War and Martial Arts in America

[KC Elbows]

Many of the arts we now practice in the US came here as a result of war. Soldiers in Japan and Korea came back with judo, tae kwon do, jiu-jitsu, kendo, tang soo doe, ken jutsu, etc. The interest the US had in these arts brought instructors from all over Asia to teach in the US, and got the ball rolling.

Are there any arts that may now be practiced in Afghanistan and that region that we may see in the future on US soil, or in greater numbers than before?

[MonkeySlap Too]

I think it involves men wearing dresses and lipstick and cooing at British soilders.

Seriously, I would not be surprised if there was some systemized stuff. The Greeks were there, and Pashtuns make up a huge part of the population. Some Pashtuns have indiginous stick arts. I had some friends from Pakistan that showed me some Lahti (sp?) once. It was fun, had it's own rythym.

[Dark Knight]

I was reading an article years ago where the Russians ran across freedom fighters that were training in kukri (sp) the knife.

CBS ran an article on the country, from a young age they put they have the kids wrestling with each other. Learning how to fight is part of the culture.

[Black Jack]

Monkeyslap,

The lathi is supposed to be real serious instrument, the east indians brought it into developement and from there some of the 19 century british guards even learned how to use it in there police role during that early time period.

I would bet the Afghans have there own verison.

The police in India even now use a rattan lathi for unarmed combat and crowd control. I believe the old saying is "the harder the times, the longer the Lathis".

Here are some links,

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Police

http://www.Kalarippayat.com

http://www.coldsteel.com

I believe they sell new lathis for self defense.