Istalif

The Afghan New Year Nawrooz is observed every year on March 21, the spring equinox. We celebrated with A4T in country director Najib Sedeqe by taking a day trip to Istalif, a village famous for its pottery. On the way back we stopped at a roadside cafe and had lunch. Bemused men looked on as we sat cross legged on raised tables covered in hand woven carpets and dined on beef kebobs, kabuli rice, naan and tea. Bumper to bumper traffic inched slowly back into Kabul. Afghan women and girls in fancy dresses and men in suits visited shrines, flew kites and picnicked on the hillside close to the Intercontinental Hotel.