In Afghanistan, Pale Ghosts

Three centuries or so before Christ, Alexander the Great, as many recall, hacked his way across Asia with a Macedonian army. Many of these soldiers were said to have settled in conquered lands, thousands of miles from their native Macedonia. One such city purportedly founded by Alexander was the city of Alexander-on-the-Oxus. In the way most dictators like to have stern photos of themselves posted across their countries, conquerors tend to name cities after themselves. Today the area is known as Ai Khanoum, in the extreme northeast of Afghanistan. This was Northern Alliance territory, actually on the front lines during the recent war with the Taliban. General Massoud of the Northern Alliance controlled the area until the new government took over in Kabul . . . and a lot now is supposed to have changed. The general was optimistic about the enormous potential for tourism in Afghanistan, even offering tanks to transport foreign visitors. Other travel options include sharing a truck with dysenteric goats. Ai Khanoum is near the border of Tajikistan, another country with tremendous tourist potential. Usually, only armies get to see these spots.

When Alexander and his Macedonians came through, some of his soldiers tired of the strife and allegedly settled in their newly minted city: Alexander-on-the-Oxus, bounded by both the Oxus and Kokcha. rivers, A recent account by Matthew Leeming in the July 6 Spectator describes blond children in the area reminding him of "Victorian street urchins." He viewed Hellenistic ruins and caught a whiff of the illicit trade in ancient artifacts, the criminal element giving the site a degree of credibility. Locals still designate the fair natives as the "descendants of Iskander’s soldiers." In the 13th century, Mr. Leeming notes, Marco Polo was told the same thing. DNA testing is planned to settle the matter.

So there may be remnants of other would-be Afghan conquerors still palely evident despite huge swaths of time. American soldiers should be gone from Afghanistan at a similar distance of history and tourism may then be more robust.

James Clark

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(c) 2002 Millennium Relief & Development Services, vol. 2 no. 28
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