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The British Cemetery Kabul: White Cemetry

Decent Essays

I. Introduction:
The British Cemetery Kabul, also known as the White Cemetery, was established in 1879 as a burial site for the dead of the second Anglo-Afghan war. It replaced an earlier graveyard for the first Anglo-Afghan war and bears some graves dating back to that 1842 defeat. Now, the cemetery is under the authority of the British Embassy in Kabul.
It was one of the most interesting grave yards I had ever seen. Its oldest residents are the British soldiers from the Anglo-Afghan wars like 29 members of south Hampshire Regiment, buried in a mass grave after failed attempt to climb a hill south of Kabul on the 13th December 1870. The cemetery’s graves tell the story of Kabul’s diverse expatriate communities. Many notable British people have been laid to rest here explorers, soldiers, engineers, journalists, missionaries, aid workers, and soldiers. Each different vocation is testament to the rich history of the city and country. More recently aid workers and NATO soldiers have been commemorated here. British officials come to the cemetery each year to observe Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day, and large black memorial stones have been erected in honor of the British servicemen killed since 2001. Other memorials dedicated to other NATO member countries have also been put up. When the British arrived in Afghanistan in late 2001, they found the cemetery damaged from years of perpetual warfare and many of its graves plundered for their metal. The soldiers took it upon

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