| Afghans celebrate third post-Taleban New Year AFP
03/20/2004
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MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan - While painting his single-storey house as he prepares to celebrate Afghanistan’s New Year, Fazil Noory, has one thing on his mind that this Nawroz might be the best he has seen. Banned under the Islamic fundamentalist Taleban regime, the festival has now become a major focus for celebrations in Afghanistan as the country emerges from more than two decades of war. Nowhere in Afghanistan is more closely associated with Nawroz (New Year) than the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, to which more than 10,000 people are expected to flock this year to see in the New Year. “This Nawroz people will come from different provinces to Mazar-i-Sharif for blessing and to enjoy themselves,” Noory explains. “During the Taleban there weren’t any celebrations of New Year in Mazar-i-Sharif, people just came to the shrine to pray. “In the past two years we have had good new year celebrations and this time, with everyone getting ready for the New Year, I think this celebration will be better than last two,” the Mazar-i-Sharif resident says. Nawroz, the first day of the Afghan and Iranian solar calendar, coincides with the vernal equinox and falls on Saturday, March 20. But because it predates Islam, it was banned under the Taleban regime, which took control in 1996 and held power until ousted by a US-backed coalition in late 2001. While not an Islamic holiday, the festival has been turned into a religious event in Mazar-i-Sharif where the holiest shrine in Afghanistan, the Tomb of the Exalted of Hazrat Ali, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, is located. The holiday is celebrated throughout Afghanistan, but the ethnic Tajiks of the north, who share the same culture, race and traditions as Iranians, are more interested in the holiday than southern and more conservative Pashtuns. In Mazar, preparations for the New Year were last week underway with people painting their houses, shopping for festive foods and new clothes and preparing the “Haft Miwa’ or seven fruit dish to give to family and friends. “About 20 days before Nawroz people paint their houses and go shopping and on New Year’s Day they prepare Haft Miwa and send it to their neighbors’ houses,” says Mazar resident Mustafa Amiry, 25. “And for three nights people gather inside the shrine of Haz Ali.” Police in the city, which was the scene of bloody clashes between rival warlords in October last year, are working hard to ensure there are no problems, despite the expected crowds and the heavily armed population. “We have prepared 1,500 national police and Afghan National Army soldiers to ensure the security of Mazar-i-Sharif,” police commander Akram Khakrizwal said. “Of these, some 250 Kabul police and 250 Mazar police will be stationed in Mazar city and 1,000 national army soldiers will be at six checkpoints around the city. “About 1,000 intelligence officers are working inside Mazar-i-Sharif to arrest possible terrorists... so people can enjoy themselves without any problems,” he said.
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