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Afghanistan Boldly Raises Its Colors, Like Never Before
Afghan soldiers march near the largest Afghan flag in Kabul on September 10, 2014 (Agence France-Presse photo)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN: To find a flag as big as the one hoisted over Kabul's historic Wazir Akbar Khan hill Wednesday, you would have to go pretty far - possibly as far as a Wal-Mart parking lot somewhere in the Great Plains.
Flying from a specially erected flagpole more than 200 feet high - taller than the Statue of Liberty replica in Las Vegas - the black, red and green flag, at 97 by 65 feet, is big enough to drape over a Dreadnoughtus dinosaur (tail included). It is hundreds of square yards bigger than any other known Afghan banner.
Oddly, despite 13 years and more than half a trillion dollars of U.S. investment in Afghanistan, when this country finally got its first supersized flag to fly over the capital last week, the donor was not from among the descendants of Betsy Ross.
Instead, the Afghan megaflag was personally presented by Sushma Swaraj, the new foreign minister of India. The half-million-dollar gift was partly underwritten by an Indian billionaire, Naveen Jindal, whose Flag Foundation of India was founded to encourage Indian homes to fly their own flags at a practically U.S. rate.
Political pundits quickly noted the symbolism of India's helping Afghanistan erect a flag big enough to be seen from the U.S. surveillance blimp on the other side of the capital. The point would surely not be lost on Pakistan, which has always looked unfavorably at overtures between India and Afghanistan.
The Indian flag project is also seen as a subtle message to the Americans, who are bringing their combat mission in Afghanistan to a close this year without any guarantee yet of a future military role here. The bilateral security agreement that would allow that remains unsigned by President Hamid Karzai, and the inauguration of his successor is months overdue, hung up by a protracted election dispute.
"This will show Pakistan and further weaken its role in Afghanistan," said political analyst Bashir Bezhan. "And for President Karzai, it would have a message to the West that his neighboring powers are behind him."
Swaraj said at the flag-raising ceremony, "India will always be the first strategic partner of Afghanistan, and we are committed to assist Afghanistan in whatever way possible within our means."
Flags have had a tattered history in Afghanistan, with a succession of different ones during the past 35 years of civil war and insurgency.
The Taliban, for instance, went counterintuitive, sticking with a plain white banner - until someone pointed out that was for surrendering, and they added the Shahada verses to it in black.
Before the raising of the megaflag, a visitor could easily have driven across this sprawling capital of 5 million residents without seeing a single Afghan drapeau. Flagpoles are rare even in the government district.
"At least in the last 50 years, there has not been anything like this in Afghanistan," Bezhan said.
A few years ago, there had been an Afghan flag just big enough to be seen from many parts of the city on the top of the mountain in its middle, Asmai Mountain, better known as TV Hill because of all its broadcasting towers. But the flag was gradually beaten to shreds in the wind and never replaced.
Then the Indian Embassy came up with the idea of a gift of the giant flag, made of windproof synthetic textiles, and Jindal was eager to help underwrite it. "There was no single monument of Afghanistan as a nation," said Niteen Yeola, an Indian diplomat here. "We thought this would be a good symbol of unity."
The new flag is flying over Wazir Akbar Khan hill, next to the empty Communist-era swimming pool once used by the Taliban for executions. The monument is being called the Menara Bayraq, or Flag Minaret.
The 15-ton flagpole is high enough to make the flag visible from nearly all quarters of the city. The pole was flown in from India in segments, then erected to be earthquake-proof by Indian engineers.
At the flag-raising, Karzai pushed a button to mechanically hoist it into place, while the Indian foreign minister and he cut a ribbon and passed out chocolates to assembled dignitaries.
India's support for Afghanistan is more than symbolic. While more often a recipient than a donor country, India has budgeted about $2 billion in aid to Afghanistan through the war years - making Afghanistan one of its biggest foreign aid beneficiaries. None of that is direct military aid, and it is a pittance compared with the $89 billion in aid from the United States just through 2012. But some of that money has been spent on particularly high-profile projects, such as a huge, $238 million Parliament building, expected to open next year.
Flags may be a slightly harder sell. Even more than a decade of fighting alongside Americans has not had much success at building a flag-waving culture here, even in the Afghan military.
"The Americans had flags everywhere, even on their vehicles," said Hajji Zahair, who served in the Afghan National Army for five years in some of the worst parts of the country and was wounded in fighting in Kandahar province. "We would have maybe one on the base somewhere."
Zahair, now a jobless veteran, had come to see the new flag for himself, and was very impressed. "I hope it serves as a symbol of unity for us and brings us together," he said.
Afghanistan's relative underflagging is just the sort of challenge appreciated by Jindal, the Indian steel magnate and politician who has dedicated himself to propagating flag displays back home.
In a way, though, Kabul's giant new flag does have a U.S. origin - via Jindal. He went there to earn his master's degree in business administration at the University of Texas at Dallas and was deeply impressed by how many U.S. homes and businesses were adorned with the red, white and blue.
When he got home, he was outraged that Indian law strictly limited flag displays and campaigned successfully to give everyone the right to fly India's saffron, white and green whenever and wherever they wanted.
© 2014, The New York Times News Service
Afghan soldiers march near the largest Afghan flag in Kabul on September 10, 2014 (Agence France-Presse photo)
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN: To find a flag as big as the one hoisted over Kabul's historic Wazir Akbar Khan hill Wednesday, you would have to go pretty far - possibly as far as a Wal-Mart parking lot somewhere in the Great Plains.
Flying from a specially erected flagpole more than 200 feet high - taller than the Statue of Liberty replica in Las Vegas - the black, red and green flag, at 97 by 65 feet, is big enough to drape over a Dreadnoughtus dinosaur (tail included). It is hundreds of square yards bigger than any other known Afghan banner.
Oddly, despite 13 years and more than half a trillion dollars of U.S. investment in Afghanistan, when this country finally got its first supersized flag to fly over the capital last week, the donor was not from among the descendants of Betsy Ross.
Instead, the Afghan megaflag was personally presented by Sushma Swaraj, the new foreign minister of India. The half-million-dollar gift was partly underwritten by an Indian billionaire, Naveen Jindal, whose Flag Foundation of India was founded to encourage Indian homes to fly their own flags at a practically U.S. rate.
Political pundits quickly noted the symbolism of India's helping Afghanistan erect a flag big enough to be seen from the U.S. surveillance blimp on the other side of the capital. The point would surely not be lost on Pakistan, which has always looked unfavorably at overtures between India and Afghanistan.
The Indian flag project is also seen as a subtle message to the Americans, who are bringing their combat mission in Afghanistan to a close this year without any guarantee yet of a future military role here. The bilateral security agreement that would allow that remains unsigned by President Hamid Karzai, and the inauguration of his successor is months overdue, hung up by a protracted election dispute.
"This will show Pakistan and further weaken its role in Afghanistan," said political analyst Bashir Bezhan. "And for President Karzai, it would have a message to the West that his neighboring powers are behind him."
Swaraj said at the flag-raising ceremony, "India will always be the first strategic partner of Afghanistan, and we are committed to assist Afghanistan in whatever way possible within our means."
Flags have had a tattered history in Afghanistan, with a succession of different ones during the past 35 years of civil war and insurgency.
The Taliban, for instance, went counterintuitive, sticking with a plain white banner - until someone pointed out that was for surrendering, and they added the Shahada verses to it in black.
Before the raising of the megaflag, a visitor could easily have driven across this sprawling capital of 5 million residents without seeing a single Afghan drapeau. Flagpoles are rare even in the government district.
"At least in the last 50 years, there has not been anything like this in Afghanistan," Bezhan said.
A few years ago, there had been an Afghan flag just big enough to be seen from many parts of the city on the top of the mountain in its middle, Asmai Mountain, better known as TV Hill because of all its broadcasting towers. But the flag was gradually beaten to shreds in the wind and never replaced.
Then the Indian Embassy came up with the idea of a gift of the giant flag, made of windproof synthetic textiles, and Jindal was eager to help underwrite it. "There was no single monument of Afghanistan as a nation," said Niteen Yeola, an Indian diplomat here. "We thought this would be a good symbol of unity."
The new flag is flying over Wazir Akbar Khan hill, next to the empty Communist-era swimming pool once used by the Taliban for executions. The monument is being called the Menara Bayraq, or Flag Minaret.
The 15-ton flagpole is high enough to make the flag visible from nearly all quarters of the city. The pole was flown in from India in segments, then erected to be earthquake-proof by Indian engineers.
At the flag-raising, Karzai pushed a button to mechanically hoist it into place, while the Indian foreign minister and he cut a ribbon and passed out chocolates to assembled dignitaries.
India's support for Afghanistan is more than symbolic. While more often a recipient than a donor country, India has budgeted about $2 billion in aid to Afghanistan through the war years - making Afghanistan one of its biggest foreign aid beneficiaries. None of that is direct military aid, and it is a pittance compared with the $89 billion in aid from the United States just through 2012. But some of that money has been spent on particularly high-profile projects, such as a huge, $238 million Parliament building, expected to open next year.
Flags may be a slightly harder sell. Even more than a decade of fighting alongside Americans has not had much success at building a flag-waving culture here, even in the Afghan military.
"The Americans had flags everywhere, even on their vehicles," said Hajji Zahair, who served in the Afghan National Army for five years in some of the worst parts of the country and was wounded in fighting in Kandahar province. "We would have maybe one on the base somewhere."
Zahair, now a jobless veteran, had come to see the new flag for himself, and was very impressed. "I hope it serves as a symbol of unity for us and brings us together," he said.
Afghanistan's relative underflagging is just the sort of challenge appreciated by Jindal, the Indian steel magnate and politician who has dedicated himself to propagating flag displays back home.
In a way, though, Kabul's giant new flag does have a U.S. origin - via Jindal. He went there to earn his master's degree in business administration at the University of Texas at Dallas and was deeply impressed by how many U.S. homes and businesses were adorned with the red, white and blue.
When he got home, he was outraged that Indian law strictly limited flag displays and campaigned successfully to give everyone the right to fly India's saffron, white and green whenever and wherever they wanted.
© 2014, The New York Times News Service
