afghanistanof the region’s famous tufted carpets as well as leather and karakul skins.
Mazar-i Sharif is also one of Afghanistan’s most important shrine cities
and attracts thousands of pilgrims, especially during the spring New Year
festival, or Nauroz. In the past Imperial Russia and subsequently the ussr
was an important trading partner and large quantities of goods, including
much of the country’s fuel, pass through the frontier port and railhead of
Hairatan on the Amu Darya. Uzbekistan is still an important trade part-
ner. Recently the former Soviet railway system was extended into Mazar,
opening up the possibility of overland trade with China and even Europe.
Andkhui, on the Turkmenistan–Uzbekistan frontier, is a Turkman
settlement and, along with Aqcha and Qunduz, is one of Afghanistan’s
most important carpet-weaving centres. The Turkmans and Arabs around
Andkhui also own large flocks of karakul or fat-tailed sheep, and breed
camels and horses. There are a number of tanneries in the region and
leather is an important export. Sesame seeds are grown along the lower
course of the Shirin Tagab and in the Gurziwan district of Faryab, while the
pomegranates of Andkhui are renowned for their sweetness. The Uzbeks of
Maimana and Sar-i Pul also make fine pile carpets as well as gilims. Uzbek
and Turkman embroidery and traditional jewellery are highly prized on
the international market, while the long-sleeved silk cloak or chapan, the
traditional coat of the Uzbeks, is the preferred formal wear of ex-President
Hamid Karzai.
The Turkmans and Uzbeks of northern Afghanistan are renowned as
horse breeders, though wealthy Pushtuns, Tajiks and Aimaqs also breed
and own horses. The yabus are sturdy ponies capable of long journeys
with heavy loads, while another strain of horse, known for their speed and
agility, is bred for the traditional Turkman and Uzbek sport of buzkashi,
in which riders, known as chapandaz, compete to place the carcass of a
decapitated goat, or a calf skin stuffed with sand, in a goal circle. Buzkashi
is not for the faint-hearted. Each rider carries a leather whip that they
use on opponents as well as their horses. Even the horses are trained to
bite opponents. All chapandaz enter the fray heavily padded, but even
so bones are often broken and blood shed. The rewards, however, are
great. Chapandaz who win regularly earn great fame as well as substan-
tial sponsorship and prize money, while a good buzkashi horse will sell
for thousands of dollars. Among the Turkmans, wrestling is also an
important sport.
Throughout most of its course in Afghanistan the Murghab river, which
flows into the Turkmenistan oasis of Panjdeh and Merv, runs through deep,
limestone gorges and agriculture is mainly restricted to the narrow valley