Programmes - 6:30 Report

The Darul-aman Palace was built during Amanullah Khan's kingdom with western standards in the west part of the capital, Kabul.

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The palace has witnessed different types of crimes and violence and finally turned into a complete dilapidated building.

After ten years, the current regime has decided to reconstruct the historical palaces such as (Darul-aman, Chelsotoon and Tajbaik) palaces while the Darul-aman palace has the priority. At the first stage, all the palace assets are given to the Kabul Municipality and in the next stages, the reconstruction affairs will begin. According to the Kabul Municipality if the donors don't provide funds for the reconstruction of the palace, it will start the work using its own budget.

But the question is whether or not the Kabul Municipality is able to reconstruct the palace base on original standards?

On the other hand, the palace is a symbol of decades of war, violence and crime in the capital. Will the rehabilitation of the palace cover all these crimes?

Tough Work

The Darul-aman palace has suffered a lot of damages during inter-factional fightings in Kabul and its reconstruction is tough a tough work and needs patience. Its reconstruction is estimated to take four to five years and will cost millions of dollars. On the other hand the reconstruction of the palace needs architecture familiar with the same era of architecture that it was built, that's why its process is not expected to be started very soon. Currently, the officials are trying to make a plan for its rehabilitation.

According to the Kabul Municipality, they haven't received the plan yet.

A scene of Crime

Who really destroyed the palace?

Its tough time begun since the start of Shahnawaz Tanai coup in 1367 (Afghan Calendar). The inter-factional conflicts during the 70s turned the palace into a complete mess. During these years of war the palace had been the front line of the fighting between difference factions and it witnessed different crimes and violence, there are still visible signs of those crimes on the ground.

One of the residents of Dehdana area of Kabul, in the east of the palace said: "During the Mujaheddin regime and inter-factional fightings everybody was targeting the palace. One was hitting with bombs and the other was shelling.

Another resident of Dehdana recounted his experience and said: "Different parties such as Hezbe Islami, Shurai Nezar, Jamiyat and Junbish was in the area, every one of them were fighting, they were shelling the area. People were escaping and carrying their properties on foot."

I went towards the west to Dar-ul-Aman, I saw many visible signs of war in different areas. There were some graves near a wall. When I asked the residents they said the graves belong to the victims of inter-factional fighting. There are also said to be mass graves in different parts of the area.

An eyewitness recounted his experience saying: "When the war started, this area was destroyed completely and thousands of people were killed and injured. These graves belong to the victims of that war. According to him, mostly Harakat and Wahdat factions were fighting here.

Another resident talked about the chaos and said: "There was no government at that time, the parties were the rulers of the areas they controlled."