January 2012
8 posts
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WatchMy friend Sam French’s Buzkashi Boys is one of the first fiction films to be filmed entirely on location in Afghanistan. Support its completion here.
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December 2011
1 post
Opinion on today's Ashura attacks in Afghanistan →
Initial reactions from Afghanistan Analysis writer Ahmad Shuja. Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has apparently claimed the responsibility of the Kabul attack on a popular Shia mosque in the centre of the city.
The only inaccuracies are the reaction comments from General Allen at ISAF. This was, rather, an ill-timed press release reacting to a recent roadside bomb in Uruzgan.
Massoud...
November 2011
10 posts
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WatchMy friend Justin is raising funds for his crazy road-trip on his 1972 Triumph across the States to record an album with whatever rag-tag bunch of musicians he comes across at each stop. There’s a documentary about it planned for Spring 2012. Let’s hope he, one day, makes it as far as Afghanistan.
Twitter war between ISAF & Taliban →
@ABalkhi, who tweets in support of Taliban & ISAF’s official twitter have been sluggin it out of late. CNN reports on some of the gems to come out of this war of words.
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“Yo, yo, yo - I’m a motherfucking LION! I’m in the JUNGLE,...”
– That is a short summary of President Karzai’s speech at Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga today.
Anonymous asked: What's the best way to go about finding freelance or contracted photography work in Afghanistan?
Anonymous asked: Hi. I am thinking about going to Bagram for a year as a contractor (american). Any information or kick to the right direction would be much helpful.
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October 2011
11 posts
WatchMy band, White City, play a song at Hoodie’s underground venue in Kabul.
WatchThe best bits from Sound Central featuring my band, White City
Listen to Sound Central Workshop →
Tracks made by Afghan and international musicians in a week-long workshop in Kabul
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BBC World coverage of Sound Central festival →
September 2011
16 posts
Endgame →
Excellent ‘Whither Afghanistan?” from the FT.
It sounds bleak, but looking around, I’ve reached many of the same conclusions myself. The only hope is that a younger generation have seen some what they could have and have seen too much of what they don’t want. They really are the only ones that can face the tribal elders and ethnic warlords playing their age-old games of...
Heterosexual father of three defends gay marriage →
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The dust settles
So a day after the attacks ends this is what’s come out so far:
11 civilians dead, at least 3 of which were children. General John Allen, Commander of ISAF forces said in a press conference that over half of the civilians were children, but that still seems sketchy.
19 civilians were wounded. This seems to be from rockets landing over or short of the US Embassy. As I saw, rockets fell very...
Tour around the attackers' base →
Excellent video from the BBC’s Quentin Somerville looking around the building the attackers were firing at us from. Very interesting for me!
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Ten years ago
I was keen not to be another ‘ten years ago on 9/11, I was’ today, as I firmly believe sorting out future problems rather than becoming obsessed with the past. There’s no doubt that 9/11 was a tragedy, not just in terms of human lives, but in the wedge it drove in misunderstanding between west and east, polarising extreme views and deafening the moderate, midway viewpoint.
In...
“It’s farmboys picking up guns. How do you hate that? What do you do when...”
– Excellent Reuters article on perceptions of 9/11 from both sides of the fight: US soldier and Taliban fighter.
August 2011
15 posts
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The world ready has gone mad...
…as I find myself mainly agreeing with a Telegraph commentator (quoted in full below). Except for the bit at the end about Hitler. ‘National Pride’ was restored by identifying and persecuting a minority. Not necessarily by starting up industry.
“The Conservatives like Boris Johnson (commenting in the Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/com… still aren’t getting it,...