Afghanistan - National Geographic

The December, 2004 issue of the National Geographic has several articles devoted to Afghanistan. The main one is titled "Tracking the ghost of bin Laden in the land of the Pashtun". There is a contrast between the ancient cultures and the modern fanaticism.  A photograph shows a madressa in Pakistan, one of  10,000 where the children concentrate on the Koran.  These schools produced the Taliban, who controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.  As for bin Laden, "Whoever betrays him, why, his life would not be worth an onion".

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