Afghaniustan's Search for Peace 'Bird Fight'

Seamus Murphy

Newsweek/NY Times Magazine

The Afghan people live their lives as they always have done through their history , at once both the victims and ultimate survivors of their own fate. Bird owners , spectators and gamblers congregate in a backyard arena in Kabul's Old City early on Friday mornings to enjoy the non-blood sport of duelling Bodahna's, a bird of desert origin. The birds peck at each other without ever drawing blood.The winner will be the owner whose opponent submits and avoids needless damage to his precious and expensive bird. This is never a fight to the death. Like any pastime that involved domesticated animals, it was banned under Taliban rule. November 2004

Seamus Murphy, "Afghaniustan's Search for Peace 'Bird Fight'," in POYi Archive, Item #35625, http://archive.poy.org/items/show/35625 (accessed April 28, 2024).