Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.
John Lennon
John Lennon
St. Patrick’s day was two days ago and I heard that there is going to be a party tonight at the American Embassy. A week and a half has gone by since I arrived in Kabul, once again working in one of the foremost arenas in the “War On Terror”. It’s a city completely surrounded by mountains, snowcapped ranges dominate the horizon. It reminds me of the three months I lived in Colorado. Volleyball and Karate are the most popular sports and Afghanistan took the Bronze medal in Karate at the Beijing Olympics last year.
When I arrived at the airport it took a long time to get through the customs lines and have my passport stamped because there had to be about 200 people trying to enter the country at the same time. There were very few were Americans. The baggage claim was like the NY port authority on steroids, guys fighting to take your luggage and hording baggage carts working to earn those tips. I stood inside the area before what would Arrivals at your typical US airport, where you usually catch a cab or get picked up by your ride, and I waited because armed guards were standing at the front doors not permitting anyone to leave. I figured there was a VIP arriving or leaving at the same time and they beefed up security not to let us common folks pose any threat, throw tomatoes or ask for an autograph. Airports in this part of the world are refreshing because no one is going to stop you from breaking out a cigarette and smoke. It reminds me of Las Vegas except they have no ashtrays so then I feel guilty because I have to flick my ashes right there on the floor. Ten minutes later they let us leave.
I won’t be doing any drinking tonight to honor St. Patrick though now that I’ve started taking antibiotics for inflamed bronchioles. After waking up three days in a row suffering from a cough that’s progressively gotten worse and kept me awake at night, I went to a German clinic in town to get it checked out. I waited about 45 minutes before the doctor saw me. I was impressed by the design of the clinic, clean and bright, with track lighting, magazines for reading and modern air conditioners on the walls. The staff seemed to all be Afghan, nice blue scrubs and the doctor was of course German. I’m sure the smoking hasn’t helped this cough but neither would (according to the German doctor) the 33 percent fecal matter in the air. Los Angeles has it’s bad days but this has to be the most polluted air I’ve ever experienced. I was prescribed some meds: two weeks’ supply of Amoxicillin, an anti-inflammatory inhaler and some tablets I dissolve in water. What surprised me more than anything was that including the cost of the consultation it all only cost 70 USD.
There have been reports of bombings since I’ve been here. One particular was directed toward a convoy (who’s I don’t know) that was driving on a road I actually was on last week headed to a picnic excursion in a village a few hours outside Kabul. I’ve also heard reports that the Taliban have announced they will specifically attack aid workers in the country. Overall the situation here seems worse than it was while I was in Iraq but living off a base and basically in the city leaves me oddly less concerned. We use hired drivers with their own cars to get around. There are no soldiers or t-walls surrounding us and there doesn’t seem to be much of a threat from mortars or rockets although supposedly the biggest threat here now is kidnapping.
I’m staying with a group of mainly European ex-pats in a coop-like compound with 4 buildings and enough rooms for about 15 people. One guy is an Afghan-Brit who works for a research company. He perhaps exemplified the negative outlook many of these folks working here have. Last week we were invited to the French school in Kabul to hear a concert by a famous young Afghan musician. As we waited for the concert to begin, smoking cigarettes with a French colleague outside the lobby of the auditorium, he unleashed a torrent of reasons why he felt his own homeland was “such a fucked up country”. His complaints of corruption, nepotism, an equaled intolerance of the Taliban, and disorganization/miscommunication amongst NATO forces, US military divisions and NGOs told me there isn’t a clear idea of what anyone is doing here. If our Western military forces are propping up the Afghan government and fighting to eliminate the Taliban then the question is why, beyond simply saving us New Yorkers from another 9-11 attack? Aside from that why should we care? Honestly I don’t think we do.
After the doctor’s visit my co-worker and I stopped at a grocery store to buy some food, I also wanted a carton of Camel Lights. I’m still sometimes surprised when I enter places and find a guy carrying an automatic rifle, working security. I suppose it should make me feel better. We then went to have lunch at a Lebanese Restaurant before heading back to the office.
Last night we had dinner at an Italian restaurant, which I can say blew away almost every Italian place I’ve been to in LA. As we left the compound for the restaurant and reached the main road I was surprised when the interior of the car van was being pegged with a red laser light from a convoy driving down the main road. Just a little reminder there’s still a war going on.
I’ll be in Kabul working the next few weeks before having some time off, I think. I’m not so sure. Things change frequently and I don’t expect every plan to be followed exactly. Clear, researched, tested and analyzed plans are not always what’s most important. – This may not be analogous towards understanding the situation here in Afghanistan but what I think is important to understand is the experiences and goals of the Afghan people. Then maybe we the people, who’ve never set foot in this mountainous country, will have a reason to care, and maybe then we’ll know what we’re doing here.
