Harry Potter, Foreign Films, Movies Return to Afghanistan

And finally this week, while we're talking about foreign films, a small story came out of Kabul, Afghanistan in the past week that was heartening amidst all the news about the war, and the uncertainty of our world today. As the Northern Alliance and our forces continue to make such rapid gains in the war to root out Osama Bin Laden and attack the Taliban for their unwillingness to give up Bin Laden, it was heartening to see and hear about the citizens of Kabul were finally getting movies, television, and music back in their lives after the Taliban had been driven from that city and many others. A new video rental store opened in Kabul in the past week since the Taliban left, renting out films like Gladiator and Independence Day. The cinemas are opening again, where civilians are filling them where there is standing room only. Laughter could be heard coming from the cinemas. While it was not our mission to free the Afghan civilians from Taliban rule, it was a very good byproduct of our mission in the war on terrorism, as we were able to give freedoms back to people who so desperately wanted it. (The picture at left shows young men lined up to view one of the first showings of a film in Kabul since the Taliban left the city.)

The Taliban had banned so many things under their rule, and of course, films were one of them. When the Taliban fled Kabul last week, Sultan Mahmood, manager of the Bakhtar Theater, worked feverishly to clean up five years of accumulated dust, as well as fixing up the sound system, and retrieving movies that the Taliban had locked away in the Ministry of Information. Young men lined up early for a 9 AM showing of "Ascension," a popular Afghan film about the guerrilla war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. The screen was an old canvas cloth, the wooden chairs were splintered, and almost all of the ceiling tiles had fallen out. A musty smell filled the air. Not quite the top quality experience to see a movie, but the entertainment-starved young men filled all 750 seats, with 250 more standing. Many had seen the film before, but didn't care, as it was their chance to just see a film after so many years of

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