Afghanistan takes a holiday

If the Taliban tried to lock culture in a closet, Afghanistan is about to have its coming-out party.

Nawruz, the Afghan New Year which began last night with feasts and all-night parties, is a popular holiday that the fundamentalist Taliban banned because it follows the pre-Islamic Persian calendar – not the Koran.

But even as Afghans prepare to celebrate a return to normalcy by reclaiming Nawruz and everything the Taliban deprived them of – from planning a massive outdoor concert on Thursday to sending their sons and daughters back to school this Saturday – questions about peace and stability loomed large over the festivities.

Early yesterday, Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters attacked allied forces at an airfield near Khost in eastern Afghanistan, wounding one US soldier. Three Afghan fighters allied with US forces were killed in the attack, Afghan officials said. According to Afghan commanders interviewed there earlier this week, the Khost area remains chock-full of Al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives who fled from the Shah-e Kot Valley before and during "Operation Anaconda," which began on Mar. 2 and was declared complete two days ago.

At a press conference at the start of Nawruz, the United Nations' top official in Afghanistan tried not to let ongoing fighting spoil the party, rejecting suggestions that the security situation here is deteriorating.

"The impression we have is that there is a growing sense of security, not a diminishing sense of security," said Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN special coordinator on Afghanistan. Mr. Brahimi, who had called the meeting to mark Afghanistan's progress on the eve of the new year, instead came under fire for the panoply of problems that have not been solved in the three months since the interim government was installed with a half-year mandate.

Progress on the formation of a loya jirga, a traditional national council, has been delayed, and many Afghans say that the security situation outside Kabul is still so precarious that it will be difficult to ensure a safe, peaceful forum for delegates from around the country.

Asked about the US-led war on Al Qaeda and Taliban militants, Mr. Brahimi said it was necessary but not helpful in getting Afghanistan on the road to peaceful reconstruction in the new year.

"That campaign is totally separate from what we are trying to do," Brahimi said. "We recognize the legitimacy of why it started and why it's taking place, and we share everyone's anguish and concern over some of the negative effects and collateral damage that has to happen from time to time."

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