Afghanistan: A Companion and Guide

"Yes. You might be surprised that I am recommending a tourist guidebook, but this is something quite exceptional. How many guidebooks have 780 pages? I don’t know any of the three authors—Bijan Omrani, Matthew Leeming and Elizabeth Chatwin—but their book, Afghanistan: A Companion and Guide is an absolutely stunning piece of work. I don’t know how the work was apportioned among them, but these are very intelligent authors. They are also good writers. They have a wonderful combination of respect and appreciation for achievement—whether it’s the written word, or a work of art, or architecture—and the very specific geographical context in which it all takes place. That tactile quality is what I’ve tried to achieve in my book Lost Enlightenment and in my new book on Ibn Sina and Biruni . This guide reminds us their subjects were real people living in real places that you can visit today. We wouldn’t think of Shakespeare without contextualizing him. He arose from a very specific environment and culture, a knowledge of which enables people everywhere to understand his world more deeply. The wonderful thing about this book, Afghanistan: A Companion and Guide , is that it is so good on the context. Of course, a lot has been destroyed since the book was published. A lot is being destroyed even as we sit here today. But the places are still there and they endlessly reward study. Whatever the problems today, Afghanistan is not a neighbor of Central Asia but one of its central components. This volume is a most useful guide to its former riches. It’s absolutely bewildering to know where to begin. Who would think that some of the greatest Buddhist remains are to be found along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan and across Afghanistan, all the way up into Central Asia? We forget that this was a Buddhist culture for many years. Or imagine this: a place called Ay Khanum, which is on the border with Tajikistan, up in the far north along the Amu Darya (Oxys) River. It’s a Greek city with a Greek temple, because it was built and occupied by Greeks. It has been destroyed by the Taliban, but thank God, the French did a wonderful job excavating there. Wedged in among stones in a wall, they found a document which was a fragment of classic Greek philosophy. This, on the border of Afghanistan! We forget that there was a whole section of Greek civilization which, after Alexander the Great’s return from the East, was stranded in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Non-Greek peoples also adopted Greek letters and issued coins in Greek. So these are two totally unexpected phenomena in Afghanistan. Then there are great cities. The mother of them all—a place that should have a huge fence built around it to protect it because it’s being destroyed by treasure hunters with bulldozers—is Balkh, which is in the Uzbek-speaking part of Afghanistan. For thousands of years, Balkh was one of the great cities of the world. Today, it’s gone. There is an enormous site and some of the ancient walls are still preserved, but by and large, there is nothing there. It’s a barren waste—yet to be explored. Balkh has never had the archaeological attention that it deserves. It was one of the great centers of world culture. To illustrate Balkh’s importance, let me give you an example. We speak of the monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, Islam. The first example of monotheistic faiths was Zoroastrianism. Zoroaster himself was almost certainly from Balkh. And here it is, visitable today in Afghanistan. The local chamber of commerce will drive you out there from Mazar-i-Sharif, the nearest city, and show you what little there is to be seen. This is one of the most noteworthy historic sites, not just of Central Asia but of the world. Babur, who founded the Mughal dynasty, was from what is now Uzbekistan. He first tried to reclaim his family’s fame and fortune within the territory of what is now Uzbekistan and failed. He then shifted his attention across the river to Afghanistan and set up shop in Kabul. His gardens are there, nicely restored, and can still be visited today. Then, after a while, Babur set his eyes on India. Thus, the Mughal Empire came from Central Asia. And if you look at Mughal architecture, including its best-known works like the Taj Mahal, they all have a strong central Asian cast. The interaction was intimate. Most of the local saints and gurus who are recognized and worshipped across Pakistan and western India come from Central Asia. So you could say that Central Asian civilization extends across Pakistan and deep into India."