This year, Ashura falls on the fifth day of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the peak the blue-domed sanctum sits on is desolate.
What used to be an ocean of individuals strolling from the patio to the sanctum is currently two or three hundred strays.
The roads prompting the place of worship, including from Kabul University, used to be closed to traffic as masses of individuals holding standards perusing: “Ya Hussein” advanced up the slope and into the altar.
Sayed Yusuf, a senior from the local area, says he and different older folks have been consoled by the Taliban that nothing would occur and that nobody should fear going to the sanctum this year.
“They disclosed to us that on the off chance that anybody disturbs or bugs us to advise them,” he said remaining close to a security check that in years past would be amassed with individuals holding back to be searched under the watchful eye of entering the actual yard.
At 9 am on Thursday (4:30 GMT), it was unfilled. With no one arranging to enter, the young people leading the security checks were passed on to play with their cell phones.
Out and about paving the way to the hallowed place, another adolescent checks vehicles and hands them receipts for leaving close to the passage entryways.
