A side of afghanistan and up the wider world has to go a peaceful and fascinating afghanistan boasting unique natural monuments and the legacy of a civilization dating back over a thousand years and then there are the people who live and love this and that illuminating stories. This ancient melody is set to exude the scent of apple blossoms and the musicians and the conductor actually do blossom as they perform in the capital kabul eighteen year old megan feels far removed from all the current problems when she swings her back. When i conduct a student i really its feel like crying that im conducting here and its easy even if i do it if i work hard on. Nagin has a competition nature which was vital in asserting yourself against the reservations of a clan the northeastern afghanistan a region where the taliban still have considerable influence. After the orchestral rehearsal negin practices various percussion instruments. She had wanted to become a pianist but an injury forced her to consider other options its a minor challenge after everything shes been through. This if you are going to music school or you are conducting or you are so doing some interviews so you will kill you like this they told me but didi cant they just tour like this so they scare me and yet my life is in danger more than two hundred students are enlisted the National Institute of music a quarter of them women they have access to the best music teachers in the country as well as to some from abroad. Like robin who until recently was playing the cello in a rock band and disregarded the worries and warnings of a family in the united states. When i was here a couple. Months ago there were there were some horrible attacks and i think theres a hunger here theres a passion and its to learn music to to try and also express find ways to express oneself the founder and director of the institute almost died in an attack himself he was badly injured hardly a day goes by without Death Threats targeting him and just charges he continues regardless this nation is not cleared to give up once again and to allow anyone to return to mean of history back or i need also given gap and running away from afghanistan just for my own life. Its lunchtime everything seems relaxed here in the heart of kabul where terrorist attacks have become part of everyday life the director hopes that young women like nagin can link the country to a Better Future she defends instead new generation of afghanistan that in spite of all the challenges and all the. Hachi day and to fight for their rights. Many of the female students live near the institute their home is called an orphanage not because their parents are dead but because in the eyes of their parents the children are dead having been led astray. Good luck and whom are often think of their homes they come from the same region as nagin their role model. And again im like yeah id like to go back to my village and teach the girls music their. Mom autism but thats impossible now because the taliban is very active in our region. And all. The young women here are resolute they dont want to turn their backs on afghanistan they want to help build the country the International Coverage of their school is a nice bonus they regularly watch this recording of a concert they gave in washington d. C. Three years ago in front of an illustrious audience in the middle of the orchestra is nicky at the time playing an afghan string instrument. In kabul shes never completely free from fear especially not when shes on her way home until recently she lived in the orphanage too but for a few months now shes been living on the outskirts of town shes finally reunited with her family who she hadnt seen for years because they have to fear for their lives in their home province now theyve moved to kabul to join her her eight siblings and a mother and her father who works as a bodyguard and knows what danger his daughter is in every day every time im thinking like this because life is not safe that much here because the government they door didnt do anything for us and she become now the first lady in afghanistan conduct telling shes kind doctoring. Partly due to his own efforts as well when again was determined to attend a school eight years ago he let her go to kabul and didnt interfere when she discovered her passion for music i didnt go to my that i pass the exam and when i pass the exam then i talk to my father and my father says its ok and its your life and do it if you like it but my mother said that its not good for a girl. The mother doesnt want to be filmed but negin says shes also a little proud now of the eldest child whos showing the whole world what afghan women can do once theyre given the freedom to realize their potential. That. This is the new sound of afghanistan and the new look so some feel this is the pioneer female rap in the country and. The studio where shes recording a new album is located in this street its an income spic us and glam a last place susan cuts a colorful figure in more ways than one instead of a book because shes wearing a hat with a face on covered not subtracted attention and has like a music let to a serious of threats she was told shed be kidnapped so that face could be disfigured with acid i didnt you know having to choose on that i never feel safe on the streets of course i could wear a burka and then move about more freely my relatives think what im doing is really terrible. Only my parents and my siblings stand by me. She grew up in a refugee camp in iran with family. After the taliban was toppled she returned to afghanistan and initially worked as a cop at maker than five years ago she discovered rap music do you know. What im plenty i still cant make a living with my music sometimes i think about leaving afghanistan on the other hand i like the people i want to improve conditions here. By speaking her mind and rap lyrics which are franken critical of society. Point of fact that there are differences to western rap im not allowed to use bad language for you but i am allowed to rap honestly about the things that move me and i do that very very clearly that has exactly talk about an obsession mission to just send her the medea and then anything. More. Like that. I dont want. So soon wraps in the local language dari she wraps about corruption about the oppression of women and the terrible security situation she hopes she can change things for the better and how to ensure that one day she can go to the Recording Studio without fear. Theres music in the air here to the final of the biggest t. V. Show in the country millions cant wait to find out who will become this years afghan star the two contestants left in the competition for the two previously unfancied outsiders so yet as a hairdresser hes wrapped himself into the hearts of the audience and the judges with ace no nonsense lyrics and their sixteen year old salada who had until recently never sung in front of an audience in the end the hairdresser triumphs. The way he was rapping was all the problems of the society so he was talking the language of every afghan thats living in this country so thats why he came up. This prize a moped and a short trip to kazakhstan and away from afghanistan at least for a week. Sayed to his from the northern afghan city of Mazar E Sharif where the taliban recently committed a terrible atrocity the disastrous security situation is one of the many problems yet raps about. I still dont want to leave afghanistan forever my friends are here and this is where my purpose lies i want to capture the pain of the Afghan People in my lyrics that is a record in the thick of that death and he doesnt mince his words im angry because the government doesnt do anything for ordinary people instead of looking after the poor theyre fighting for power at the top but the person who pays the most becomes a minister that while the country is going down the pan yet is happy about his victory even though he things should have won but it is you can. Be sure she has such an. Lovely personality and she comes from such a dangerous region much about chicago courage i learned should have earned her the victory. Even so never before had a woman made it this far in this show to lolla a young woman singing and in public for many a blatant provocation. And security as the shows producer knows all too well last truck in a kabul thursday lives in danger to last year the taliban attacked his station killing seven stop at least twenty people were also also has to expect the worst if i say right now no theres no rest for i would be lying because. Going back to tell about going sinking in if you go to city of jalalabad you dont see much money. And so being a singer performing on a stage performing on a big stage like star is is not out of danger. This might be the most secure campus on earth the students are literally walled in not just once but three times thats the number of barriers in closing the American University of afghanistan there are also numerous security checks the university is filled not just with students but also security personnel there largely from india not afghanistan to be sure that no taliban member has infiltrated the squad after one terrorist attack the university was closed for more than six months the College President is adamant Something Like that will never happen again. We of course have to increase our security massively but we did that and we were very worried that many students would come back in fact many students came back many more new students came and over the last three or four weeks this university has become a bright beacon of hope but for all of afghanistan. Almost eight hundred students are enrolled here many of them can still remember the attack which claimed the lives of sixteen people. When attack ive been doing the second floor of the building which was attacked and then the attackers eventually made their way up to the class that we were hiding so we had to actually sketch through the window because obviously the hallways and. Work for the patrol actually but about what about for the better man. So we had just go through that when he said i want to go on as the violent extremists as the high proportion of female students at the University Almost fifty percent. It left me so hard for for months because i lost some of my great friends in the attack but every came back because we wanted to tell the insurgents that no matter how many times you attack or how much you want to scare us we are going to come back because its occasion is the only path that will fight them that will break them and make them weaker the mood on campus is favorable to the west although not everyone here is a fan of the incumbent u. S. President. I like president i like no i dont like him i dont like President Trump but because i dont really know what his strategy towards afghanistan is i dont know what what that means but i have heard his comments about women grabbing woman and liked or talking about women in a disrespectful manner and thats something that i dont think is right for a president or a person in n. P. After class some students stay on campus those who live indoors but most of them have to leave the protection of the security perimeter and go back to the city hoping that theyll be able to return to law if and well the following day. Many of the really exciting places in a couple right now why didnt the way the countrys most important op museum the National Gallery is located right on a main road but its been closed for renovation for some time now the museums back yard however is home to a Fascinating Development it used to be filled with rubbish now it is the garden of peace and hope an event venue especially for Young Artists in the usaf. For the for the soldiers what. We are looking for the young generation or for unity the young people who are talented they have a career to vittie or they are escaping they have skills in the arts and we find it to do so our end remote area where the forest area and then i find them and bring them here and i. Invite some expert in art and i take exhibitions the next exhibitions about to begin a new the young curator is receiving support from three artists theyre going over final preparations for the exhibition of as at a one on one especially the situation of women in kabul has massively improved in recent times in the past they werent even allowed to go to work they couldnt leave the house but thats becoming more normal now im optimistic. That will make the room i think my goal is to become really good in the next five years and win an International Award taking pictures is my passion and i want to make the most of it. You know theyre there. For the artists arrive almost one hundred in total they all want to experience the opening of the exhibition and then they have to wait because the deputy minister of culture has heard that were here so she wants to give a speech. On the game. And. Then finally everyones allowed into the garden and admired the works on display theyre not for sale today but the artists are content with the recognition that gets and the feeling of having an impact like the painter of this picture. I want to express the pain of all afghans particularly that as the women whove been suffering for so long from oppression some of course im criticised for this not least by the less well educated they are ask why im doing this and why im criticizing our country they dont realize that by doing this im raising understanding for our country around the world are making a mess as im sad as i was and. Theres no abstract model not to the paintings are either purely decorative or theyre striking in an easily accessible way. The garden is funded by donations from other countries it has a budget to offer around one hundred euros a month through. The garden of peace and hope is private and im im responsible for discarding my responsibility is that what i have. To do i do and for there gallery i dont know its from government and he said its two years and the door off this gallery is closed and i dont know why its not going to be open but here im responsible that i have to take exhibition i take if a patient every month a short while later the visitors are gone and the garden is empty again ready for the next exhibition. Those who like a bullet from its quiet relaxing side head just out of the city to the biggest natural attraction in the region. Laycock although its a manmade reservoir that doesnt bother the thousands of daily visitors. They can hire a boat for just a few signs are enjoyed the various attractions on line. Theres also a range of small restaurants with new ones opening all the time this one is still under construction its name translates as clean fast food. The owner. Spent almost twenty years in germany in a place near frankfurt his wife and children still live there but ten years ago he chose to return to afghanistan. Would unleash what windows than when i was in germany you know whether it really bothered me and when its coming now go sundin when i returned to afghanistan i felt better. In desperation. I have a lot of night and oxygen at work every day thanks to the garden and working with fresh airs own stuff. Hes not scared of attacks security has been tightened dramatically since a murderous attack by the taliban five years ago. This church here is securities very good here while. The artists the. Police the police are over there the police yes. There are checkpoints everywhere. I know that for control does our welcome to this is the best and friendly spot in afghanistan or in goods is this. In. C. S. And things do remain calm in and around kabul today there are no reports of attacks if it were always this way more foreign visitors would perhaps come and experience the relaxing atmosphere of lake aga. Here at the northwest afghanistan a wedding is about to take place and not a conventional one there are the obligatory security checks at the entrance ops theres in the gallery above the hole sixteen couples are waiting to be true they will look into each others eyes for the first time only after the ceremony custom demands that the bride hides a face until the end of the wedding the seating arrangement is very strict the men sit on the left and the women on the right theyre largely from poor backgrounds and almost the loss of the knowledge that is in my family has no money. And you know that my income is just enough for the bare minimum. Thats why im grateful i can get married today. To see the novel and. Im happy my mother is here along with my sister my aunt and two other relatives. Well enough one and. Theres one cake for all the wedding guests donated like the cost of the entire event by Business People from the surrounding area. These women are responsible for the organization they chose the couples depending on their level of need. But the full version weve been engaged for six years i responded to a transfer id add and applied for the wedding for the two of us for that one of the staircase thanks be to allah we were picked was all over there hello. The master of ceremonies hats the parade of couples carrying the quran the procession looks like a t. V. Event and indeed a local broadcast is transmitting the ceremony life the couples have dressed up in their final refold the ok sion ball wrote finery. Almost at the same time a few streets away theres a regular wedding in one of the citys huge wedding holes the catering alone costs twenty thousand euros the average wage is less than two thousand euros in afghanistan as a result many afghans take on a huge debt when they get married. In western countries couple spend a lot of money in nightclubs before the wedding here in afghanistan the wedding is the one big celebration so its fine if it costs a little bit more. To after the meal comes to party the men dance among themselves. The women celebrate next door where cameras are forbidden. The countrys fourth biggest city still maintains traditions although the taliban has no presence here there are strict family customs in place. Many women are forced to get married they strike complains she says the opulent wedding facade mosques the awful reality of marital life. Just one percent of all marriages here are based on love that only happens in very liberal families and if a wife is abused by her husband she cant get a divorce her parents tell her to stop making such a fuss. If. For some this marital how and in hospital every month sees the mission of young women whove tried to kill themselves some just after their wedding doctors talk about a literal epidemic of self burning women who pour petrol over their heads and set themselves a lot if they survive these incidents are called accidents. Hope its often very young girls who were forced to marry by their parents often to very much older men who treat them. Guess