Park in Kabul, Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a landlocked country located in Central Asia. The country is bordered by Pakistan to the south and east, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan to the north, and China to the far northeast. Afghanistan has a population of about 32 million people, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. The capital and largest city is Kabul. Afghanistan is a unitary presidential Islamic republic with a population of 32 million. Islam is the official religion of Afghanistan, and 98% of Afghans are Muslims. The novel "The Kite Runner" by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini is set in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation and civil war of the 1980s and early 1990s. Since then, Afghanistan has been involved in a number of wars, most notably the War in Afghanistan (2001-present). In October 2001, U.S. forces began bombing Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom after the September 11th attacks. In December 2001, a multinational force led by the United States overthrew the Taliban government. Despite significant international assistance and progress toward rebuilding Afghanistan's infrastructure and economy, insecurity remains widespread throughout much of the country.

A park is a conflicted space. It is a place where people can come to feel close to nature, to breathe in the fresh air and to appreciate the quiet beauty of the natural world. And yet, it is also a place where people come to picnic and to play, to laugh and to yell. The sounds of children at play can sometimes seem like an intrusion, a reminder that this is not truly wilderness but rather a manmade space. And yet, without these sounds, the park would lose some of its charm. It would be a place of stillness and solitude, rather than a place of life and vitality. In the end, the park is what we make of it. It is a reflection of our desire to find balance between our need for connection with nature and our need for connection with each other.