Vol. 1.2 1387(2009) No.6·7 AFGHANISTAN QUARTERLY
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Vol. 1.2 1387(2009) No.6·7 AFGHANISTAN QUARTERLY Vol. 1.2 1387(2009) No:6-7J ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF AFGHANISTAN AFGHANISTAN QUARTERLY Vol. 1-2 Editorial Board: 1- Professor Nasrullah Sobman. 2- Professor Fazil Ahamad Ghurub. 3- Associate professor Jalat Khan Hikmati. 4- Associate professor Abdul Hakim Safi. 5- Assistant professor Mohammad Nabi Salahi. Administrative Board: Director: Rahmat Nabi Assistant Director: Sultan Mohammad Zari Composed and Designed by: Sameer Samander Safi By the Name of Allah who is All Mighty and merciful Contents I. Pro. Doctor Ghulan Najmoddin ((Tarin)) Lapis lazuli (lazhward) Deposits of Badakhshan ........................ 1-19 2. Hafizullah Emadi. A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE DURAND LINE AND THE FUTURE OF AFGHANISTAN- PAKISTAN RELATIONS ......... 20-34 3. Hafizullah Emadi. Women in Afghanistan's State apparatuses: from post independence period to the present. .................. 35-63 4. Professor Mohammad Nasser Stanikzai. Healthcare and economic development in Afghanistan .... 73 5. Professor Fazil Ahmad Ghoroub, Superstition and OmensmFrom the View point of psychology ...... 81-85 6. Junior Assistant professor Mohammad Ratib Abeer, Admiui,tration corruption in Afghanistan .................................... 86-Jiif Lapis lazuli (lazhward) Deposits of Badakhshan Pro. Doctor Ghulan Najmoddin tarin Legends and lore: In all civilization, magical power have been ascribed to gems perhaps out of a need , to explain their rarity, beauty and gemstones: in gemstones the whole majesty of nature is compressed into the smallest space, and in a single stone we can perceive the master piece, and in a single stone a polished plate of lapis, with its included grains of pyrite, we likened in the orient to the starry beavers, for the inhabitants of Mesopotamia this was more than a pleasing comparison. In their eyes, all human dusting is controlled by the movement of the stars. It was inevitable that lapis should become a stone to which supernatural powers were attributed. Description and location; Badakhshans population is of a settled, peaceful character, the descendants of older inhabitants and of people, who sought refugee in the mountains from invading barbarian hordes, the narrow valleys, the harsh climate with long winters, and the relatively inaccessible habitat keep most people in this area on a primitive level of culture. The saving ranges ofthe Pamirs and the Hindu Kush surround the heartland of ancient Bacteria except on the west - northwest. The rich minerals of the eastern Hindu Kush- lapis Lazuli, rubies, gold and salt once attracted merchants from far and wide, but future development of its natural resources will depend largely on political factors. The east-west communication has very long tradition. Badakhsahn was the province to the west of Tibet on the trade route, unsurpassed among all the provinces on the upper Amu Darya. Not only wus it celebration ror its ruby and its lapis mines, but also for its magnificent pa§tures, its broad and highly cultivated ~alleys, and for its excellent climate. According to the history of the Turks, the mountains form great Bokhara between the dominions of the great Mogul and Grand Tartary afforded very rich quarries of lapis. The lapis mines also contained deposits of iron, lead, alum, Sal ammoniac, sulfur, ocher, and copper, however, only the lapis was worked. the inhabitants were also enriched by the mines of gold and silver, Between Balkh and Badakhshan lay the district of Turaristan, which extended from the banks of the Amu Darya to the passes of the Hindu Kush. A thousand years ago the valley 2 was, celebrated for its silver mines the richest 111 the eastern portion ofthe Moslem world. Badakhshan is closely connected with other countries in cast by a tight network of river system. Form Afghanistan. the Kokcha, Kunduz, and Balkh rivers tlow into the Amu Darya. while the Helmand empties into seistan. The river Kabul rises on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush and flows into the Peshawar valley in Pakistan. Throughout history. lapis mines have been attributed to southwest Persia, Azerbaijan, and the Kinnan region of Iran but as there are no metamorphic Iimestones in these areas. the lapis was probably confused with turquoise or azurite. Marco polo (1271) in his writings. realized that the lapis come form Badakhshan, although he never actually visited the mines: there is also in the same country another mountain where azure is found. It is the finest in the world and is got in a vein like silver (Yule 1903) the valley of the Kokcha is about 183 meters (200yards) wide, although he never actually visited the mines: there is also in the same country another mountain where azure is found. It is the finest in the world and is got in a vein like silver (Yule 1903) the valley of the Kokcha is about 183 meters (200yards) wide where lapis occur. Mineralization takes place on the eastern flank ofthe valley: it cuts north to south through an enormous antic! ine of 3 crystallin~: schist that mak~:s up th~: axis or the llinJu Kush. On~: of the most interesting points at which lapis occur is a stratum of marble that forms the upp~:r s~:ction of the mountain over Iing older gne1ss - 1 .' ..... "~ the entrances to the mines are in the face of the mountain on the right bank of the stream and about 457 meters ( 1.500 feet) above it. The path is steep and dangerous, usually as a result of neglect rather than natural difficulties. The mining area consists of a series of lolly caverns that arc 46 meters ( 150 teet) high in place covereQ by a thick deposit of black soot, giving evidence of the ancient method of extracting the stone. Geology and Topography: 4 The province of Badakhshan, m the mountains northeastern part of J\ fghanistan, has been famous throughout history for its reserves of lapis lazuli. The mines have been intermittently worked for 6,500 years They were described by Marco polo in 1271, but owing to their remoteness and inaccessibility lillie has been known or them to the out side world. Badakhshan is an inhospitable area of bare mountains with altitudes I'Unging between I ,830 and 5, I 80 meters 6.000 and 17,000 feet) and deep ravines. Badakhshan consists mainly of metamorphic and plutonic rocks dissected by v- shaped valleys, which funned most life into narrow trails. The swill-flowing rivers have cut deep canyons and gorges; vegetable is almost nonexistent; consequently, there are few 5 settlements. The blue mountain, as the mountain lapis lazuli has been called, is situated along the right bank of the Kohcha river, which cuts an anticline form north to south with summits reaching 3,500 meters (I I A83 teet) to 5,500 meters ( 18,045 feet) . Folding and faulting of the mountain occurred in cretaceous times with the intrusion of diorite porphyry (Barthoux 1933). The Kokcha arises from the confluence of the Anjuman and Munjan rivers and empties into the Amu Darya, which demarcates the border with Tajikistan (a satellite of the former USSR) to the north. Lapis lazuli is the only important gemstone that is properly classified as a rock rather than a mineral. It is a combination of minerals: Iazurite , calcite, pyrite and to a lesser extant , dropsied, amphibde ,feldspar, mica and other silicates. The formation is not a common geological occurrence, but occur in gray lenses of calcite - dolomite- skarn formed by contact sequence of rocks of Precambrian Age, recrystllization to marble the miraculous marble is more than 400 meters (1312 teet) thick and underlain by gneiss. Since there is no grnite persent today the materials required for the formation must ha':e been deposited with the original I imestone (Emmett 1985). The oldest and mot famous of the lapis lazuli mines are in a strata of black and white limestone 6 several hundred feet above the river. but at 2,743 meters (9000 feet) above sea level in a rigorous climate. The crystalline series that encloses the lapis deposits consists of gneiss. leptinites. and cipolin marble in a heavy layer amphibolites. pyroxentes . and peridotites that resonble a sedimentary formation. The lapis lazuli is found in veins disseminated throughout the layer of cipolin marble. which is several hundred meters thick. The cipolin. which also contains magnesium silicates like disposed. forsterite scapolite and tremdite. intimately associalat with calcite and dolomite rises over gneiss that is thinly layered with garnets and sillimanites and sometimes is shot through with pegmatitic threads of tourmaline. Pyrite is abundant in tine crystallization and minutely mixed in with the lapis. The royal blue of the lapis is Iazurite; the pale blue is called afghanite which belongs to the cam crinite group and was named to honor Afghanistan. T)te color of lapis varies according to the amount ofvarious impurities (wyart. Bariand and Filippi 1972. 1981) Illustrations of lapis nsr and trade: Hadakhshan • over 3220 kilometers (~OOOmiles) l(mn Lgypl. was the source of lapis for the ancient Egyptian and Babylonian (present day Iraq) civilization. as well as the later Greek and !{oman. Other major items of export to the Reman mpin: included 7 rubies, silver and turquoise fi·om Afghanistan. (Dupree 1980). The great distance attested to the value of the stone in ancient Egypt. In fact, no precious stone was more highly prized than lapis lazuli. Worshipers once prayed, like lapis lazuli, may my Ii fe be precious before you, and may my body are puri tied Iike lapis lazuli. Ezavations in Naqada 13300 -3100 B.C) which predate the Egyptian dynasties, have yielded what is apparently the tirst use in Egypt of lapis and other ornamental gemstones in jewelry on the shores of the Nile, statues made of lapis were worshiped as the personifications of gods.