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November 29 24th to 29th Nov 2006Winter has arrived in Kabul
24th Novemeber
What a beautiful day it was on Friday. Clear, blue sky, bearable temperatures, crisp air. As I set out from the house I wore 3 layers of clothes for unwrapping later in the day, but only wore slippers with no socks. The water paddles were frozen over, yet I did not feel cold. I walked to the Gandamack Lodge, 20 min. The early morning sun poured through the trees, the rays being reflected by the wood fire smokes pouring from the houses' chimneys. Shar-e-Now is not a poor neighbourhood, so most people will have that type of heating. In the housing areas around Kabul, up into the hills, however, the picture is different. Many can't afford firewood which would keep the house warm for at least a few hours a day as it would eat up a month's salary!
After I had breakfast I met with friends at 10 am to drive to Panjshir. This time I was the guide. As the drive takes only two hours, we were planning on coming back the same day.
What a perfect weather it was to go to my beloved valley!
The higher elevations were covered powder-sugar like in snow while the lower mountains were still snow free.
After taking lunch in a chay-khana in Charikar, we drove the usual stretch through the valley, me explaining things to my friends along the way.
After we went to Amir Sahib's tomb I brought them over to his office, with low hopes that I would ever find somebody there on a Friday to open the office. But this time I was lucky. As we approached, somebody readily grabed the key and opened the office for us:
Everything is left as it was: all the sofas, chairs, his desk, the big Afghanistan map on the wall.
His little swivel armchair behind the desk. Now they placed flowers on it. Two phones are still on his desk, some of his stationary ...
I stood there for several minutes - crying, trying to picture him behind his desk. I touched his chair, ran my hands over the desk. Then I turned and left - the picture of his office forever edged into my mind now.
After a visit to his house we returned to Kabul.
29th November
I had dinner at the Gandamack Lodge and a very good conversation with a guy I met there last week. It's good to have a conversation with a man who does not want to get into your pants.
As we were eating snow started to fall in big flakes, meant to melt the minute it hits the roads but staying on the roofs and the cars.
November 21 A self-created perril"We came to Afghanistan because the sickness and the evil that was here came to us"
Tony Blair's statement made yesterday in Kabul, though probably intended as a positive one, expressed the root-cause to the main problem Afghanistan is still plagued with: the taliban resurgance.It did so by affirming a basic problem with western foreign politics in general and the US' foreign politics in particular: short-sightedness. Too many bridges are being crossed when the decision makers reach them; international politics are characterised by reacitve measures, rather than proactive ones. When "the evil" affected their lands, their comfort-zones, the West started to react after their short-sightedness became painfully evident in two areas:
The latter not only demonstrated short-sightedness but also blatant pursuit of self-interest in the region. Now that this self interest went out of control, the western powers proof unable to deal with the deeper underlying problems jumping out of Pendora's box.
The big initial mistake the West committed was to dis-continue support for Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal, ticking it off as a battlefield victory, thus demonstrating the above mentioned persuit of narrow national interests in the region - a proxy war fought out on other peoles' territory. Count the casualties and move on!
Thereafter all problems Afghanistan faced after ten years of Soviet occupation, were declared "internal affairs" - a consistantly useful diplomatic term for "we will not get involved in solving your problems because we have no interests to pursue". By contrast, however, the west has proven to be very capable of letting this diplomatic prinicple of "internal affairs" go out of the window. This has been demostrated very cleary in cases like Iraq where a whole regime was toppled dispite the situation not having affected anybody outside of the country. The US was even capable of cooking up a connection which must have made even the most superficial observer frown - Sadam Hussain's regime was connected to Al-Quaida!?
The western powers failed to get involved in Afghanistan's internal political situation simply because it was too complicated. Hence they left the field open to Pakistan to exercise influence on the political developments. What increased Pakistan's influence was the fact that it had become good friends with the western countries who had channeled all weapon supplies to the Mujahedin in the 1980s, hence giving the ISI unprecidented influence.
This influence was extended into support for the most redical of the Mujahedin parties in their fight over control in Kabul. The Hizb-e-Islami, until today under the leadership of Gulbudin Hekmatyar and now allied with the talibs, was the ISI's closest ally and had a decisive hand in wrenching Kabul from Rabbani's government.
With the growing influence of Pakistan on Afghanistan the taliban and Al-Quaida were able to find a safe-haven, unchecked and uncontrolled by any western forces.
Under the banner of bringing stability to Afghanistan the talibs - with massive support of Pakistan - managed to sweep the majority of the country, installing it's supressive regime.
Again, the west did not react appropriately: neither were the new Afghan rulers questioned or put under pressure sufficiently, nor was Pakistan. In fact it appeared repeatedly that particularly the US was in unpublicised support of the Taliban regime as it did indeed stabalise the country and hence made plans for the contruction of gas- and oil-pipelines through the country that much more realistic. The price of that stabiltiy was not questioned much outside of concerned human rights organisations.
Let us also bear in mind that the talib regime was not bombed out of Afghanistan for humanitarian concerns, but simply because they had started to refuse co-operation with the US on their oil plans
By then it was too late anyway to stem the growth and influence of radical Al-Quaida ideology in Afghanistan and the western provinces of Pakistan. By the time the west woke up to its missed opportunities it was too late.
Missed warnings prior to 9/11 there were, not only from Ahmad Sha Massoud who had been fighting against the Pakistan-supported taliban with his back against the Hindu Kush since late 1996, but also from the US' own CIA who - even though with a limited scope - informed the US administration of the necessity to support the United Front militarily and otherwise if Osama Bin Laden were to be stopped.
No support came, neither from the US nor Europe - a chance missed to elimnate the problem with the country's own resources at a stage when it could still be controlled.
Now, in 2006, five years after the religious students have been toppled, it is getting increasingly harder to rid the country of the talib influence as this influence has been expanded from religious / political ambitions into drug- and other criminal dependencies.
Further, the west still does not recognise Pakistan's role in all of this. The leaders give by far too much credit to Musharaf's lipservice towards Pakistan's fight against the talibs in his western provinces. Compared to that the government's actions speak a different language, though one madrasa or the other may have been sacrificed to underscore that lip service. By supplying Pakistan with aid of almost 1 billion US$ does not further Afghanistan's cause, but extends Pakistan's influence on it.
The west must recognise that Pakistan's ambitions for "strategic depth" in the region do not make room for an independent and strong Afghanistan. The situation is complicated further by Pakistan's tribal and Pashtun border conflicts. Those are the realities, everything else is smokescreen. But the west has proven poor ability to see through such smokescreens and will again only realise the bridges when they need to be crossed.
November 16 Internationals? Very uninspiring!US$ 30,000 per month? You have got to be kidding me !!
It's about time we brought in value for money.
I am getting very tired of expatriates - or as seems to be the more politically correct term these days: internationals (??) - hurdeling together in parties and compounds specially designed for them.
What are we here for? To segregate ourselves from the Afghans and express at every opportunity our contempt for this country?
Having been dragged to too many of these occasions by people who hate to be here - I have decided "enough!".
I like the company of Afghans - they are cultured, in the orginal sense of the word: they have a culture.
I work 90% with Afghans and it is for the most part a pleasant experience.
Why does the topic of alcohol take such a central part in our lifes here? Do we need it?
One reason why we don't mix with Afghans more is because they are - in their own country - not allowed to go to foreign restaurants! Why? Because most expats can't do without getting drunk most days of the week and can't except that it's against Islam to drink.
Why are so many of us afraid to make contact with this country? Why are so many of us afraid to travel, to walk, to take public taxis?
Because they have been indoctrinated with fear of this country before they even get here.
Yes, there are suicide bombers and yes there are talibs who hate westerners but we must recognise that this is not the majority of Afghans, this is not the prevailing climate here. And also we must recognise that this menace will persist for some more time to come.
Hearts and minds? By hiding in our compounds we certainly don't win them ...
Arriving here with a deep-rooted sense of suspicion towards the people we are trying to help will not get the job done.
We need individuals with passion for this country who will stay and work for her benefit, not NGO and UN over-paid officials deciding about the needs of Afghans out of their guarded compounds and armoured vehicles!
As long as we make huge salery packages the only measure to attract foreigners we will not find individuals with passion because all they are after is an exciting bullet point in their resume and the tax-free expat package.
November 11 Kabul Diaries - 11 Nov 200611 November 2006
It has been rainy since yesterday. Temperatures have been according.
We have not received our ovens yet for our house - so at night it turns chilli. Winter is coming!
Can't wait to go to Panjshir on a clear winter day with snow covering the valley.
Two things to do with weather like that: watch DVDs or go out for food, tea or the like.
My friend Ratha and I opted for the Friday brunch at the Serena Hotel.
It was crowded but the food as worth it. Great fudge brownie - melted and warm!
When we had finished the rain had subsided and we decided to pay the shops of Chicken Street a visit. I managed to buy a small Kilim for my room and a decorative cloth for my ceiling. |
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