Afghanistan:

Over Afghanistan & at ground level in Kabul

23 August 2021 | Places

On 17 August I posted about what was currently happening in the skies over Afghanistan. Nothing civil I said, airlines – which often used to fly over Afghanistan between Europe and further east in Asia – were all diverting. The activity was purely military. It’s the s...

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Falkland Island Landmines

2 December 2020 | Living

▲ Just a few weeks ago it was announced that the last of the 30,000 land mines the Argentinians scattered in the Falkland Islands after their 1982 invasion had finally been cleared. Coincidentally I stumbled across this minefield sign I’d brought back from the Falklan...

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Jirga – a film in Afghanistan

29 September 2018 | Media

Benjamin Gilmour, a very enterprising Australian filmmaker, has just released Jirga, a film not just set in Afghanistan, but actually made there. Mike Wheeler, an Australian soldier stationed in Afghanistan, took part in a raid on a village in the Kandahar area of ...

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Nancy Hatch Dupree & Afghanistan

15 September 2017 | Culture

The amazing Nancy Hatch Dupree died, aged 89, on September 10. There were fine obituaries for her in The Economist and The New York Times and many other places. I never met her, but I certainly knew her most famous book very well indeed: An Historical Guide to Afghani...

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Afghan Carpets

27 November 2014 | Culture

I’m regularly amazed at how many people I know who have spent time in Afghanistan, have connections with Afghanistan or even visit the country. Alexandra and Leigh Copeland have been dealing with Afghan carpets ever since they spent time in the country in the e...

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