rare colour photographs, illuminating in grim detail the horrors of a war that set a precedent for bloody conflict in the twentieth-century.
Continue reading...17 Biggest Buddhas on Earth
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Bigger, better, heavier – that seems to be the motto of Asia’s amazing Buddha statues. Our list features actual statues as well as destroyed and planned ones but all have to be taller than 165 ft (50 m). Where does that leave the most famous and sadly destroyed Buddhas of Bamyan? At 55 m, they are some of the shortest! Read on to discover which one tops the list – a hint: it’s a good 500 ft!
Continue reading...Black Gold Still Rules in Pipelineistan
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The bottom line on the Iraq and AfPAK wars, and the American fixation on Iran, is oil. Obscene amounts of money, civilian lives and American integrity continue to be wasted on attempts to secure control over Central Asian energy resources, and the pipeline network that must be built to get this Black Gold to market.
Continue reading...The Opium Trail
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The opium poppy is the key ingredient for all narcotics. Opium is directly extracted from it and converted to heroin in the lab. The ratio is about 10:1 – to make 1 kg of heroin, it takes10 kg of opium. One acre of traditional poppy seed harvesting usually yields three to five kilograms of raw opium. But where does it go from there and who profits? Not the farmer and not the end user, that much is clear.
Continue reading...Afghanistan’s Grand Canyon
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Band-e Amir is Afghanistan’s first and only national park. It consists of six lakes whose waters are bluer than the sky. It is located almost 10,000 ft above sea level in a mountainous desert, 75 km northwest of the ancient city of Bamiyan, once famous for its two monumental Buddha statues, destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Getting to Band-e Amir requires a sense of adventure and determination.
Continue reading...Buzkashi: Afghan Polo Played With Headless Carcasses
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
It was featured in a Rambo movie so it’s got to be tough; the preserve of people who can say “don’t push me” – and mean it. Like some unruly crossbreed of Polo and Rugby – not the most civilised games, despite their associations with blazers, shorts and spiffing colonial sorts – comes Buzkashi. Buzkashi, we salute you, delighting in your scrumptiously free-for-all sensibilities, your ferocious ideas of fair play and your all round predilection for carnage.
Continue reading...The Strange Case of the Black Unmanned Aircraft at Kandahar
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Reports are coming out of Afghanistan this spring about sightings of a large reconnaissance aircraft unlike any previously known to the military aviation industry. Rumor has it that this aircraft has also been seen by U-2 pilots flying high altitude reconnaissance missions over Iraq. Attempts to identify this aircraft provide a glimpse into the latest designs for UAVs, some of which may be weaponized.
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
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