Key Points
From the late 1920s, London was home to a lively, if small, community of Jewish merchants from Afghanistan and central Asia..
Hailing from established merchant families in Bukhara, Samarkand, Kabul and Herat, these immigrants traded in furs, carpets, cotton and wool..
In the 1930s, the Association of Bukharian Jews was established in the City of London, providing financial support to Jewish refugees from central Asia living in Iran, India and Afghanistan..
I remember watching with amazement as my father ate the central Asian dish of plov [rice steamed with meat, sesame oil, cumin and carrots] while sitting in the traditional manner around a cloth placed on the floor with a Muslim from Afghanistan, the son of a merchant from Samarkand told me...
During the first period of government of the Taliban [1996-2001], a Jewish carpet dealer from Afghanistan in London who was my friend asked me to take matzah bread and kosher wine to the remaining Jewish men in Kabul..
