“Baiman seems a wonderful place to those who have never seen it,” said Mohammad Hussain, a 15-year-old resident of Zargaran Valley, in central Bamian province. Like many young people in this economically depressed region, Mohammad Hussian is trying to make ends meet by doing heavy manual labor and seems exhausted. But as tired as he is, he has the energy to get angry at the lack of development in Bamian.

“Except of paving two kilometers of road, there have been no improvements in Bamain over the last nine years,” he grumbled.

Bamian, the little jewel in the center of Afghanistan, is one of the safest provinces in the country. It boasts breathtaking mountain views, clean air, and lush valleys, as well as the world-famous niches where the Bamian Buddhas once stood. The 1500-year-old statues were destroyed in the last months of the Taliban regime, sparking world-wide protests.

The province also has the country’s first national park at Band-e-Amir, and attracts hardy tourists and ultimate skiers to its dramatic slopes.

But Bamian has run into difficulties lately. It may be a beautiful weekend getaway to wealthy foreigners from Kabul, but for those who live there the outlook is grim. They complain that the province has been all but forgotten by donors and the central government since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

The Provincial Council is also engaged in prolonged conflict with the governor, Habiba Sarabi, Afghanistan’s first and only woman to head a province. Appointed in 2005, Sarabi attracted a great deal of international attention when she first arrived in the province. But she has been able to accomplish little according to the local council.

“In the five years that Habiba Sarabi has been in Bamian, there have been no improvements or construction projects,” said Jawid Zahak, head of the Provincial Council.

A large number of Cabinet Ministers together with US ambassador Karl Eikenberry arrived in Bamian on May 20 to meet with the governor. The Provincial Council and ordinary voters had hoped that they would have a chance to share their concerns with the officials, but, according to Zahak, that did not happen.

“The governor made sure that there was no opportunity to speak directly with the Cabinet Ministers,” he said. “We could not present the problems of the people of Bamian to them. I think that the governor was afraid that her weakness and lack of responsiveness to the people would come to light,” he added.

As a result, the Provincial Council began a protest that has now been going on for more than a month.

“The Provincial Council and the people of Bamian have just one demand,” he continued, “they want the governor to resign.”

Abdul Rahman Ahmadi, spokesperson for the governor, urged the Provincial Council to abandon its protests for the good of the province.

“The continuation of this protest harms Bamian,” he said. “First, the season for construction is so short in Bamian. We are now in summer, when we can do these things; the protests cause people to lose these opportunities. If we do not compete our work we will have to return our development budget to the central government.”

Bamian, nestled in the heart of the Baba and Hindu Kush Mountains, is snowbound for much of the year.

Ahmadi implied that the Provincial Council was not willing to talk; instead, they rushed to protest, which just made the situation worse.

“The governor’s office and the Provincial Council need to sit together to talk and solve these problems,” he said. “Neither the governor nor the Provincial Council can do their work if this situation continues.”

Abrahim Tawala, an activist with the Civil Society Forum, agrees.

“Conflict between the executive and legislative branches in Bamian will bring no improvement to the situation,” he said. It will not help development. “Instead, the continuation of the current situation – the conflict between these two bodies – will pave the way for insecurity in the province, which will decrease the level of participation in the upcoming Parliamentary elections.”

Afghanistan’s Parliamentary elections are scheduled for September 18.

This is not the first time such protests have occurred in Bamian. The province has experienced at least two large protests in the past 4 years. In 2008, members of provincial council along with a number of Bamiani citizens staged sit ins in protest to what they called “inefficiency of the local government.

In 2009, a large number of Bamiani citizens in protest of lack of development, paved the streets of Bamian city with mud.

But none of the previous incidents brought results.

“This conflict will cause the people to lose faith in the government,” said Sarwar Jawadi, a Member of Parliament from Bamian. “The government is not going to pay any attention. We have witnessed similar conflicts in other provinces, such as Maidan Wardak, Ghazni, and Herat, but the government ignored all these cases. And the current situation is causing a gap between the people and the government. This opens the way for terrorists to bring insecurity to the province, which will complicate the Parliamentary elections.”

Ordinary residents are aught in the middle. Many support the idea of the protests, but are worried about the effects.

“In my opinion, the continuation of these sit-ins and protests will harm the people,” said Hassan Ali, a resident of Bamian city. “On the other hand, these protests expose facts which are being ignored. The situation in Bamian may get worse if the government and the international community do not pay attention to the demands of the people in Bamian.”

Hassan Khaliqi, a journalist in Bamian, contributed to this report.