Mazar-e-Sharif

Mazar-e Sharif is a mixed city, with large populations of Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras (many Pashtuns fled after reprisals following the collapse of the Taliban). This cultural mix is represented in the city’s culture, in everything from the Central Asian flavours on the menu in restaurants, to the comparatively liberal attitudes to women’s education. Mazar-e Sharif is even the centre for a women’s musical college – something unthinkable elsewhere in the country.

The city’s location also means that it is a great centre for that true Afghan sport of the plains, buzkashi. Games can be seen most weekends throughout the winter until the Afghan New Year. Mazar-e Sharif becomes flooded with visitors at this time, for the annual Nauroz celebrations. Nauroz coincides with the Gul-e Surkh festival, named for the red tulips that flower on the steppe, which are associated with prosperity and fertility.

(more at the LP link)