Shadow City, A Woman Walks Kabul
Shadow City, A Woman Walks Kabul/Taran Khan・「日陰の街、女一人、カブールを歩く」タラン・カーン
カブールの歴史を通り抜けて歩く、というのは、そのままこの年の起源にさかのぼった場所から歩きはじめる、ということになるだろう、それは、川のほとりの集落で、中心には城砦がある。このバラ・ヒサール、「高い城」の意味だ、の城壁の内側が、都市そのものだった、一群の小屋があり、住居があり、市場があった。時とともにカブールは、コー・エ・シェール・ダルワザとコー・エ・アスマイの間を流れる、川の南岸に沿って拡張してきた。シェール・ダルワザの周辺に見かける、カブールの厚い城壁は、古いものでは、5世紀にまでさかのぼるといわれる。
A walk through the history of Kabul would begin where the city itself began- a settlement by a river, at the heart of whichi is a citadel. Inside the walls of this Bala Hissar, or High Fortress, was a city in itself, with barracks, homes and bazaars. Over time Kabul expanded along the southern bank of the river that flows between the Koh-e-Sher Darwaza and the Koh-e-Asmai. The remains of Kabul's thick wall radiate over the sprawl of the Sher Darwaza; they are said to date back as far as the fifth century.
その城砦は、コー・エ・シェール・ダルワザの東側の、分水嶺の上に立っていて、何世紀にもわたって、数々の軍勢によって占領された。16世紀には、自らの王国を求めていた、若きザヒルディン・バブール、の一隊がやって来た。フェルガナの故地を、家族間のいさかいから追われ、しばらくの間、ヒンドゥー・クシュ山脈を放浪していたが、このバブールが、1504年、わずかな手勢を伴って、カブールの併合に成功したのである。彼はムガール帝国の支配をインドにも拡大したが、彼は、カブールのことがたいそう気に入り、決して忘れることがなかった、と言われる。
The citadel stands on a ridge that lies to the east of the Koh-e-Sher Darwaza, and has been occupied by different armies over the centuries. In the sixteenth century, it accommodated the force of young Zahiruddin Babur, a prince in search of a kingdom. After being ousted from his native Ferghana by family rivalries, and a period of wandering around the Hindu Kush, Babur succeeded in annexing Kabul in 1504 with a small group of followers. He went on to establish Mughal rule over India, but never forgot Kabul, a city that claimed his affections completely.
Hindu Kushヒンドゥー・クシュ山脈、アフガニスタン中央部から、パキスタン北部、タジキスタンに連なる山脈
Zahiruddin Baburバブール(1483-1530)、ムガール帝国創設者、ティムール及び、チンギス・ハンの子孫と言われる、現・ウズベキスタンのフェルガナ渓谷の生まれ
バラ・ヒサールを過ぎて、北西の方角に川沿いを進むと、ドーム状の記念碑が、庭園に囲まれているのが見えてくる。これがティムール・シャー、カブールを首都としたドゥラニ帝国の初代の王、の廟である。この帝国は、彼の父、アーマド・シャーによって、「アフガン人の土地」として、建国され、これが近代アフガン国家の礎石となった。1830年代までに、カブールは、カブール川の南岸に沿って拡大、多種多様な住民を含んでいて、歴史家の言葉を借りれば、「当時の旅行者たちは、友好的なコスモポリタニズム、という印象を受けた」とのこと。
Walk further by the river from the Bala Hissar towards the north-west, and a domed monument surrounded by a garden appears. This is the mausoleum of Timur Shah, the first king to make Kabul his capital and the centre of the Durrani Empire. This empire was established by his father Ahmad Shah as the 'Land of the Afghans', and forms the basis of the modern Afghan state. By the 1830s, Kabul had spread along the south bank of the Kabul River, and had a diverse population that, according to historians, 'left on all visitors of the period an impression of amiable cosmopolitanism'.
1880年の時点に立って、川を渡ったところを想像してみよう、当時は、アミル・アブドゥル・ラーマン・カーン(1880-1901)の治世であった。このとき、アフガニスタンは、ともに、中央アジアの覇を競う、ロシアと英国の二帝国間の紛争のただなかにあった。19世紀の間に、英国は、アフガニスタンとの戦争を二度行っている、その影響力を強化するためだ。後の方のものが終結したのは、1880年、撤収する英国軍は、アミル・アブドゥル・ラーマン・カーンに王冠を授けたのである。「鉄のアミル」と呼ばれるこの王の評価は、アフガニスタンを統一した英雄であると同時に、暴君の悪名も高かった。彼は戦火で破壊をこうむったこの都市を、北の方へ向かって拡大し、王宮や政府機関を、左岸に移した。これらは、アーグと呼ばれる一つの建物にまとめられ、現在は、大統領府となっている。これは、強力な近代国家としてのアフガニスタンを建設しようとするアミルの方策の一つであるといわれている。この、歴史的な旧市街から、拡張していく傾向は、この後も続くことになり、カブールは、ますます北へ北へと広がるのである。
We cross the river in 1880, with the rule of Amir Abdur Rahman Khan(1880-1901). At this time, Afghanistan was part of the power struggle between the Russian and British Empires, who each sought to dominate Central Asia. The British fought two wars in Afghanistan in the nineteenth century, attempting to extend their influence in the country. The last of these ended in 1880, with the departing British forces leaving Amir Abdur Rahman Khan on the throne. The 'Iron Amir' has a mixed legacy of unifying Afghanistan along with a reputarion for despotism. He expanded the city that had been dameged during the conflich, towards the north, moving his court and all associated offices to the left bank of the river. These were contained within one complex call the Arg, now the presidential palace. This was part of the Amir's efforts to build a strong, modern Afghan state. The shift away from the historic old city would continue in the future, as Kabul spread further and further towards the north.
第一次イギリス―アフガン戦争First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842)
第二次イギリス―アフガン戦争Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880)
第三次イギリス―アフガン戦争Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919)
アブドゥル・ラーマン・カーンは、多産な建築家であった、王宮(これは自身で設計した)、公園、公共施設、工房、など。彼はまた、この首都に、様々な建築様式を持ち込んだ、中央アジア的伝統のみならず、ヨーロッパからもインスピレーションを受けていたのである。彼の息子のアミル・ハビブラー(1901-19)も、この傾向を継承した。しかし、アフガニスタンを近代化するという情熱を、最も燃やしたのは、彼の孫のアミル・アマヌラー(1919-29)であった。
Abdur Rahman Khan was a prolific builder, constructing palaces (that he designed himself), parks, public buildings and workshops. He also introduced a different architectural style across his capital, taking inspiration from Central Asian traditions as well as European influences. His son Amir Habibullah (1901-19) continued this trend. But it was his grandson, Amir Amanullah (1919-29), who embraced most fully the zeal for modernising Afghaninstan.
王位に就いた最初の年である1919年、アマヌラーは、第三次イギリス―アフガン戦争を開戦した、そして、もはやアフガニスタンは、英国の外交政策による支配から独立する、と宣言したのである。同時に彼は、著述家であり出版人でもある知識人、マームード・タルジに深く傾倒していた。タルジは、何年もの間海外亡命を余儀なくされた後、自らの国に帰還を許されたのである。彼の献策によって、アマヌラーは、いくつかの抜本的な、改革に着手した、アフガン初の憲法公布、など。女性の教育をも推進したし、一夫多妻制を、抑制しようともした。ソラヤ王女、美しく、教養があり、広い見分を有しているアマヌラー夫人であるが、彼女は、これらの改革の、完璧なパートナーと言えた。彼女は、王の狩猟仲間とともに馬にまたがり、西洋風の衣服を颯爽と着こなした。
In 1919, his first year on the throne, Amanullah initiated what is called the Third Anglo-Afghan War, and declared Afghanistan to be independent of Britain's control over its foreign policy. But he was also deeply enamoured of the intellectual, author and publisher Mahmood Tarzi. Tarzi had spent years in exile before being allowed to return to his own country. Under his guidance, Amanullah set in motion several far-reaching reforms, like promulgating the first Afghan constitution. He pushed for the education of women and discouraged polygamy. Queen Soraya, Amanullah's beautiful, well-read, well-travelled wife, was the perfect partner in these endeavours. She rode on horseback with the king's hunting parties, and wore dashing Western-style clothes.
街の南西方向に向かって歩いていくと、アマヌラーのもっとも意欲的な計画の痕跡を、目撃することができる、ダルラーマン、と呼ばれる新・行政中心である。これは、アフガニスタンが、英国からの独立を宣言したことで、世界の主権国家のコミュニティーに参加することができたことを祝福して、計画された。アマヌラーのヴィジョンは、近代的な(ということは、彼にとっては、西洋風の、という意味になる)、ヨーロッパの影響を受けた、建造物を中心とした都市計画であった。フランス人の人類学者にして建築家である、アンドレ・ゴダールが設計した、ドーム型の建物は、18世紀ヨーロッパの優雅さを伝えている。その花壇には、わざわざ取り寄せたヨーロッパ産の花の種が撒かれさえした。ポプラ並木が並んだ広い大通りが、新市街につながっていて、そこはほどなく、ファッションの中心として知られるようになる。しかし、その美しい直線道路を散歩するには、カブールの住人は、料金を払わなければならなかったし、歩行者はヨーロッパ風の衣装を着けることが必要、とりわけ、女性は、ヴェールを取り去るよう求められたのだ。
Walking to the south-west of the city, it is possible to see traces of Amanullah's most ambitious project, a new administrative capital called Darulaman. This was planned to celebrate Afghanistan's entrance into the community of sovereign nations' after his declaration of independence from the British. Amanullah's vision was of a modern (meaning Western-style) city plan with European-inspired buildings. At its heart was the Qasr-e-Darulaman, a massive 'government palace' that was to serve as a secretariat. Designed by French architect and archaeologist Andre Godard, the domed building echoed the splendour of eighteenth-century Europe. Even its flower beds grew blooms from imported European seeds. A wide avenue lined with poplars led to the new quarter, and soon became a fashionable place to be seen. But to ride on its admirably straight path, Kabulis had to pay a fee, while 'all the promenaders had to wear European style clothing and women were invited to remove their veils'.
Darulaman
1928年、アマヌラーとソラヤは、7か月に及ぶヨーロッパ旅行に出発した。公的な日程のほかに、彼らは、ダルラーマンの新宮殿のために、家具のショッピングに興じた。帰国後、アマヌラーは、更に急進的な改革政策を発表。しかし、1929年には、彼の政府は、反乱派によって打倒される。
In 1928 Amanullah and Soraya embarked on a seven-month tour of Europe. Besides their official engagemments, they shopped for furnishing for their new residential palace in Darulaman. On his return, Amanullah announced an even more radical programme of reforms. But by January 1929, his government was overturned by a rebellion.
王の、確かに問題の多い近代化政策に対する、不満の火に油を注いだのは、外遊中に撮影されたいくつかの写真、中でも、ソラヤ王女の、袖なしのドレス姿だった。夫婦はイタリアに逃れ、アマヌラーがアフガニスタンに帰国を許されたのは、ようやく1960年の彼の死後、ジャララバードへの埋葬のためであった。彼の、自身の名を冠した近代的な新拠点建設の夢は、決して、全面的に実現することはなかった。その中心部にある、カスル・エ・ダルラーマンは、まず1969年の火災によって、続いて、1992年から1996年にかけての内戦によって、破壊された。街路の突き当りにある、その廃墟は、この変貌する都市を、見つめているかの如くである。
Adding fuel to the fire of the king's controversial modernising measures were photos from his travels, particularly a portrait of Queen Soraya in a sleeveless dress. The couple fled to Italy, and Amanullah returned to Afghanistan only after his death in 1960 to be buried in Jalalabad. His dream of a modern new enclave bearing his name was never fully realised. Its centrepiece, the Qasr-e-Darulaman, was damaged- first in a fire in 1969, and then during the civil war of 1992-1996. Its ruined frame at the end of the avenue watches over the changing city.
Jalalabadジャララバード、という地名は、インド、パキスタン、イラン、アゼルバイジャンなど各所に散見するが、アフガニスタンの首都カブールと、パキスタンのペシャワールの中間地点にある、この都市が、もっとも著名のようである。
カブールは、タジク人の反乱指導者、ハビブラ・カラカニによって占領された、彼は、嘲笑的に、バチェ・エ・サカオ(水汲みの倅)と呼ばれていることから覗われるように、貧しい出自の人であった。カラカニの治世は、わずかに9か月しか続かなかった。1929年10月、アマヌラーのいとこであるナディール・カーンが、カブールを奪還することに成功した。彼は自ら王を名乗り、もう少し、穏便な改革政策を実施しようとした。しかし、彼にもまた流血の最後が待ち受けており、カブール市内のある高校の卒業式に出席した折に、暗殺された。彼の息子の、ザヒール・シャーが、1933年、王位を承け継いだ。彼は、それから四十年間王位にとどまったが、アフガニスタンの、最後の王となるのだ。
Kabul was captured by the Tajik rebel leader Habibullah Kalakani, who was derisively called Bache-e Saqao (son of the water carrier) because of his humble roots. Kalakani's reign lasted only nine months. By October 1929, Amanullah's cousin Nadir Khan had managed to retake Kabul. He was declared king, and attempted to introduce more measured reforms. But he also met a bloody end and was assassinated while attending the graduation ceremony of a high school in Kabul. His son Zahir Shah took the throne in 1933. He was to be the last king of Afghanistan, ruling for forty years.
Mohammed Zahir Shah(1914-2007)
これらの政治的変転の期間を通じて、カブールの街は、更に川の北側の岸に沿って拡張し続けた、シャハル・エ・ナウの街区が建設されたのは、1930年代である。庭園と、高い塀で囲まれた家々が整然と並ぶそのありさまは、道路がいつも込み合っている、シャハル・エ・コーナとは、対照的である。1940年代を通して、アフガニスタンと国交を結んだ国々の、大使館や、各種外交関係機関が、この地域に建てられ、その近隣は、カブールの上流ないし中流階級の居住地域となった。
Through these political changes, Kabul continued to spread further on the north bank of the revier, with the suburb of Shahr-e-Nau laid out in the 1930s. Its orderly grids of houses, surrounded by gardens and high walls, contrasted with the congested lanes of the Shahr-e-Kohna. Embassies and foreign missions of the nations that were establishing relations with Afghanistan through the 1940s were set op here, beside the residences of Kabul's upper and middle classes.
1960年代から、1970年代にかけて、首都は、着実に成長し続けたが、それは、地方から多くの家族が移住して来たからでもあった。街を歩いてみると、住居や店舗が、街の周辺部に、コー・エ・アスマイの両側に、丘陵の斜面を登るようにして、広がっていくさまを、見ることができる。1970年代の初頭まで、カブールは、ほとんど期間、50万人ばかりの人口を擁する、小さな国家の平和な首都であり続けた。だが、そのすべてが、変わってしまうのである。
Through the 1960s and 70s, the capital grew steadily, due in part to migration by rural families from the provinces. Walking through its streets, it would have been possible to see houses and shops expanding the city's edges, spreading to both sides of the Koh-e-Asmai, climbing over the slopes of its hills. By the early 1970s, Kabul was the mostly peaceful capital of a small country, home to around half a million people. And then everything changed.
1973年7月、ザヒール・ジャーのいとこにあたる、ムハマド・ダオウド・カーンは、王のヨーロッパ外遊中に、クーデターを決行した。彼はアフガニスタンが共和国であることを宣言、自ら大統領を名乗った。五年後の1978年4月、アフガン共産党、正式には、アフガニスタン人民民主党(PDPA)、が、ダオウド・カーンの政府を、もう一つのクーデターによって倒し、サウール(四月)革命として知られることになるものの口火を切った。これによって、アフガニスタン民主共和国が成立。PDPA内部での、党派闘争や粛清に引き続いて、1979年、ソ連軍がアフガニスタンに侵攻した。それに対抗する抵抗戦争は、冷戦期の代理戦争の様相を呈した。アフガンのゲリラ戦士たち、ムジャヒデン、すなわち聖なる戦士たち、と呼ばれた、者たちが、ソ連の支援を受けたアフガン政府軍と戦ったが、彼らは、合衆国、サウジアラビアなどの国々から支援を受けていた。こうして、アフガニスタンは、暴力の円環の中に落ち込んでいくのである。
In July 1973, Zahir Shah's cousin Muhammad Daoud Khan mounted a coup while the king was in Europe. He declared Afghanistan a republic, and himself the president. Five years later in April 1978, the Afghan Communist party - called the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan(PDPA) - overthrew the government of Daoud Khan in another coup, ushering in what is known as the Saur (April) Revolution. This established the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Following infighting and purges among factions of the PDPA, the Soviet army entered Afghanistan in 1979. The war of resistance that followed their entry played out as a Cold War proxy battle. Afghan guerrilla fighters - called the mujahideen, or holy warriors - battled the Soviet-backed Afghan government, with support from the United States, Saudi Arabia and other nations. Afghanistan had entered a spiral of violence.
1989年、ソ連は、その軍勢を撤収するが、ナジブラ大統領を首班とする、アフガン政府に対する支援は続いた。味方にとっても敵にとっても、予想を超えて、この政権は、なお三年間、命脈を保つことができた。1991年のソ連崩壊が、しかし、ムジャヒデン諸派による政府転覆をもたらした。これこそが、カブール市民にとって、暗黒の時代の開始を画することになるのである、というのは、それまで、街は、紛争の最悪の場面からは、比較的安全な場所に位置していたからだ。今や、最前線は、この町の中にやって来た。
In 1989, the USSR withdrew its troops, while continuing to support the Afghan government, then led by President Najibullah. To the surprise of both friends and foes, the administration managed to survive for a further three years. Ths collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, however, resulted in its overthrow by the various factions of mujahideen. This marked the beginning of a dark era for Kabul's population, who had until then been spared the worst of the conflict. Now the front lines came to the city.
1992年から1996年にかけて、ムジャヒデン戦士たちの各派は、首都の掌握をめぐって、お互いに争い、住居地域が無差別にロケット砲撃を受け、広範に強制移住が行われるなど、それは、残虐な内戦の様相を帯びてきた。どの勢力によっても、残虐行為が犯され、市の大半は、灰燼に帰した。およそ80パーセントに及ぶ、カブール市の歴史的街区は破壊された。カブールのインフラストラクチャーは、破壊され、やがて、タリバンが数々の社会的な制限を押しつけることで、人々の絶望は、なお深まった。いたるところに飢餓があり、多くの住民は、支援団体の助力なしには、生き延びることもできなかった。タリバンを標的とした、合衆国主導の空爆が、街の破壊を、いやが上にも増大させた。2001年の冬までに、カブールは、170万人の人口を抱える、機能不全の首都となっていた。
Between 1992 and 1996, mujahideen fighters battled each other for controle over the capital in a brutal civil war, rocketing residential areas indiscriminately and forcing widespread displacemant. Atrocities were committed by all sides, and larage parts of the city were laid to waste. About 80 per cent of Kabul's historic core was destroyed. By the time the Taliban's social restrictions added to the desolation of Kabul's shattered infrastructure. There was widespread hunger, and many residents depended on assistance from aid agencies to survive. The US-led air strikes, aimed at ousting the Taliban, contributed to the even greater physical destruction of the city. By the winter of 2001, Kabul was a barely functioning capital of 1.7 million inhabitants.
2006年に私が初めてこの町を目にしたとき、そこは、また一つの新たな、変貌の、産みの苦しみの最中にあった。人口は、ほぼ倍の300万に膨れ上がった、これは、平和と、経済的なチャンスへの期待が、人々を呼び寄せたからだった。カブールの山の斜面には、何千という家族が、新たに家を建てたり、あるいは、戦争で破壊された住居を建て直したりしていたが、その材料には、廃墟の中から、彼らが引き揚げて来るもの、あらゆるものが用いられた。夜ともなれば、この、非公式の居住地域が、地平線上に、明かりを灯す、それはまるで、都市の上空に浮かんだもう一つの都市、当局の許可など受けていないにもかかわらず、それは成長を続け、大多数の住民たちに、避難場所を提供していたし、日に日に、堅固なものとなって行った。見渡す限り、まさに、カブールは、拡大し続けているのである。
In 2006, when I first saw the city, it was in the throes of another transformation. The population had almost doubled to around 3 million, drawn by the promise of peace and economic opportunities. On the slopes of Kabul's mountains, thousands of families built and rebuilt their war-damaged homes, using whatever they could salvage from the ruins. At night the light from these informal settlements lit up the horizon, a city above the city, unauthorised but growing, providing shelter to the majority of the population and becoming more entrenced every day. As far as the eye could see, Kabul was spreading.
FOREWORD
One of the first things I was told when I arrived in Kabul was never to walk. It was early 2006, five years after the overthrow of the Taliban government by US-led coalition forces, around the same amount of time that the Taliban had been in power before 2001. Winter was just beginning to fade and, like the seasons, Kabul was on the verge of turning, though we did not know it then. As spring transformed the surroundings, I joined the rush of bodies on the street and took my first walk in the city.
My memory begins from a place I almost certainly did not start from. I must have got there somehow. But in my mind I first recall moving through a bazaar called Mandayi, on the southern side of the Kabul River. I remember making my way through narrow lanes and shops that extended onto the street. Traders and their carts spilling onto the thoroughfares. Stepping around the piles of dried fruit, tins of cooking oil, soup. The way the dull sunlight of that rainy spring day filtered through the canopies erected over some shops. The earth was muddy, the market not too crowded; familiar, like the bazaars of cities I knew in India. I recall walking onto a bridge, and buying a checked scarf from a young man standing by its railing. His face was barely visible behind his stock of fluttering fabrics, which he had tied to a wooden frame resting on his shoulders. He smiled when I took his picture. Behind him were the mountains that encircle Kabul- the Koh-e-Sher Darwaza on my left, the Koh-e-Asmai to my right. Between them, below the bridge, was the river- sluggish with some water, some rubbish. I moved across the bridge, and in the process I spanned the city's history, from the Shahr-e-Kohna, or the old city, to the Shahr-e-Nau, or new suburbs, ahead of me.
Memory returns in fragments. I remember walking through the half-empty streets feeling the sun on my back. I heard snaches of song on a radio, passed a group of young men lounging on a broken sofa they had pulled onto the street. I saw walls with bullet marks, and barriers across gates, and the glass panes of shopfronts painted with calligraphy. Under my feet was the slushu of the spring. There was smoke rising from the chimneys, and evening colouring the snow on the peaks of the Paghman range on the horizon. Birds on the bare branches of trees, singing songs of the approaching dusk. Back in my room, I had tried to brush the mud off my shoes, my clothes, but it had clung stubbornly. I had looked out of the window. Beyond the walls that enclosed the courtyard, the city had changed. It shimmered like a promise, far larger than I had thought. The more I walked, the larger it revealed itself to be.
In the bluster and immensity of war- the one that began in 2001 and the ones before it- it is easy to forget that Kabul existed 3,000 years ago. Years after arrived, I read a passage in a history of the city that seemed to ring true. 'Like some people, certain cities suffer from amnesia,' it said. 'Not that they have no past. Rather, this past, no matter how glorious it may have been, will have left so few reminders, so few architectural vestiges, so few vidible traces, that it remains something obscure, if not completely invisible. In this 'amnesiac city', I found that walking offered a way to exhume history- a kind of bipedal archaeology- as well as an excavation of the present.
Over the years these walks deepened and the streets changed. My journeys to Kabul unfolded between 2006 and 2013, and each return yielded fresh transformations. During this time, I moved through a city of memories- stories and fragments of Kabul recounted by others. I wandered through myths and fables, took routes of the imagination, ventured into dreams and poetry. Like vast bridges, they connected different eras and places. In these wanderings, I found a city of hidden abundance.
To call Kabul an amnesiac city is to refer to its physical landscape, where the ruins of the past lie below the surface. But it could also refer, I realised, to its obscureed culture, the vanishing of the very idea of Kabul as a city with history; with a specific, cosmopolitan way of life. These expeditions into Kabul's parallel terrains were like chasing the shadows that flickered across its streets.
This happened to be exploration of a kind I was familiar with.
I have a complicated relationship with walking. This has a lot to do, I suspect, with having grown up in Aligarh, a city in northern India, where walking on the streets came with intense male scrutiny, and the sense of being in a proscribed space. As a woman stepping out into its thoroghfares, I needed a reason to place my body on the street. I learned to display a posture of 'work' while walking, and to erase any signs that may hint at my being out for pleasure, for no reason at all other than to walk. All this means I see walking as a luxury, not something to be taken for granted. It is an act of autonomy and mobility I learned early to seize as a form of pleasure. I also grew adept at the allied skill of reading my terrain, looking out for signs that told me if it was open, or off-limits.
Being told not to walk was another way in Kabul felt familiar. To map the city, I drew on the same knowledge and intuition that had helped me navigate the streets of my home town. Which is why, unlike the maps of guidbooks that seek to make checklists and establish authority, the routes I took were wandering and idiosyncratic. They were not trajectories of efficiency leading to a predetermined destination, nor were they maps of authority or delineation, offering control or explanation. These were routes of discovery- maps of being lost. To be lost is a way to see a place afresh, a way to reimagine a terrain that feels known. To be lost in Kabul is to find it- as a place of richness and possibility.
Exploring Kabul, I found, required the same principles that help the reading of mystical Persian poetry, in the relationship between the zahir, or the overt, and the batin, the hidden or implied. This works on the tacit understanding that what is being said is an allegory for what is meant or intended. To talk of the moon, for instance, is to talk of the beloved; to talk of clouds across the moon is to talk of the pain of seperated lovers; to talk of walls is to speak of exile. Such wandering leads through circuitous routes to wide vistas of understanding. Like walking through a small gate into a large garden. It is also a useful reminder that in this city, what is seen is often simply one aspect of the truth. What lies behind- the shadow city- is where layers are revealed.
The stories we tell are often crafted from imperfect memory, drawing on what we remember, forgetting the rest. This is also true for cities, where what we see in only that which is recalled, what is apparent. Sometimes this forgetting is unwittingly inflicted, caused by the convulsions of war or the eroding passing of time. At other times it is deliberate, a conscious strategy of erasure. I sought out what was forgotten in Kabul as a way to map this batin city.
In th amnesiac city, other versions of the city shimmer in the distance, below the surface, from the penumbra between remembering and oblivion. 'There are a multitude of cities hiding under the white lie of a single name,' writes Darran Anderson, 'and they articulate themselves in secret significances, unwritten memory maps, daily orbits.' Walking was a way to encounter these cities within the city. This book is the story of these walks.