A Short Walk

Mustafa BBQ Party

Well, damn. It looks like I'm stuck in Kabul for another day. I went
to the airport this morning and the gate guards turned me back saying
the Kam Air flight to Herat had been cancelled. I caught a taxi back
to the Kam Air sales office and had my ticket changed to tomorrow
morning. Hopefully it won't be cancelled also.

There was finally a glimmer of life at the Mustafa last night. The
owner, Wais, had been out of the country for a few weeks and
everything had been closed. Last night, he threw a barbeque in the
hotel courtyard, with Omaha steaks and crab legs. I think the steaks
were about US$30 a pop, imported, but were free for guests and
friends. As word got around, more and more people showed up. At its
peak, maybe 20 people were there. An AWCC contractor, his Chinese
girlfriend, an ex-Marine now indepenent contractor putting up wireless
antennas around the country, two American guys from Alaska and
Missouri who work for Evergreen, on contract to the UN, flying lear
jets. A couple of Thai girls showed up, hairdressers from a salon at
the Intercontinental Hotel. Two NGO workers involved with PR/media, a
few guys from the states doing "chase the high dollar" contract work
installing communications equipment, a Greek doctor over here for a
few months to train local doctors, etc.

I chatted with Tom, the ex-Marine doing communications contract work,
for a while and we talked about the safety of going to Kandahar. He
said he made the trip 5 weeks ago and that he thought it was probably
pretty safe if you ran in a convoy of three Landcruisers with tinted
windows, filled to the brim with Pashtun bodyguards -- hardcore
Jihadis -- and had the guards sit with converging fields of fire with
one in the backseat who has a straight view directly forward out of
the front of the convoy. Sheesh, ok. Very different from what I had in
mind, but it's true that the roads around there are dangerous.
Supposedly the Taliban elements routinely set up roadblocks and if the
police come through, they ambush them immediately. If vehicles they
want to capture come through, ie nice Landcruisers with tinted
windows, they gauge whether or not the ensuing firefight will be worth
it and then decide to let the convoy through or not.

Tom offered to let me ride down there with him next time he's going
and gave me his email address and mobile number. I must say I'm
intrigued by the prospect. The air in situations like that, surrounded
by heavily armed ex-mujaheddin with ammunition clips scattered
everywhere, through high tension areas, must be absolutely electric.

The two public relations/media people were the first two "aid workers"
I've met here who actually fit the spirit of the term. Greg, a
handsome, swarthy Frenchman, and Paloma, a strikingly beautiful
Spanish/French girl raised in Sao Paulo, both work for Sayara Media,
the biggest or second biggest (?) PR/communications firm in the
country. Greg has been here for a number of years and, sensing my
distaste for how much of the expat community handles itself here,
talked about how most NGO workers, as distinct from UN and
contractors, are actually working long hours in concert with local
people and are respectful of the local culture even as they seek to
create enclaves of "Western" culture to relieve stress, etc. Without
these sorts of outlets, he said, people would quickly become homesick
and uncomfortable and end up leaving within a few months -- a
situation that's damaging to their efforts to help the locals because
doing so requires building long-term relationships.

I appreciated his perspective and agreed with his reasoning as it
pertains to aid workers. At the same time, I still reserve some degree
of rancor for the "high-dollar chasers" who have little or no respect
for the local culture, boozing and whoring incessantly, making nasty,
racist remarks about the people whose misery they're profiting from.
Shameless "war profiteers," I suppose.

More on this topic later.

Paloma and Greg also mentioned that there's a weekly capoeira class
here in Kabul. A roda in Afghanistan? Imagine that. I suppose I
shouldn't be too surprised, as Babak mentioned a yoga class and I've
read about salsa dancing lessons, etc. Little bits of home that keep
the expats here in touch with Western culture since, as Greg put it,
"(they're) here to help, but not to become Afghans."

I'm very excited about my trip back from Herat! I think the Minaret of
Jam will be spectacular and Band-e Amir even more so. Now if only I
could get out there and get it started. I can't imagine Kam Air will
cancel flights two days in a row but we'll see. Life here requires a
measure of flexibility a patience.

posted by daviduri @ 12:15 AM