Afghanistan: Peace in the north, war in the south FEATURE 03/29/2010

Afghanistan: Peace in the north, war in the south

FEATURE 03/29/2010 MAZAR-I-SHARIF — Thousands of Afghans took to the streets of northern cities to welcome their new year in a joyous celebration of music, dancing and fireworks. Less than 700 kilometers to the south, residents of poverty-stricken villages, towns and cities riddled with mines and plagued by bombings know only war as they struggle for survival. In Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of the northern province of Balkh, authorities estimate that half a million people gathered for Nowruz, a 3,000-year-old Zoroastrian festival marking the Persian new year. The southern province of Helmand could not have been more different as 15,000 US, Nato and Afghan troops battled Taliban insurgents in the biggest offensive of a war now in its ninth year.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100329com3.html

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