My newest addiction: 'Afghan Star'
My favorite contestant is the old guy in this audition tape from Mazar-e-Sharif:
It's like "American Idol," but scours for contestants in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar, etc. There's even an Afghan Ryan Seacrest (who's actually a medical student) and a woman on the judging panel a la Paula Abdul. It's in its third season, and this year a woman from Kandahar placed third, the highest ever for a woman, drawing lots of fans and pissing off conservative clerics. And I can't help but notice that, sans beards, there are some hot guys in Afghanistan...