By the last week of February passport confirmations had been received only from two of the three Afghan artists (two resided in Kabul and one presently resides in Peshawar, Pakistan). Due to poor communication infrastructure it had thus far proved impossible for Yusef Mahmud’s contacts in Kabul to locate or contact Ghulam Haidry. The other artists, Ghulam Hussain in Kabul and Wahid Shaida’l, in Peshawar, Pakistan, were contacted through Yusef Mahmoud’s family contacts and asked to try and locate Haidry, but alas to no avail. The communication systems in place as of the first half of 2003 did not include affordable telephone systems. The wireless satellite relay phone system installed by US forces, which also included Internet access, was the only means of communication, and for very low-income Afghans - including musicians and artists - its use was prohibitively expensive.

At the same time it was realised that sending a representative to Afghanistan from London was necessary, a conversation transpired between the AMC and Visiting Arts in London. Visiting Arts was conducting a cultural mapping project and had contracted consultant Linda Mazur to do fieldwork ‘on the ground’ in Kabul. At this point she intervened on behalf of the Asian Music Circuit and - through contacts at Radio Kabul and in the old musicians quarter of Kharabat Street in Kabul - Mr Haidry was contacted. This was seen to also benefit the mapping project work she was conducting for Visiting Arts.