Afghanistan, 1980's; clothing, towns and minor details
1980's Afghanistan: clothing and town names
So, I've got a story that's set in 1980's Afghanistan - the rural, mountain areas. While the Taliban is a heavy presence in the story, and the current military/political situation is discussed, it's not the focus. I have questions mostly about clothing and a few random ones.
My POV characters are a Lebanese spy, working as a travelling tinker in the rural mountain areas and an 'American' alien hunter, introduced while being a prisoner of a small group of Taliban.
On to the questions:
What would a woman wear in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan in Taliban held/influenced territory? I'm assuming a chadri (blue?). Is there any significance to colors of chadri, what might the frequent colors of it be, for daily wear? Is chadri the right term for the area? That's what I got from my googlin'. Are sandals/bare feet acceptable (assuming rural and poor)? Young girls do not wear full veil do they?
What do men wear? In particular, any sort of headgear? My 'spy' is currently wearing a second-hand Russian military jacket, what would he wear on his head (his is both Muslim and pretending to be Muslim). I'm also assuming that an adult male would be bearded.
I'm assuming that alcohol is totally banned in the area, what about cigarettes? Tea? Coffee?
Finally: This is set in the modern day but I'm mostly trying to avoid direct reference to actual living people who might be in the area, due to the touchy nature of anything to do with the Taliban, Afghanistan, the war etc. I need names for small, rural towns in the mountainous areas. I found a list of city's towns on the 'net but I'm looking for a way to either make sure my town name is so common it can't be pinned to a particular place, or can be written in a variant spelling so it's not 'really' a real place. The current town name I've got is: Maḥmūd-e Rāqī .
Is there some way to 'generic' that, or is it already generic enough? I can't read Arabic so I have no idea what it actually says/means in English.
Any little anecdotal details people might like to share about common foods, etc would be great to!
So, I've got a story that's set in 1980's Afghanistan - the rural, mountain areas. While the Taliban is a heavy presence in the story, and the current military/political situation is discussed, it's not the focus. I have questions mostly about clothing and a few random ones.
My POV characters are a Lebanese spy, working as a travelling tinker in the rural mountain areas and an 'American' alien hunter, introduced while being a prisoner of a small group of Taliban.
On to the questions:
What would a woman wear in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan in Taliban held/influenced territory? I'm assuming a chadri (blue?). Is there any significance to colors of chadri, what might the frequent colors of it be, for daily wear? Is chadri the right term for the area? That's what I got from my googlin'. Are sandals/bare feet acceptable (assuming rural and poor)? Young girls do not wear full veil do they?
What do men wear? In particular, any sort of headgear? My 'spy' is currently wearing a second-hand Russian military jacket, what would he wear on his head (his is both Muslim and pretending to be Muslim). I'm also assuming that an adult male would be bearded.
I'm assuming that alcohol is totally banned in the area, what about cigarettes? Tea? Coffee?
Finally: This is set in the modern day but I'm mostly trying to avoid direct reference to actual living people who might be in the area, due to the touchy nature of anything to do with the Taliban, Afghanistan, the war etc. I need names for small, rural towns in the mountainous areas. I found a list of city's towns on the 'net but I'm looking for a way to either make sure my town name is so common it can't be pinned to a particular place, or can be written in a variant spelling so it's not 'really' a real place. The current town name I've got is: Maḥmūd-e Rāqī .
Is there some way to 'generic' that, or is it already generic enough? I can't read Arabic so I have no idea what it actually says/means in English.
Any little anecdotal details people might like to share about common foods, etc would be great to!