Restoration work is a symbol of a country not yet ready

12 April 2012

There is an almost indecent rush to restore some of Afghanistan's greatest historic monuments, from the Citadel of Herat in the west to the great minarets of Massoud and his 12th century dynasty here in Ghazni, one of the country's oldest royal capitals.

It's as if the restorers are trying to beat the looming deadline of 2014, the year in which all authority will be handed over to the Afghan government.

With President Obama in London this week, there is going to be a lot of talk about deadlines for Afghanistan, both publicly and in private.

For some the deadline is too far away, and with the death of Osama bin Laden, the allies can say job done and bring the troops homes. For others, mostly voices here in Afghanistan, the deadline is too sudden - the country will need a lot more attention if it is not to become ungoverned space. The buildings being restored provide a good illustration to the dilemma.

The US, Italy, Germany and Poland are helping restore the great citadel, blown up by the British in retribution in the Afghan war of 1839-1842.

More spectacular are the two brick minarets of Shah Massoud, who came to the throne in 1199 (Common Era), and the Timurid mausoleum, where Polish soldiers keep watch as Afghan masons restore the delicate brickwork.

"The real problem here is: number one illiteracy, and two, unemployment," said the governor of Ghazni, Musa Khan, 49, a former Mujahideen fighter. "The third is the insurgency which feeds from the other two." Every Friday he sends 10,000 peace letters to the people of Ghazni.

It will take a long time but things are getting better.

Something of his optimism is shared by Britain's senior commander in Afghanistan and deputy commander of the International Security Assistance Force Lt-Gen James Bucknall. "Now is not the time to blink," he told me, "just as we are getting on the front foot."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in