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it's a side of afghanistan and up the wider world has forgotten a peaceful and fascinating afghanistan boasting unique not sure on monuments and the legacy of a civilization dating back over a thousand years and then there are the people who live and love this and that illuminating stories. this ancient knowledge in years cept to exude this sense of apple blossoms and the musicians and the conductor actually do blossom as they perform in the capital kabul eighteen year old nagin feels far removed from all the current problems mentioned swings her back. when i

conduct this student i really exist feel like crying that i'm conducting here and it's easy if i do it if i work hard on. nagin has a combative nature which was vital in asserting yourself against the reservations of the clan the north eastern afghanistan a region where the taliban still have considerable influence. after the orchestral rehearsal negin practices various percussion instruments. she had wanted to become a pianist but an injury forced her to consider other options it's a minor challenge after everything she's been through. this if you are going to music school or you are conducting or you are some doing some interviews so you will kill you like this they told me but didi can't they just tour like this

so they scare me in yemen life is in danger more than two hundred students are enlisted the national institute of music a quarter of them women they have access to the best music teachers in the country as well as to some from abroad. like robin who until recently was playing the cello in a rock band and disregarded the worries and warnings of a family in the united states. when i was here a couple. months ago you know there were there were some horrible attacks and i think there's a hunger here there's a passion and it's a zire to to learn music to to try and also express find ways to express oneself the founder and director of the institute almost died in an attack himself he was badly injured hardly a day goes by without death threats targeting him and just charges he continues regardless this nation is located to give up once again and to allow anyone to he

turned him enough history back or i need also given gap and running away from afghanistan just for my own life. it's lunchtime everything seems relaxed here in the heart of kabul where terrorist attacks have become part of everyday launch the director hopes that young women like me again can link the country to a better future she defends instead new generation of afghanistan that in spite of all the challenges and all the. hachi day and to fight for their rights. many of the female students live near the institute their home is called an orphanage not because their parents are dead but because in the eyes of their parents the children are dead having been led astray. good luck and whom are often think of their homes they come from the same region as nagin their role model.

did and i guess i'd like to go back to my village and teach the girls music their. mom autism but that's impossible now because the taliban is very active in our region. and the young women here are resonant they don't want to turn their backs on afghanistan they want to help build the country the international coverage of their school is a nice bonus they regularly watch this recording of a concert they gave in washington d.c. three years ago in front of an illustrious audience in the middle of the orchestra is nikki at the time playing an afghan string instrument. in kabul she's never completely free from fear especially not when she's on her way home until recently she lived in the orphanage too but for a few months now she's been living on the outskirts of town she's finally reunited with her family who she hadn't seen for years because they have to fear for their

lives in their home province now they've moved to kabul to join her her eight siblings and mother and her father who works as a bodyguard and knows what danger his daughter is in every day or every time i'm thinking like this because life is not safe that much here because government they've gotten do anything for us and she become now the first lady in afghanistan conduct telling she's kind doctoring. partly due to his own efforts as well when the game was determined to attend a school eight years ago he let her go to kabul and didn't interfere when she discovered her passion for music i didn't go to my dad i passed the exam and then when i pass the exam then i told him my father and my father say it's ok when it's your life and do it if you like it but my mother said that it's not good for a girl. the mother doesn't want to be filmed but nagin says she's also

a little prop now of the eldest child who is showing the whole world what afghan women can do once they're given the freedom to realize that potential. that. this is the new sound of afghanistan and the new look some feel this is the pioneer of female rap in the country and. the studio where she's recording a new album is located in this street it's an inconsiderate q.s. and glam a last place susan cuts a colorful figure here in more ways than one instead of a book a she's wearing a hat with a face uncovered not subtracted attention and has like a music let to

a serious of threats she was told she'd be kidnapped so that face could be disfigured with acid i didn't know having to i never feel safe on the streets of course i could wear a burka and then move about more freely my relatives think what i'm doing is really terrible. only my parents and my siblings stand by me. she grew up in a refugee camp in iran with a family. after the taliban was toppled she returned to afghanistan and initially worked as a cop at maker than five years ago she discovered rap music do you know. what i'm plenty i still can't make a living with my music sometimes i think about leaving afghanistan on the other hand i like the people i want to improve conditions here by speaking her mind and rap lyrics which are franken critical of society.

point of fact that there are differences to western rap i'm not allowed to use bad language for you but i am allowed to rap honestly about the things that move me and i do that very very clearly i've had that clique talk a bit on a fashion mission just sent her the medea on this and then eaten. more. like. i don't want. susan wraps in the local language dari she wraps about corruption about the oppression of women and the terrible security situation she hopes she can change things for the better and how to ensure that one day she can go to the recording studio without fear.

there's music in the air here to the final of the biggest t.v. show in the country millions can't wait to find out who will become this year's afghanistan the two contestants left in the competition for the two previously unfancied outsiders so yet as a hairdresser he's wrapped himself into the hearts of the audience and the judges with there's no nonsense lyrics and their sixteen year old salada who had until recently never sung in front of an audience in the end the hairdresser trying. the way he was rapping was all the problems of the society so he was talking the language of every afghan that's living in this country so that's why he came up.

this prize a moped and a short trip to kazakhstan and away from afghanistan at least for a week. so yet is from the northern afghan city of mazar e sharif where the taliban recently committed a terrible atrocity the disastrous security situation is one of the many problems raps about. that is yes i still don't want to leave afghanistan forever my friends are here and this is where my purpose lies i want to capture the pain of the afghan people in my lyrics that was a record i'm just there that are chanting and he doesn't mince his words i'm angry because the government doesn't do anything for ordinary people instead of looking after the poor they're fighting for power at the top the person who pays the most becomes a minister that while the country is going down the pan yet is happy about his victory even though he things should have won but it is he. said she

has such an. lovely personality and she comes from such a dangerous region what about chicago courage i learned should have earned her the victory. even so never before had a woman made it this far in this show to la-la a young woman singing and in public for many a blatant provocation. and security as the show's producer knows all too well last truck in a cobbled the steel lives in danger two last year the taliban attacked his station killing seven stop at least twenty people were all through also has to expect the worst if i say right now now there's no rest for i would be lying because. going back to tell about going sinking in if you go to city after all of you don't see much money. and so being single. performing on

a stage performing on a big stage like star is is not out of danger. this might be the most secure campus on earth the students are literally walled in not just once but three times that's the number of barriers in closing the american university of afghanistan there are also numerous security checks the university is filled not just with students but also security personnel there largely from india not afghanistan to be sure that no taliban member has infiltrated the squad after one terrorist attack the university was closed for more than six months the college president is adamant something like that will never happen again. we of course had to increase our security massively but we did that and we were very worried that many students would come back in fact many students came back many more new

students came and over the last three or four weeks this university has become a bright beacon of hope but for all of afghanistan. almost eight hundred students are enrolled here many of them can still remember the attack which claimed the lives of sixteen people. when they talk of undoing the second floor of the building which was attacked and then the attackers eventually made their way up to the class that we were hiding so we had to actually skip through the window because obviously the hallways and. work for the patrol actually buy the bad with the bad but a bad man. so we had to go through that when he said i want to go in as the violent extremists as the high proportion of female students at the university almost fifty percent. it left me he's hard for three months because i lost some of my great friends and india tech but every came back because we wanted to

tell the insurgents that no matter how many times you attack or how much you want to scare us we're going to come back because if you cation is the only. fight them that break them and make them weaker the mood on campus is favorable to the west although not everyone here is a fan of the incumbent u.s. president i like president i like no i don't like him i don't like president trump but because i don't really know what his strategy towards afghanistan is i don't know what what that means but i have heard his comments about women grabbing woman and liked or talking about women in a disrespectful manner and that's something that i don't think is right for a president or a person in and pay it. off to class some students stay on campus those who live in . but most of them have to leave the protection of the security perimeter and go

back to the city hoping that they'll be able to return to law if and well the following day. many of the really exciting places income pull right now while hidden away the country's most important off museum the national gallery is located right on a main road but it's been closed for renovation for some time now the museums backyard however is home to a fascinating development aid used to be filled with rubbish now it is the garden of peace and hope an event venue especially for young artists and it will be safe. for the four soldiers. we are looking for the young generation or for you the young people who are talented they have a career to vittie or they are they have skills in the arts and we find it to do so our end lean with the area where the forest area and then i find them and

bring them here and i. invite some expert in art and i take exhibition the next exhibitions about to begin a new at the young curator is receiving support from three artists they're going over final preparations for the exhibition of beds at a one on one this but the situation of women in kabul has massively improved in recent times in the past they weren't even allowed to go to work they couldn't leave the house but that's becoming more normal now i'm optimistic. that will make the room again and again my goal is to become really good in the next five years and win an international award taking pictures is my passion and i want to make the most of it. to feel that they're. good the artists arrived almost one hundred in total they all want to experience the opening of the exhibition at noon they have to wait because the deputy minister of culture has

heard that we're here so she wants to give a speech. on the gay. mr. davis. then finally everyone's allowed into the garden and admired the works on display they're not for sale today but the artists are content with the recognition that gets and the feeling of having an impact like the painter of this picture. i want to express the pain of all afghans particularly that is that women who've been suffering for so long from oppression of course i'm criticized for this not least by the less well educated they ask why i'm doing this and why i'm criticizing our country they don't realize that by doing this i'm raising understanding for our country around the world are like a hammer says i'm sorry and also say. there's no abstract modern art to the paintings are either purely decorative or they're striking in an easily accessible

way. the garden is funded by donations from other countries it has a budget to offer around one hundred euros a month through. the garden of peace and hope is thriving. and i'm responsible for discarding my responsibility is that what i have. to do i do and for the gathering i don't know it's from government and he said it's two years and the door off this gallery is closed and i don't know why it's not going to be open but here i'm responsible that i have to take exhibition i take it's a vision every month a short while later the visitors are gone and the garden is empty again ready for the next exhibition.

those who like a bull from its quiet relaxing side head just out of the city to the biggest natural attraction in the region. laycock although it's a manmade reservoir that doesn't bother the thousands of daily visitors. they can hire a boat for just a few cents or enjoy the various attractions on line. there's also a range of small restaurants with new ones opening all the time this one is still under construction its name translates as clean fast food. the owner. spent almost twenty years in germany in a place near frankfurt his wife and children still live there but ten years ago he chose to return to afghanistan. when the schwab window stand when i was in germany the weather really bothered me and when he's coming now go

sundin when i return to afghanistan i felt better. in desperation. i have a lot of night and oxygen at work every day thanks to the garden and what with fresh arizona. he's not scared of attacks security has been tightened dramatically since a murderous attack by the taliban five years ago. this church here is securities very good here while. the artists the. police the police are over there the police say is yes and. there are checkpoints everywhere. i know but as for control. this is the best and friendly a spot in afghanistan or in goods is this. in the gal cell phones on the c.s.

. and things do remain calm in and around kabul today there are no reports of attacks if it were always this way more foreign visitors would perhaps come and experience the relaxing atmosphere of lake aga. here out to northwest afghanistan a wedding is about to take place and not a conventional one there are the obligatory security checks at the entrance up stairs in the gallery above the hole sixteen couples are waiting to be true they will look into each other's eyes for the first time only after the ceremony custom demands that the bride hides her face until the end of the wedding the seating arrangement is very strict the men sit on the left and the women on the right they're largely from poor backgrounds and almost a loss of the knowledge that a city my family has no money. and using that my income is just enough for the bare minimum. that's why i'm grateful i can get married today.

to see the novel and. i'm happy my mother is here along with my sister my aunt and two other relatives. well enough. there's one cake for all the wedding guests donated like the cost of the entire event by business people from the surrounding area. these women are responsible for the organization they chose the couple's depending on their level of need. let the full version we've been engaged for six years i responded to a chance to find ed and applied for the wedding philip two of us followed one of the staircase thanks be to allah we were picked was all over their fellow. the master of ceremonies hats the parade of couples carrying the qur'an the procession looks like a t.v. event and indeed

a local broadcast is transmitting the ceremony life the couples have dressed up in their final refold the ok sion ball wrote finery. almost at the same time a few streets away there's a regular wedding in one of the city's huge wedding holes the catering alone costs twenty thousand euros the average wage is less than two thousand euros in afghanistan as a result many afghans take on a huge debt when they get married. in western countries couple spend a lot of money in nightclubs before the wedding here in afghanistan the wedding is the one big celebration so it's fine if it costs a little bit more on the to after the meal comes to party the men dance among themselves.

the women celebrate next door where cameras are forbidden. the country's fourth biggest city still maintains traditions although the taliban has no presence here there are strict family customs in place. many women are forced to get married they strike complains she says the opulent wedding facade mosques the awful reality of marital life. just one percent of all marriages here are based on love that only happens in very liberal families and if a wife is abused by her husband she can't get a divorce her parents tell her to stop making such a fuss. they get. for some this marital how and in hospital every month sees the mission of young women who've tried to kill themselves some just after their wedding doctors talk about a literal epidemic of self burning women who pour petrol over their heads and set

themselves a lot if they survive these incidents are called accidents. home it's often very young girls who are forced to marry by their parents often it's a very much older man who treats them. poorly guess at some point they see no other way but suicide and going on what sources in some poll families the daughters are sold into marriage for them their wedding day is a day of horror. the mass wedding is approaching its climax a huge surprise awaits the couples and the guests he writes most famous singer will be performing a formal window of afghan stuff while the guests enjoyed the entertainment the organizers are already planning the next group wedding. embedded jemele operator we'll keep our eye out for applications via facebook and

will find those who don't have access to the internet and must there are enough people who can't afford to get married because of poverty and of the other message it yes it is. just. the celebration last three hours relatively brief by african standards then the young people stop them married lawyers without veils and without sponsors. there's just that geographical heart of afghanistan right between herat in the west and kabul in the east everything seems peaceful here in the province of balmy on. its main claim to fame is an unparalleled natural attraction this lake. more than one hundred thousand toll wrists come here every year most of them are

from afghanistan during the winter season it's possible to skate on the lake which sits at an altitude of two thousand meters during the summer months it's used for bathing and boating. the people here live off tourism bomb yon's considered liberal and women work as tour guides to. be i'm happy that more and more tourists are coming here it would be nice to see a few more foreign visitors. but the problem is that this place is hard to get to this road goes through territory where there's fighting that scares off people who can't afford to fly john good though. there are no mosquito is. the only other attractions more famous than the lake out ones that don't technically exist anymore all that's left of them other rocky caves where they were

blown up by the taliban fifteen years ago the world famous borders of bomb yeah but there's a whole new attraction here now the country's only international marathon the runners registered on the day before the race andre is from germany. and. this. is a good measure but i want to survive i want to finish and it was a time of less than six hours do you have respect for the altitude. of course that's the biggest problem. i've never run a three thousand meters you can tell you get out of breath faster when you climb some stairs and often come to you the race is hosted by a british organization. well security is something the race organizers we have to take very seriously especially given we bring some international runners here it's really a race for the local people but as soon as you stop bringing internationals in then we need to in a way up the risks of as you can imagine so keeping the race low profile we don't

publish that kind of thing is it's very important that these two girls have also registered which is pretty unusual in afghanistan they're from the local area. cuma. some of my relatives think women shouldn't run marathons but why not tell you about this event in that box where they get just it was. a harmonizer it should be taken for granted one of the reasons why we're running is to make a statement and i wish the participants gather the following morning it's friday and therefore the day of rest there are around two hundred fifty runners including more than one hundred women and they can't wait to get going. among them is needle for a student. there or in that time it goes oh i wasn't allowed to go out of home but now guys can run so it's

a very different and the race is co-sponsored by free to run an international organization that empowers women and girls in conflict affected communities feel like this is the not make it now maybe they don't know yet how it feels and the excitement among the women and girls here is incredible they need space to express themselves to see platz our finance a house of torment as is they're happy to be given this opportunity it's nice to see the boys and girls running together here young said to meet in your. is that now from a death a satanic kandice. running against daunting resistance something this man knows all about charlie from britain as an artificial leg it's something that i was in the news. all those years ago so to say here and say now is that. it's it's a bizarre emotion it's it's incredible it's sad to see them gone and i don't know i guess the histories of scholars in the world so that's what is despite the freezing

cold and thin air everyone's extremely motivated this is from scott and his five degrees we're very excited we hope we'll make it and get in under six hours specs and with that extra. the race begins to shoot. young is considered taliban free is population as tolerant the only intimidating thing here is the challenging but beautiful course. the spectators cheer for the runners from other countries. but most of all for the local women taking part. ok. the highest point is at three thousand metres the course takes the runners through picture perfect landscapes that lessen the pain in the lungs and the legs at least a little.

but that won't fall halfway through the race there's a refreshment stop and there's trouble the second placed man is accusing the front runner of cheating saying he took a car for part of the course he can't prove it and has no chance of catching up any more and so he gives up. again. after almost three hours andrea rise at the twenty one kilometer mark he has to take a breather before setting about the return run. a short while later the first run out crosses the finish line much to the joy of the locals the winner is an afghan nobody is talking about cheating anymore the victor enjoys a hero's reception. finishes in second despite his physical handicap that's also makes him the best foreign participant. here to have him and finally under a barrage at the french he has reached his goal by running

a time of under six hours he satisfied that was the toughest race i've ever run the altitude is indescribable as if your lungs are being torn apart every step is torture but somehow i managed and now now i'm having a. little fun as among the last to arrive but she's happy she kept going despite severe stomach pain but i am happy says at least i finish it and also it might. team member which i was trained in one of them to come first. another photo with greetings to friends back home and be doing will be recommending they visit balmy on they don't have to run a marathon if they come here after all. mazar e sharif in northern afghanistan the country's third largest city is famous for its blue mosque the son in law of the prophet muhammad is set to be buried here there's

another special thing about this mosque now something that never would have happened under the taliban. it's just after seven o'clock in the morning like every wednesday the poppy longs to these young women for two hours. setting the pace is need of the young woman who recently ran the marathon she organizers the local women speak out . running gives me energy and i'm feeling free with tranny when a running saying feeling that i'm free and have i have were right like him and so we are like a equal with men. during the training sessions the pock remains closed to visitors a measure by the local authorities to protect the runners quite a lot of people in mazar e sharif consider women doing sports as islamic as

a western perversion but that doesn't scare these young women. on the contrary i enjoy the feeling of freedom when i run through the part. again. after the training session the women stop their daily lives some live more than an hour's drive away they've worked hard to save up the money for the taxi. who's studying medicine normally goes to the university but she has a day off today women from the neighborhood. they tried to make opportunity for the other girls to rent and. when i learned the idea about this company i was thinking about the. housewife that they need

money and they are not able to work outside of their home so this is a big opportunity for them to work at home. faster lives with their family she's the youngest of five siblings and her mother's pride. they often talk about needle fast marathons she's completed several to date she's a pioneer in afghanistan. a mother's nervous every time because she's scared of extremists. as viewed only at. the during the marathon and a stranger came and handed her an energy drink nobody knew the guy i was scared he would poison her fortunately she never even tried it you don't need you don't get them so that was she as we just need of our wants to run another marathon next year not for the first time she's received death threats. we got an anonymous car

a man was angry about. how could she run with foreigners and with men he said she deserved to die it isn't then having money a short while later fans back in kabul not as a runner but as a student at the prestigious american university. in condos not far from mazar e sharif word has spread that the best bread in town is available here the queues are long in the mornings some of the people are just curious and that's because the bakery is the talk of the town. a nice omits on our way to the afternoon shift. she's the boss and wears a book. condo's is conservative and that's why this bakeries a minor revolution. it employs exclusively women. there's no other bakery in the country like it not yet.

an isa hopes other women will soon copy what. women bake for their families at home so why shouldn't they make that their work we want to encourage women to leave the house and become active outside of it not as a system in but i was. the bakery is supported by german development aid which paid for the equipment and the initial salaries the women work very hard managing to bake up to three hundred flat breads every hour and they sell almost all of them to . make sure maybe it's because we put so much effort into it we take the best quality flour and we only used to. add know what they just. these women desperately need the income and they're because they're widowed or

because their husband's income isn't enough. but they also pay a price some have received threatening letters there are regular reports from other parts of the country that women have been killed simply for pursuing a job. there's criticism of the bakery and condos too particularly from religious hardliners. according to the qur'an women a strictly prohibited from working outside their home so they should stop it once the taliban gets the say here again all this will be over anyway. and indeed the taliban have tried several times to retake this city of two hundred thousand people ever since that departure of the german military. there are security checks at all the entrances to the city and that hasn't stopped

the taliban from entering the city several times and spreading fear and terror. the police insists that is over and the women because don't have anything to fear. that the americans damaged the taliban quite substantially in recent weeks with aerial attacks that. they're not getting their hands on this city. projects like the women's bakery show there's progress and was but then we find the bakery abandoned with no sign of the start of word in the neighborhood is that they fled. there but i had no idea why business was going well. maybe they got scared because of the security situation because there was so much criticism from for. the mentalists. a few days later they cannot jia opens up shop again. her

boss quit for family reasons she says but she and the other women will continue. even though she adds she always has an easy feeling on her way to work. my parents are scared someone could hurt us i don't feel one hundred percent safe. but when i see the other women i'm reenergized and i know what we're doing here is important. here. the next day the bakeries going to be full again not least because they'll be three men working here too at the women's request for protection can those doesn't seem quite ready yet for a business run soley by women.

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german football shared experience every match. fund is legal every weekend here on. the sea levels are rising the average temperatures. there is lots of indication. every single person on the planet to do what that whatever they count to reduce that it. needs changing the social infrastructure. things like central heating and. air conditioning all depends on cautionary lines shut off the air conditioning as much as possible to use a little it is possible to travel as little as possible to support a politician the school. should reach. the end.

my. powerful storm has hit europe killing as many as ten people across the netherlands belgium and germany high winds brought down roofs in trees grounded planes and caused chaos on the roads germany's rail operator cancelled all long distance rail connections leaving many thousands of stranded. a california couple who held their thirteen malnourished children captive in their home for years of pleaded not guilty to charges of torture and child abuse.