Cook, John b. August 28, 1843 d. December 19, 1879 2nd Anglo-Afghan War Victoria Cross Recipient. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he served as a Captain in the Bengal Staff Corps and 5th Gurkha Rifles, British Indian Army. On the dawn of December 2, 1878, at Peiwar Kotal, as the Afghans fled their positions, Captain Cook with a few men charged and killed a large number of enemy who were trying to rescue one of their guns. During this operation he saved the life of another officer by wrestling to the ground an Afghan about to shoot him with himself...[Read More] (Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith) Sherpur Cantonment Cemetery, Shirpur, Kabul, Afghanistan
Dundas, James b. September 12, 1842 d. December 23, 1879 British Victoria Cross War Medal Recipient. Dundas served as a Captain, Bengal Engineers, Indian Army. He was awarded his medal for service at Bhootan, India, on April 2, 1867. (Bio by: K) Sean Sang Cemetery, Shirpur, Kabul, Afghanistan
Emperor Shah Babur b. 1483 d. 1530 1st Mughal Emperor. The Mughal Dynasty is a line of Muslim emperors who reigned in India from 1526-1858 and became a repository for all the wealth and talent of the most extensive empire in the medieval world. Babur was a descendant of the Turkish conqueror Timur on his father's side and of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan on his mother's side. At seventeen, he was already the ruler of a small Kingdom which after being attacked was forced to flee to the southern mountains in Afghanistan...[Read More] (Bio by: Donald Greyfield) Babur Gardens, Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan Plot: Hillside Terrace
Marjan the Lion b. 1976 d. January 25, 2002 Famous lion. Around 1978, the Kabul Zoo recieved as a gift from the Cologne Zoo in Germany a young lion, only two. The zoo workers named him "Marjan" which means "Coral" or "Precious Stone" in Pashtun. It was not long afterwards, in 1979, that the Soviet Army invaded, attempting to grab Afghanistan as yet another spot for use in the Cold War. Over the course of the war, the Kabul Zoo was largely spared of the ravages. But after the Russians left, civil war erupted between rival political and...[Read More] (Bio by: Mongoose) Kabul Zoo Grounds, Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan
Qadir, Haji Addul d. July 6, 2002 Former head of the Northern Alliance, an Afghanistan rebel group. After the fall of the Taliban, he was elected one of three Afghan Vice Presidents. On July 6, 2002, he and his son in law were assassinated when unknown gunmen opened fire on his car. He was the brother of Abdul Haq, another Northern Alliance leader who was murdered by the Taliban. (Bio by: Erik Lander) Amir Shaheed Gardens, Jalalabad, Jowzjan, Afghanistan
Shah, Mohammad Zahir b. October 15, 1914 d. July 22, 2007 Afghan Royalty. He was the last King of Afghanistan, reigning for four decades. Ascending to the throne in 1933, after his father was assassinated, his reign was one of the most tranquil periods in Afghanistan's history. He supported the traditional change issues put forth by the women, used foreign cash to develop the country's medieval infrastructure and kept a balance of peace with rival Soviet and Western cultures. In 1973, Zahir Shah was deposed in a coup by his cousin and brother-in-law...[Read More] (Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith) Mariana Hill, Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan
b. August 28, 1843 d. December 19, 1879