One day, the kharbouza will be mightier than the Kalashnikov

6 June 2009

Afghan farmers can prosper by producing the world’s finest melons, pomegranates and grapes, says Elliot Wilson, but first they must be weaned off growing the opium poppy

Modern-day Afghanistan conjures up many fearsome images, from rocket-launchers and retreating Soviet tanks to mujahedin warriors and Taleban zealots. Yet this war-ravaged central Asian state, which has to date repelled every barbarian invader foolish enough to set foot on its dusty red soil, has another, much gentler aspect to its national character. When no one is looking and the men have hung up their Kalashnikovs for the day, many of them attend to their second career: growing melons.

And not just any melons. Afghanistan has been producing the world’s finest kharbouza for at least 4,500 years. Persian emperors cried when they ate them, as did Mughal Shahs. Today, countries across the Middle East and the subcontinent can’t get enough of them. The swankiest Mumbai dinner party just isn’t up to snuff without a fine, sweet, Afghan melon for dessert.

And there’s more than melons in the Afghan fruit basket. Wealthy merchant families in Saudi Arabia will eat Helmand table grapes until they can’t stand up. Kunduz strawberries, tiny and succulent, are also favoured on regional platters, alongside pistachios, paper-shelled almonds and raisins. The country is poised to become a major exporter of pomegranates — fizzing with life-affirming antioxidants — and prime morel mushrooms, literally worth their weight in silver and growing wild by the truckload in the south and west of the country.

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