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April 29 Kabul Diaries, April 27th - 28thWe had two days off - Friday and the public holiday commorating the Mujahedin taking Kabul.
The weather has been a dream for almost a month - clear blue skies and everything is green.
So me and Ratha decide to go for brunch in L'Atmosphere. I have not been very often to this place in the past months but as it turned out it is really worth while going - as long as you can sit outside and enjoy the garden and the pool.
They have great breakfast sets and the garden lounge-chairs invite to stay for hours.
And that's what we did. We came at 10 and left at 3. In the course of the morning more friends joined so we had a real great time eating, chating - and for those who own a swimsuit in Kabul - swimming.
Personally I am not going to flaunt a swim suit here, still, as I have the distinct impression that the Afghan waiters would except any paycut as long as they get to wait by the poolside - know what I mean?
We loved it so much that we came back the next day and passed more lazy hours there.
Yes, the things you can do in Kabul if you hold a foreign passport ! April 28 Kabul Diaries, 28th April 200715 years after the Mujahedin victory
15 years ago the Mujahedin took Kabul, the Afghan Communists were on the run.
I see the photos in front of me: Amir Sahib with sunglasses and a black and white scarf covering his mouth, on a tank leading his fighters into Kabul.
I see him at the press conference that day in the Kabul Hotel, in a room crowed with local and international journalists - all eager to hear what the new rulers' plans were.
The plan was a power-sharing government between the various Mujahedin parties until such time that general elections could be conducted for a parliament.
It was not to be!
Some 18 months later the country was at the verge of civil war, far from the peace the people had longed for.
Pakistan, resenting the current leadership of the Rabbani government with its Defense Minister Ahmad Shah Massoud, the true power holder, supported the most radical among the parties - the Hisb-e-Islami in their opposition and physical war against the government. The powersharing arrangment broke down and Kabul was attacked by the Hisb and swaying alliances of other opportunistic Mujahedin factions, formost of Rashid Dostum, the Usbek warlord.
The thus created conflict lasted for three years, caused tens of thouasands of death and a nearly completely destroyed capital. A jewel of South Asia unrecognisably deteriorated.
Massoud resisted, drew up his forces yet again - contributing forcibly to the destruction and chaos but still with the hope to finish off the vasals of Pakistan and the opponents of peace.
But, he failed - and on September 28th 1996 he withdrew from the capital leaving it to the talibs who had by now formed an unbeatable coalition. He could have resisted further but - faced with the fire power of the Hisb-Talib coalition, that would have meant thousands more dead. So he walked out of Kabul - litterally - fleeing with those thousands who trusted him to provide a far more bearable life than the new rulers.
It was during this march out of Kabul, he said later, that Afghans had the chance to retaliate against him had they truely thought that he was to be accused of war crimes and a culprit in the Kabul chaos.
True - but who would accuse him of that anyway after all he has inflicted on the world's greatest army? One would think - well times have changed.
Today, those who resented his opposition to the Talibs, his liberal interpretaion of Islam, his leadership and vision for Afghanistan are out to discredit not only him. Worse, those Afghans who fled the country to overseas 25 years ago are now back to become businessmen and politicians here and have nothing good to say about the Mujahedin either.
Yet who are they to talk? What have they ever done for the country? They have taken the easy way out because their families' money allowed them to leave the country when conflict broke out. Now they are back - again the elite - with no blood on their hands of course since they chose not to fight in the first place. From such a position it is easy to judge those who either were commanded by poverty or by their conscience to stay and fight.
Yes, indeed the Mujahedin have failed to lead the country into a better future. Ahmad Shah Massoud failed, too. They were unable to unite for Afghanistan.
But does that justify belittling the sacrifices and struggle put up for Afghanistan to rid the land of an invader who had no right to be there in the first place?
Those quick to brush aside those sacrifices should think back carefully to those days and admire the fervour and selfless sacrifice put up by many - only driven by their faith and the blieve that it was going to be worth it.
It should still be worth it - and if it is only for the verbal recognition and the respect of all Afghans. April 23 Kabul Diaries 23rd April 2007A wiff of history in the air
The Marriott Hotel signs investment deal at AISA
Today one of the largest international hotel chains signed a 200 million US$ deal at the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency.
With 300 rooms it will be the largest 5-star hotel in town next to the Serana with on 176 rooms.
It is not only the investment amount which is impressive per-se.
For me it is the confidence in the long-term development in Afghanistan and its business potential which is at least equally significant.
My thinking is that - despite the fact that 60 mil US$ have come from OPIC equity investments - Marriott must still be seeing at least a mid-term profit potential. And that again can only be achieved via reasonable occupancy rates. And that in turn means again that there will be significant numbers of foreigners coming here on a regular basis - both donor employees as well as business men. And that finally means that something is moving in Afghanistan, moving forward that is.
So I am toasting a half full glass to the Marriott Kabul !! April 22 Kabul Diaries 13th April - 21st AprilFriday, 13th April 2007
A trip to the pottery village of Istalif
We left Kabul at 9.30 in the morning - two 4x4s with altogether 10 people.
Some of them had only "escaped" their security services by cooking up some lame story. Very sad that most donors and companies here still think "it's a war outside of our doors". Rediculous!
So we were on our way to Istalif, the pottery village in the Shomali Plain, about one hour north of Kabul.
Spring has flooded the plain, like it has Afghanistan altogether. Everywhere is green, fresh, light spring green and once one turns left off the main road towards the hills of Istalif there are many colourful flowers in the fields - mainly red and blue tulips. Children pick them and try to sell them to the passing cars.
Our goal was to pick-nick near the Istalif river, not so much to purchase pottery as the quality there is still not much to write home about and the designs are overall not my cup of tea. I managed, however, to speak to a couple of potters cum store owners to enquire if they were interested in receiving some training from an overseas potter and all of them were open to the idea.
And here's my planned project - if it ever comes to fruition: I would like to bring one or two potter families up to speed quality-wise. Teach them the right glazing techniques, burning techniques, introduce new designs, yet maintain the old ones of course. That way they can be made ready for export. And here are the two challenges:
I need to find an expert potter from overseas to come to Istalif to teach for several months, get them up to speed, to produce really fine ware and second I need to open a market in US or Europe for the new "fine Istalif pottery".
That's the plan - I will work to see if it can be done.
So after some one and a half hours we settled down at a nice spot near the Istalif river for pick-nick. We all had brought different things to eat and drink and within no time we were munching away.
After another two hours eating, basking in the sun, wading though the fresh river water we packed up our camp site and drove back to Kabul where we arrived at about 3 o'clock.
Nothing spectecular, really, but a beautifull day out. As always it's the Afghan landscape which captures and simply invites to sit and relax.
The rest of the day ended up being cramped full - I went to a friends house just to hang out. Her place is just next to Chicken Street in a lovely, typical Afghan-style house.
Afterwards we went for some marketing and then I went home only to change for dinner with another friend. We went to the Italian restaurant in Wazir Akbar Khan - a residential area in a more eastern part of Kabul. It's heavily overpriced, but the pasta is well worth it. And what's pasta without wine? This is one of the few places with a decent European wine selection - so you pay for what you get.
18th April
House-surveying time! After work I set out with our CEO and a couple of other staff to look at some houses to replace our current guesthouse.
The World Bank is currently starting to build and sponsor Afghanistan's industrial parks. Once they are finished AISA will manage them. For this project we will have several overseas advisors joining AISA for some time. Hence a larger, better guesthouse is required.
We first looked at a brand-new but terribly tacky "Pakistani Weddingcake" in a new residential area next to Wazir Akbar Khan. This whole areas - they say - is built by former war- and druglords who can afford to construct these coloses of houses - tasteless to the core and mocking the beautiful old Afghani houses which stood in their place.
I voiced my opinion carefully to my CEO and so we drove off to look at another house in Shar-e-Now, the place of our current guesthouse.
And just two streets further down we found it: a cute little two-storey Afghan house with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large garden and a terrace and balcony.
The next day the deal was closed, including extensive renovation of the house. We expect to move in in about a month. We wil have cable and internet - and I am happy. If I had wanted to move to Pakistan, I would have done so before ...
21st April
A new Restaurant has opened in Kabul - Loco something
Sandwiched between UNDP headquarters and the Chinese Embassy it is an incredible place - incredibly hiddeaous!
It is advertised as THE new dance club cum restaurant of Kabul.
When you actually get there it's the really nice garden which impresses. Stepping closer, however, I felt more like I had entered a restaurant somewhere in Nana, Bangkok.
All waiters and bar girls are oriental women - since they can't get Chinese anymore legally - they were all from the Philippines. This addesd to the sleeze-factor.
To top it off, the owner is a former-drug-addict-look-alike white guy with a pony-tale and a Buddha necklace. The first impression that hit me as he put his arm around one of the Chinese-Philippina girls - "pimp!"
But, what the heck, we are all trained in tolerance. So all that wouldn't have mattered if the service would have had even the smallest little bid to write home about!
The waitresses' - if you can call them that - English does not exceed five words and they were looking at the menu probably for the first time, as they came back several times for each ordered item to re-confirm the order.
"Do you have coffee?"
"Yes"
"Is it freshly brewed coffee or instant"
"Yes fresh"
Who trusts that answer? ... not outside of Europe ...
"Is it powder or from a machine?"
"Powder" ...
!!!!! ????
The place has a "lounge" with a DJ console and blasting R&B music. Definately not for the diner!
What's also not for the diner is the food itself: 400Afs (=US$8) for a Grilled Chees Sandwhich which consisted of two overtoasted slices of white bread, two slices of melted processed cheese in it, not properly fried chips and ketchup.
Further the owner was bragging to us how he paid of the local police so as to get special attention in his security in front of the door.
So to summon up a delightful dining experience - sleeze, no value for money, no service.
Further - like in all locations overcrowded with expatriates - we don't need people who do not contribute constructively to this country and simply come here in the attempt to extract as much money as possible.but otherwise don't contribute to the local economy, neither by employing locals nor by attempting to help the establishment of a wide-spread legal economy bare of corruption.
April 15 comment to BBC- ref: "war on terror in Pakistan"Dear BBC, I live and work in Afghanistan and I do so because I have had many years of interest for this country in many areas, but particularly as far as the political circumstances are concerned (btw - you do not offer the option Afghanistan in your pulldown menue above). As such I was surprised by the rather naive report broadcast the other day on the "efforts" of the Pakistani ISI in combating terrorists in its territory. Even though the report highlighted that it was the Pakistani government and its ISI which created and supported the talibs and other radical islamist forces in Afghanistan from the mid 90s until 9/11, the report goes on suggesting that Pakistan - out of humanitarian reasons and better insight - changed sides and has been supporting the US in its "war on terror". And here is where the naivity of this program begins: 1) there is only one reason why Pakistan changed allegiance on the surface: the US threatend "either you are with us or we bomb you back to the stone age" 2) the pakistani government and the ISI have deeper lying reasons for continued support for the taliban in its territory and in Afghanistan. They are no longer able to display this suppport openly but reasons for it still exist: and this reason is the wide-ranging and widely underestimated issue of "Pashtunistan". Pakistan must avoid by all means an organised uprising of the Pushtuns east and west of the Durrand Line in order to avoid a struggle for their homeland which they have been denied since British times. The talibs, opposed to tribal customs which they consider unislamic, help to undermine effectively such a movement. This has been called "talibanisation". On the other hand, the presence of radical forces in the NWFP, FATA etc enables the continuance of a strict rule in these territories without anybody questionning it with regards to the absence of a modern leagal code (NWFP and FATA are still ruled under a very harsh British colonial legal code) there or other instituations reflecting demoratic rule of law in those areas. Expert journalists on this topic, like Carlotta Gall (New York Times) who have been dealing with this issue for many years will testify that the pakistani government and ISI are indeed playing this double headed game. For an established news organisation like the BBC not to reflect this is quite incredible. Fact of the matter is that Pakistan - in colaboration with the US - has been the perpetrator of trouble in Afghanistan since early / mid 1990s. And Pakistan continues to do so. It is high tide for this to come to the surface and for the Musharaf government be brought to account for the crimes against Afghanistan - past and ongoing. As long as that is not done, there will not be peace in Afghanistan. Reports like yours which show only a superficial insight are not helpful in bringing that peace. Best, Simran Kaur April 03 When things come to an end ...Love is like water - it finds its way, even if it destroys everything in its path
There is a song by Tina Turner called "silent wings".
How do you explain it though? Where does it start, why does it happen - this change in feelings for someone?
My husband did not stand a chance. Overwhelmed by feelings for someone unreachable my love for him flew away towards someone who would never recipricate any of my emotions.
No one understands me, no one shares what I feel, I gave up explaining as these are too outlandish of feelings, yet so overpowering to this day.
Confronted with a choice of living an emotional lie for the rest of my life I took an opportunity which presented itself:
"Do you still love me?"
"To tell you the truth - no"
This is how 12 years of relationship ended, yet I felt relieved - free to move ahead, a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, off my conscience.
There is no guarantee of what will happen to my heart - one day I have to suffer for breaking another. That I know - be it in this life or the next. But put to the choice I chose and I chose my happiness over his. But could I have made him happy with a lie anyway?
Now I am alone - as I have always been somehow. There is someone else, but he can't give me his full attention. We fell in love in a country that does not allow relations like that, in a country that restricts the interaction between men and women, in a situation which gives me no illusions. And yet, being in love again and being loved back is a beautiful state to be in - something I have missed for two years. He loves me, I know, but he gives me no illusions regarding his commitments. We are united in the feelings for this country, in our commitment to Amir Sahib and his ideals, our personalities, our likes and dislikes are much the same. As a consequence I understand him and his problems and longings, i understand his mind.
"What a man are you to cheat on your wife and children?" He is a man because he follows his heart and yet cares for his family - does that nor deserve respect? It is not only my feelings who have changed, but also his. Just because there are children, must he commit to living a lie while I have the freedom to not live one? No, but children induce a responsibility which prevents him from filing for divorce.
I am sorry for everything I had to do but it all happened out of my control, on silent wings.
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