Afghan Artists Ready for Creative Healing

Nov. 27 -- Groggy and not quite awake, Farhad Darya logged onto the Internet at his Sterling, Va., home on the morning of Nov. 13 to receive one of the sweetest surprises in his eventful life.

Kabul, his home city and the subject of so many of his songs, had fallen from Taliban control and jubilant Afghans were dancing in the streets of the capital city to his hit single, Beloved Kabul, blasting on Radio Afghanistan.

The 39-year-old Afghan pop star's inbox was clogged with hundreds of e-mails from his fans across the world: congratulations and expressions of gratitude from Afghans living in the United States, Europe, Pakistan, India and Australia.

"Music is the strongest weapon we have," says Darya, a multi-traditional, multi-linguistic musician who fled Afghanistan in 1990 for the refugee camps of Pakistan before making his way to Germany and finally the United States. "It moves in a minute and everyone can follow it. And everyone knows the power of music — even the Taliban."

Conquerors throughout history have been known to wreak havoc on their newly acquired kingdoms. Libraries have been burned, palaces looted, temples razed and artists and writers silenced through the ages.

The depth and scope of the Taliban's cultural offensive wrought by its Ministry of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice was enormous.

During the five years the Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan, music was banned, ancient palaces and fortresses plundered, museums — such as the world-renowned Kabul Museum — looted. And in a move condemned around the world, two magnificent 5th century Buddha statues, one of the ancient world's most prized artifacts, were blasted off the face of the earth.

Growing Sense of Hope

But as the victorious Northern Alliance troops marched through the streets of Kabul on Nov. 13, Afghan artists and writers around the world heaved a sigh of relief and mentally joined in the exultations of their fellow countrymen on the streets of the capital.