KABUL: His country might be at war, but Afghan gameshow host Rahim Mirzad reckons his daily helping of fun and laughs is just the relief his audience needs -- and the chance to become a millionaire doesn't hurt. Mirzad presents the “Treasure” -- “Ganjina” in Afghanistan's Dari language -- gameshow, where prize money of up to one million afghanis ($21,000) is on offer, a fortune in one of the world's poorest countries. “In Afghanistan after 30 years of war, we had no gameshows, no big television programmes like this. This is fun,” said Mirzad, a former journalist. “When they see how emotional people are and how they react, it lets them forget everything.” Producers say the show is popular but risque for Afghanistan, where conservative Muslim clerics have in the past sought to ban foreign soap operas seen as a corrupting influence running against Islamic principles. A decade after the Taliban were toppled, Afghanistan television airwaves have their staple of soap operas and news programmes, a sharp contrast to the austerity imposed by the Taliban, when TV and music were banned by religious police. Only one of the 20 contestants was a woman, smartly dressed in a blue suit and a pink headscarf. In a country where violence has stunted development and forced the government to rely on foreign aid, television and telecommunications are two industries enjoying growth. Afghanistan's war is at its bloodiest since the conflict began in 2001 when U.S. and Afghan forces ousted the Taliban leaders from power.
