Group task: Kite Fighting and Kite Running

Afghan kite fighting often depends on the quality of the wire, or string, and how it is prepared. First, glass is finely ground and combined with an adhesive to make a thick paste. The wire is then coated with this paste to make it strong and sharp. After drying, the wire is wound around the spool. Kite fighters often wrap a piece of leather around their fingers to protect themselves from the sharp wire, which can easily cut to the bone.
Fighter kites are, as the name suggests, the kites used for the sport of kite fighting. There are many types of fighter kites which are usually named after the geographical area where they are created: Afghan Fighter Kite, Pakistani Fighter Kite, Indian Fighter Kite, etc. Most of these kites are single line flat kites that are unstable while there is little tension on the sail of the kite. Releasing line will cause the kite to spin and pulling in the line will cause the kite to deform into a shape that allows it to track in a straight path. To control the kite, the fliers have to release line until the nose of the kite is pointed in the direction that the flier wants it to go, and then they will pull in line to make the kite track to the desired point in the air.
Fighter kites are made of either extremely fragile tissue paper, or heavier more durable mylar fabric. They come in many colours, shapes, and sizes and cost from 2,000 Afghanis (just a few cents) to 100,000 Afghanis (around 2 dollars, but I imagine it’s quite a bit of money for Afghanis). Kite flyers stand on tops of buildings, fighting with kites from all over the city. The purpose is to strike down the kite of your opponent with the string of your kite. After an opponent’s kite is set free, it flutters away into the wind and that is when the kite runner steps up for action.

Kite running is the practice of running after drifting kites in the sky that have been cut loose in kite fighting. Kites are flown and fought in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and surrounding regions. The manja (string used to fly these kites) is coated with powdered glass. Kite flyers entangle the manja of their flying kites with each other and try to cut the string of the other by the pull or release method. The winner's kite remains flying while the loser's kite string is cut loose, drifting free with the wind until it falls to the ground. Kite running is the practice of running after these cut kites to try and capture them when they come down; typically the custom is that the person who captures a cut kite can keep it. Running after and capturing these kites is often quite difficult, especially when they are taken long distances with the wind or fall on tree tops or electric poles. In cities and towns, the bigger and more expensive looking the kite, the more people can usually be seen running after it to try and capture it as their free prize.
Several kite runners die each year gazing up and running after kites, being so fixated on the drifting kites in the sky that they run into the path of oncoming traffic and trains or fall from trees and buildings which they were trying to scale to get the kite that landed on it.
In order to have a kit fight, 2 kites have to be simultaneously airborne at a close proximity. As soon as the wires of these two kites make contact with each other, it means the fight has begun. Kite fights can last from a split second up to several hours. It all depends essentially on the wind, the difference in the quality of both kites and, of course, the kite fighter’s skill.
Most neighborhoods have their own Sharti (kite fighting champion, escalated to neighborhood representative). The Sharti title is given to the kite fighter with the less lost kite fights in the neighborhood. They are usually quite experienced and skillfull but, occasionally, even they lose, and this is generally a very big deal to the neighborhood (whose honor is at stake during the kite fight).
From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban government in Afghanistan outlawed kite fighting and kite flying by declaring it "un-Islamic". After the fall of the Taliban government, kite fighting has returned to the country with vigor. Nevertheless, bird lovers have declared all cutting line to be "deadly" and protest regularly against the sport. The truth is that thousands of birds get slashed, wounded and killed every year in most Afghan cities. But Manja (the glass powder coated string I mentioned earlier) is also very dangerous to human beings. Several people die every year because they get their necks cut by the manja, especially when in two wheelers like bicycles or motorbikes.
Under Taliban rule, whoever was caught with a kite would be beaten repetitively and the kite would be destroyed. However, since the fall of the Taliban regime, kite flying has again resurfaced and is much more than a hobby in Afghanistan, it’s an obsession that is shared throughout the entire country.