Return to Kabul

Hello from Kabul!

I must be getting old because life is starting to seem to be passing me very quickly. It seems as if I only just started blogging but since being intimidated into it by my friend Quokka when I was here in the summer of 2005. I have since moved to and worked in Liberia, Sri Lanka, and now right back to Afghanistan.

I arrived last Sunday.

I moved immediately into a very comfortable guest house in Kabul. I’ll be here (when I’m not travelling elsewhere in Afghanistan) until the end of September. Then I’ll house–sit for my boss for two months, and finally in December I’ll move into my own place, perhaps sharing with my old hilarious friend Alan.

The next couple of weeks will feature intense travel – I'll be going to Herat, Mazar, Bamiyan (which I've been to before) and Jalalabad.

As mentioned before I’m working for Equal Access. All early indications are positive and I have no doubt at all about the importance of our work. Time will tell about the effectiveness but I’m optimistic.

A few friends have expressed concern about security here. It’s a worry but our response is thoughtful and reassuring. We use unmarked cars and our office is unmarked because attacks on international staff have been on ‘high profile’ targets. We have VHF radios but no ostentatious Codan HF systems. We have restrictions against travel in taxis or even on foot in town (which is a bit of a necessary bother) but we don’t have a curfew – I really think we have taken all the right measures (and none of the wrong ones). The best thing is that the measures are not arbitrary and they do seem open to discussion.

It can not be denied that the security is poor. There was a suicide bombing at Kabul airport last Friday. I have already attended a weekly NGO security meeting where I heard some pretty grim details about the south of Afghanistan (where I won't be going). There was a lot of discussion about the recent kidnapping of South Korean and German hostages who were almost certainly released after payments by their governments. Most NGOs pledge not to pay ransoms but governments tend to bow to domestic political pressure which puts us (and the rest of their nationals) at much greater risk.

There are better responses to kidnappings. I believe petitions can help. I am grateful to my friends who told me they signed the petition demanding the release of the South Korean hostages. Those whose lives were spared returned to South Korea rather humbled, and South Korea will not allow any more Christian fundamentalist evangelists to travel here. We don’t do anything like that and we don’t travel on the known dangerous road they on which they were captured.

I think I’m going to like being back here. Afghanistan is a very troubled country but a very beautiful one and people are very friendly. My only regret is that as we work from Sunday to Thursday it is going to difficult (depending on time zones) to watch the remaining Formula 1 races, even if I can find a TV that shows them.