It has the naive unreality of all utopias. Kite flying, music, poetry, the pursuit of beauty, in fact all the things which this city was once famous for are banned as evil temptations and distractions from the study of Islam. Herded together like cattle in Herat's old slaughtering grounds Expressed in a gentle whisper, the governor's narrow logic is uncompromising and chilling. But I'm sitting on a red carpet eating sweet pears in the winter sun. Life could be worse.
Later reality intrudes.
On a street nearby a man is arrested by the religious police for stealing bread. By sunset he will have lost his right hand. And on the outskirts of Herat a scene of panoramic misery unfolds. Forty thousand refugees from starvation huddled at the foot of a mountain - the Mashlak camp. Mashlak means slaughterhouse.