She was quite an operator, and once got a Dutch tank batallion to send three tanks rumbling down her street to threaten a neighboring Taliban type who had been harassing her and her students: no more problems after that. Interesting book.
Posted on 07/06/2007 7:59:39 PM PDT by Coleus
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Drive around this capital known for its modesty, and the massive homemade billboards of a shirtless Arnold Schwarzenegger are impossible to miss. Ditto for the waxed chests of young Afghan men sweating inside makeshift gyms. Six years ago, the simple act of flying a kite here was illegal and the soccer stadium was an execution venue. Today, the seeds of democracy are turning up in some funny places -- places that seem oblivious to a reconstruction hamstrung by official corruption and a resurgent Taliban. Welcome to Gold's Gym, Kabul style, where Afghans are getting pumped. "Bodybuilding is fashion today," said Yasar Ahmedzai, 20, a local journalist and recent devotee. "Life is so much better when you look strong and are in good shape." While there are more than 100 gyms in the city, none is as famous as Gold's Gym, Kabul's first. Ask for directions and everyone -- from traffic cops to fruit merchants -- knows the place. Meet its big-hearted founder, Bawar Khan Hotak, and it's easy to understand why.
At 6-foot-5, 290 pounds, with a superhero's jaw-line, hands like sledgehammers and shoulders as wide as a doorway, he is the face of Afghan bodybuilding. Hotak, a former wrestler, said he began lifting during the darkest days of the Taliban reign. In 2000, he entered and won Kabul's first bodybuilding championship. (Strict rules meant competitors had to abide by a "no shorts, only trousers" policy, he said, although they were permitted the indiscretion of taking their shirts off.) To the ire of the ultra-fundamentalist regime, he was a crowd favorite. Revved-up audience members threw money onstage -- a traditional gesture of approval that earned him two months behind bars "'for making people happy," as he put it with a wide grin. Prison didn't sap his resolve.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Why this turn going turn into Han and Franz reset from SNL back in the 1980s
So is this a real Gold’s Gym franchise, or has Hotak just appropriated the name? Either way, it’s kind of touching, that an American name would have such cachet in Kabul among the buff wannabees. And a probable Jewish name at that.
Mrs VS
There he is my future governor of my state BTW MONK you got give props to ARNOLD for having great sense of humor to appear on SNL like that LOL!
Photos here. They even have prayer rugs on the machines!
Whatever promotes liberty. Spas & gyms for women might make these guys even happier at home.
I just got in the que at my library for it. Thanks.
John Edwards could teach the ladies of Kabul about beauty, too, if he gets elected President.
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