Afghanistan's first amusement park

Published November 21, 2014
Visitors enjoy a bumper car ride at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP
Visitors enjoy a bumper car ride at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP
Sadaf, 6, gets his face painted at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP
Sadaf, 6, gets his face painted at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP
Visitors enjoy a spinning chair ride at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP
Visitors enjoy a spinning chair ride at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP
Visitors enjoy a spinning chair ride at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP
Visitors enjoy a spinning chair ride at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP
Visitors enjoy a flying spinning saucer ride at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP
Visitors enjoy a flying spinning saucer ride at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP
Children enjoy a spinning teacup ride at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP
Children enjoy a spinning teacup ride at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. — AP

Excitement builds in the queue forming behind the barbed-wire security fence outside the park as children in bright clothes clutch their parents' hands and hop from foot to foot in anticipation of the pleasures waiting behind the high concrete blast walls.

For the thousands of families who have visited there since it opened during a national religious holiday weekend in October, it is a rare escape from lives blighted by war, death and misery.

Opinion

Editorial

Not without reform
Updated 22 Apr, 2024

Not without reform

The problem with us is that our ruling elite is still trying to find a way around the tough reforms that will hit their privileges.
Raisi’s visit
22 Apr, 2024

Raisi’s visit

IRANIAN President Ebrahim Raisi, who begins his three-day trip to Pakistan today, will be visiting the country ...
Janus-faced
22 Apr, 2024

Janus-faced

THE US has done it again. While officially insisting it is committed to a peaceful resolution to the...
Elections in India
Updated 21 Apr, 2024

Elections in India

Independent accounts and spot reports are at variance with Modi-friendly TV anchors and they do not see an easy victory for the Indian premier.
IHC letter
21 Apr, 2024

IHC letter

THIS is a historic opportunity for the judiciary to define its institutional boundaries. It must not be squandered....
Olympic preparations
21 Apr, 2024

Olympic preparations

THIS past week marked the beginning of the 100-day countdown to the Paris Olympics, with the symbolic torch-lighting...