“No visit to Afghanistan was complete without a visit to Bamiyan that had the largest Buddha statues in the world, one 108 meters and the other 60 meters. Bamiyan is a small isolated village, though in ancient times, around 5-6 A.D., it was a bustling city and a great religious centre on the famed Silk Route from China to the West.”_______________________________
by Kenneth Abeywickrama
(April 09, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Before cluster bombs and cruise missiles, before the four million refugees, before the Taliban and the Mujahideen, before the proxy war between the USSR and the USA, Afghanistan was a pleasant and peaceful place and had a trade relationship with Sri Lanka. This does not relate to the stalwart Afghan loan sharks who were a familiar feature in the old days, stalking impecunious minor employees in Colombo on paydays to recover their dues. Lever Brothers (Ceylon) Limited was exporting annually about US$ 1.0 million worth of cooking fats to that country, at a time all multinationals needed FEECS (Foreign Exchange Entitlement Certificates) for their imports. As an export manager of the company then, I visited Afghanistan for three consecutive years (1975 to 1977).
There were Sri Lankan companies exporting tea and soaps around this time to Afganistan. Kabul Inter-Continental even had a Sri Lankan band with its dance troupe playing in the dining hall with a Sri Lankan girl as lead singer. All this ended when the USSR/USA intervention resulted in the destruction of civil society in 1980. Afghanistan, which had remained neutral during the Cold War, under the astute leadership of King Zahir Shah, had become the next victim of super-power geo-politics after his ousted by his cousin, Mohamed Daoud.
Traveling to Afghanistan was an adventure in the seventies. One traveled to Delhi (or Karachi) from where a plane took off for Kabul once a week. On one occasion, the writer flew to Peshawar and from there took a taxi to the border post, only about 30 miles away, from where Afghan friends took us to Kabul. This route took us through the fabled North West Frontier Province and the Khyber Pass. The barren, brown countryside seemed empty except for the hilltop houses resembling little forts, a necessary security measure in a land where blood feuds were common. Large road signs in English on the Pakistan side warned travellers against stopping vehicles or alighting from cars. From the border, Kabul was only about 100 miles away. The Pakistani border post was an unusual sight. Men in Afghanistan and the North West Frontier carry rifles of various vintages as part of their dress code. To enter the Immigration Office they were obliged to leave their weapons outside. So a long boundary wall was lined with the guns of passing visitors. Peshawar was also an incongruous place. While it had a good Continental Hotel, it was mostly an amalgam of crowded dusty bazaars. One of these was noted for the locally manufactured guns, ranging from rifles to hand guns. The guns were made in small backyard workshops but produced such exotic weapons as a fountain pen that could fire a bullet (handy for unwanted visitors to the office).
The road to Kabul goes through Jalalabad and passes through bleak, mountainous country that is a characteristic of Afghanistan. The brown mountains were devoid of even a blade of grass. Vegetation and life survived within half mile on either side of snow-fed streams that flowed from the glistening snow cover of the mountains even in summer. Though it was an unsophisticated and simple society, Kabul had extensive bazaars and a vibrant trading class. Money-changers in street shops were ready to change local currency into most international currencies. Importers went to these money-changers with sacks of local currency to buy dollars and then went to the Bank Melli in Kabul to open Letters of Credit. Exporters shipped goods only to Karachi, from where Afghan clearing agents collected goods and loaded these on goods trains to Peshawar. From Peshawar, trucks carried the goods to towns in Afghanistan. It sounded complicated but I am not aware of any cargo that was lost in transit.
Despite its seedy appearance: Kabul boasted an Inter-Continental Hotel at a time when the chain had not even considered Colombo. The other high-class hotel was Kabul Hotel (recently damaged by US bombing, according to news reports). The Inter-Continental Hotel had a Sri Lankan band playing in the dining area and hotel guests danced to the crooning of a Sri Lankan girl. Wine was served and there was even a local wine on sale. The small middle class in the cities wore smart Western clothes and most spoke foreign languages.
Afghanistan was a very poor country even then. Many parts of the city lacked sewage systems and a malodorous air greeted those who walked the side streets of the cities. In the countryside, most of the people were very small farmers or herdsmen. Nomadic families were on the move in spring, taking their flocks to higher ground, tents packed on camels, women and children often on horseback, even though the women were covered with the veil. Large and dangerous looking mastiff-type dogs ran alongside the caravans. The countryside produced some of the sweetest fruits and dried fruit and nuts were a major item of export. Another scenic area was the blue lakes.
These aquamarine blue waters ,were contained in elevated hollows, looking from a distance like water in overflowing bowls: The waters spilled over from the lips and numerous flour grinding mills at the base used the water to power the mills. Another historic place we visited was the Salang Pass, a four mile long tunnel on the icy mountain road from the North. It was here that the Mujahideen trapped an entire Soviet regiment and destroyed it by blowing up the tunnel at both ends.
The Afghan people are generally friendly and very hospitable to guests. Friends loaded us with many gifts. They are also quick to anger, as I once experienced. Walking through the food bazaar, I saw a burly old man sitting cross-legged in a store selling cooking fats. This being our business in that country, I snapped picture of him in the shop. Within seconds, he bounded out and had me by the throat with his strong hands. My friends held him back, explaining that I was an ignorant foreigner. His mood changed quickly. He went back to his place and insisted that I should take a good picture of him and also send him a copy.
No visit to Afghanistan was complete without a visit to Bamiyan that had the largest Buddha statues in the world, one 108 meters and the other 60 meters. Bamiyan is a small isolated village, though in ancient times, around 5-6 A.D., it was a bustling city and a great religious centre on the famed Silk Route from China to the West.
It had one hotel, which consisted of individual luxury tents. The statues were carved out of the mountain giving these a covered niche for protection from the elements. A steep tunnel carved through the mountain enabled people to reach the head of the statues for repair work. The desert-like climate ensured their preservation through the ages. The giant Buddha statues must have over-awed the ancient travellers with their marvellous appearance: they had been plastered and painted in bright colours and little portions-still retained the painted plaster.
The other spectacular feature was the thousands of caves that dotted the mountain. These too had been plastered and painted and were the abodes of the thousands of Buddhist monks who lived here. In the 13th Century A.D., the Mongol hordes under Ghenghiz Khan first attacked the statues, murdered the monks and burnt the caves that are still blackened by this terror. But with the implements at their disposal, they failed to destroy the statues and only disfigured these. During our visits, the Indian Archaeological Department was restoring the statues which, alas, are now lost to the world due to the Taliban regime.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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