Afghans race against time to arrange Haj pilgrimage

By Andrew Marshall

Monday February 11, 7:46 PM

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Kandahar's supreme court was a place of nightmares under the Taliban. Now it has been taken over by a team of Afghans struggling with meagre resources to realise dreams.

Squatting on the floor and armed only with an ancient telephone, Wali Mohammed is co-ordinating the task of helping thousands of ethnic Pashtuns make the journey each yearns to complete at least once -- the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

His team have made their headquarters in the building constructed by Taliban prisoners where the fundamentalist movement's clerics drew up the severe punishments and edicts that governed the lives -- and deaths -- of the Afghan people.

The passports of 5,214 pilgrims from across southern Afghanistan have been sent to Kabul for approval. Each pilgrim has been issued with a numbered identity card, complete with passport photograph, ahead of the trip.

A group of 50 Haj veterans will guide the pilgrims -- many of whom have never left their Pashtun homeland before -- when they get to Mecca.

Camps in Saudi Arabia have been arranged. And in a deal with a Kandahar bath-house, each pilgrim has been issued with a voucher to allow them to ritually wash before their journey.

But with only days left before the pilgrims have to depart, the most essential element of the plan is not yet in place.

Nobody knows when -- or if -- the planes to take them to Mecca will arrive. It is not even clear if the U.S. forces based at Kandahar airport will allow it to be used.

PRAYING FOR PLANES

"We have sent passports to Kabul. We have registered the pilgrims. We have arranged bathing in Kandahar, so the pilgrims will not have to trouble the Americans by washing there," Wali told Reuters.

"Now we are waiting for an answer from the Kabul government. And for the planes."

Afghanistan's Ariana airline has only one plane. Wali has been told that some Greek aircraft have been leased, but he has no idea how many, or the number of pilgrims each plane can hold.

The pilgrims, who have deposited $1,750 each at Wali's office, have returned to their villages in the drought-stricken plains of southern Afghanistan.

As soon as word comes on the aircraft, radio announcements will summon groups of pilgrims to Kandahar to start the journey.

At least that's the plan.

"We have done our job here," Wali said. "Now we wait."

Chewing on a stick and spitting into a metal spittoon, Abdul Hakim is one of the Haj guides.

"I have been on the Haj more than 20 times," Hakim said. "I speak the language there. I know how to arrange things, what to do if somebody gets lost or dies."

Through the years of war that have gripped the country, one constant element in the lives of Afghans has been the effort to travel to Mecca. Despite grinding poverty, there is never a shortage of applicants.

"It is a requirement of our faith," Wali said. "People will save money for years, or sell some of their land, to make the journey. If they can find the money they will go."

Plans have been put in place each year to send pilgrims to Mecca despite Soviet occupation, civil war and Washington's war against the Taliban and al Qaeda, the network led by Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the September 11 suicide attacks.

Wali says he is hopeful the journey will go ahead this year.

"There has been no proper co-ordination with Kabul. Everything is uncertain," he said. "But God willing we will go."