Gee it’s good to be back home,
Home is where I wanna be.
Great lines from Simon and Garfunkle. I’m not quite home yet, but I have completed hopefully the most difficult leg of the journey – checking in and getting through customs in Kabul. We were late departing for the airport as my colleague was delayed returning from souvenir shopping because the roads of Kabul were simply closed to allow someone important to get to the airport. Traffic stood still for 30 minutes throughout the city so that the important one could travel on the roads without the risk of an incident. (No one here ever talks about security or refers directly to the actual risks). Just before we arrived at the airport building we were shepparded off the main road into a cul-de-sac by military officer with a large gun.
Our driver is a local employee of my company, but speaks little English so could not explain to us what was happening. The airport was still out of sight, but we pulled up at an abandoned bombed out building next to which there was a bright white adapted freight container, but I could not tell what was going on inside. The next thing I new, the driver jumped out of the car and started dragging my luggage over to the container. I quickly jumped out and followed only to have to open up my suitcase for a very cursory search – the kind of search that they have put in place because it was requested by a certain foreign government, but which has no impact whatsoever on security. After wrinkling the first layer of my carefully packed suitcase, they waved me on and the driver helped me bring my luggage back to the car. My colleague, who took this opportunity to organize his luggage, was not even searched.
As we pulled out of the cul-de-sac and attempted to rejoin the road to the airport another gun stopped us and told us we could not proceed. We watched the driver debate the officer while UN vehicles and even taxis drove by. I guess that if you are not a known entity, they do not want to let your vehicle anywhere near a good target like the airport. Finally the driver must have appealed to the officer’s good nature (or ego) because he waved us on.
After collecting our bags from the car and paying the exit tax ($10) we had to wait at the entrance into the airport building as the guards held up an arm blocking the path of every expat, while letting all Afghanis enter the building. When an American in front of me complained, he was told that they were all going to Heart (in the NW of Afghanistan). Surprisingly, when we were finally allowed in there was a long line of Afghanis in the line for Dubai. I think it was their way to pay back the expats a little.
My colleague was then pulled out of line to have his bags searched by customs. The customs officer whispered in his ear, “give me five dollar”. He refused and waited patiently while the officer dug through his things. Finally we got up to the counter to check in. They ask us to identify our names on a printout. As we went through the pages of the list and did not find our names, our concern increased. Finally the airline attendant just waved us through and handed us boarding passes. Our luggage was tossed onto a conveyer belt, without being tagged!
Immigration was comparatively straight forward, but then we needed to go through metal detectors which were not working (either because there is no electricity and the airport is running on generator, or because they just don’t work). They were patting people down and searching their bags by hand. I was taken into a private tiny dark dingy room with dust-stained walls to be patted down by a woman. Women’s privacy is carefully guarded here.
Finally I made it into the waiting room which has no heat, and only half of the room is lit by florescent light, with the other half in total darkness. I am waiting to board an Ariana Airlines flight. The nickname for Ariana is inshallah airlines – roughly translated as God’s Will Airlines.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Friday, December 16, 2005
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Meeting Day
Today my colleague and I had seven meetings between us. Needless to say, I am now completely exhausted, but we have decided that tomorrow we will go carpet shopping and enjoy the day. After this week I definitely have a much better understanding of Afghanistan and the key development and political issues. Time after time I hear other expats working here talking about how rewarding their jobs are. After 25 years of war and little if any investment in the country any assistance has a large impact and is greatly appreciated. That is a rare thing in the world of development. Not to worry, I am not yet ready to start working in Afghanistan long-term (Africa is still closest to my heart), but I would be willing to come back out here and continue to work on this project. It is a fascinating place and I look forward to learning more.
Today we also went into the US government compound to visit USAID, our client on several of our projects. It was a trip into a different world. The security was amazing, but once we were in the fortress, I was even more amazed at the number of US and international soldiers, which you do not see at all on the streets of Kabul. In Kabul they are making sure that the Afghan police are perceived as the ones maintaining control. The USAID team and other government employees are only allowed to leave the compound under exceptional circumstances. Some of them literally spend years in Afghanistan, and never leave their ‘little US’ where I am sure they eat American food, only meet other American people, and watch American TV. I have say that my respect for government officials working Afghanistan fell after seeing how little they see of the country. The USAID officers we met with were surprised at how much we had learned about the issues in Afghanistan in a week, but I wander how they understand the issues at all given their limited mobility.
Tonight our Afghan colleagues are hosting a night of Kebab’s and pizza (a true Afghan-American night) to see us and another colleague off… until the next time.
Today we also went into the US government compound to visit USAID, our client on several of our projects. It was a trip into a different world. The security was amazing, but once we were in the fortress, I was even more amazed at the number of US and international soldiers, which you do not see at all on the streets of Kabul. In Kabul they are making sure that the Afghan police are perceived as the ones maintaining control. The USAID team and other government employees are only allowed to leave the compound under exceptional circumstances. Some of them literally spend years in Afghanistan, and never leave their ‘little US’ where I am sure they eat American food, only meet other American people, and watch American TV. I have say that my respect for government officials working Afghanistan fell after seeing how little they see of the country. The USAID officers we met with were surprised at how much we had learned about the issues in Afghanistan in a week, but I wander how they understand the issues at all given their limited mobility.
Tonight our Afghan colleagues are hosting a night of Kebab’s and pizza (a true Afghan-American night) to see us and another colleague off… until the next time.
Earthquake
On Tuesday night I was rudely awakened at 2:30am by the movement of my bed. My first thought was that someone had come into my room and was trying to kidnap me. My second thought was that this would have to be a really bad kidnapper as they were really shaking my bed. Finally, I had a very clear realization that it was in fact an earthquake, and then I rolled over and went back to sleep mid tremor. It turns out that it was a 7.6 on the Richter scale, which is a pretty big earthquake, but the epicenter was 140km away in the Hindu Kush mountains. The population in the mountains is very low so fortunately there was no damage. Still, I have since made a mental note that when I wake up in the middle of an earthquake, I need to be sure that the roof is not going to cave in before I go back to sleep!
The Hindu Kush mountains have a poignant name which means Kill Indian, so named because when the Indians tried to invade Afghanistan, so many of them died in these mountains that they were never successful in conquering Afghanistan. This and other facts I have gleaned from a great book that I am reading called, “The Bookseller of Kabul”. Highly recommended. (Thanks Per).
The Hindu Kush mountains have a poignant name which means Kill Indian, so named because when the Indians tried to invade Afghanistan, so many of them died in these mountains that they were never successful in conquering Afghanistan. This and other facts I have gleaned from a great book that I am reading called, “The Bookseller of Kabul”. Highly recommended. (Thanks Per).
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Water
I am traveling in Afghanistan with a colleague who is here to look at water issues while I look at agriculture issues. So far we have been attending the same meetings as irrigation and agriculture are closely linked and there is often information for both of us. There was a time when I was very interested in water issues and I considered becoming a water specialist. As a Political Science college student I wrote a paper on the role of water in the Middle East conflict. I have been learning a lot on this trip about the complexity of the water issue in Afghanistan.
Many of the major regional rivers have their headwaters in Afghanistan and as a result, Afghanistan has around 75 billion cubits of water every year. This number did not mean a lot to me until it was put into context. The Nile River basin which covers 10 countries has 90 billion cubits per year. And the entire area from Iran to Morocco has only 375 billion cubits per year. In other words, Afghanistan has a lot of water. But Afghanistan is also a mountainous rocky patch of land so much of this water flows to its neighboring countries unless it is obstructed.
Afghanistan has a 1000 year history of irrigation, but over the past 30 years much of the traditional irrigation system has been destroyed from war or neglect. The area under irrigation was halved during the period of the war. While Afghanistan’s economy shrank and its water consumption declined, its neighbors, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan have been developing, expanding agriculture and industry, increasing their water consumption, much of which comes from Afghanistan.
The problem is that now Afghanistan wants to start expanding and intensifying its irrigation systems and using water for household and industrial use, but because its neighbors have been freely using the water for all these years, they now claim a right to the same flow of water. So it is in the interest of these countries to keep Afghanistan in chaos so they do not increase their water consumption or look to regulating the flow to its neighbors. The region is not exactly stable, but it is interesting that the Taliban is now based in Pakistan launching attacks on Afghanistan from there. (In fact, today the Taliban issued a Fattwa for the killing of Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan). There is also some suggestion that other countries may have manipulated the situation.
One river in the south flows from Afghanistan to Iran. During the war between the Mujahadeen and the Russians Communists (1979-1989), it is said that Iranians crossed the border and masked themselves as Mujahadeen attacking communists. Instead, they killed 30 irrigation engineers who were working on the canal. They continued to attack anyone who tried to repair the canals, forcing Afghanistan to allow all the water to flow freely into Iran. The result is that today the canals that functioned for hundreds of years are filled with sand. The area is still too unsafe to work in.
Negotiating with neighboring states on water consumption is one of the many issues that must be prioritized by the new government in order to avoid conflict with neighbors. This is complicated by the fact that the Communists, Mujahadeen and Taliban all burned records, books and buildings as they left Kabul and many of the records on water are lost. There was an agreement on water signed between Iran and Afghanistan in the 1970’s, but no one has been able to find a copy of the agreement so they may have to start from scratch.
Many of the major regional rivers have their headwaters in Afghanistan and as a result, Afghanistan has around 75 billion cubits of water every year. This number did not mean a lot to me until it was put into context. The Nile River basin which covers 10 countries has 90 billion cubits per year. And the entire area from Iran to Morocco has only 375 billion cubits per year. In other words, Afghanistan has a lot of water. But Afghanistan is also a mountainous rocky patch of land so much of this water flows to its neighboring countries unless it is obstructed.
Afghanistan has a 1000 year history of irrigation, but over the past 30 years much of the traditional irrigation system has been destroyed from war or neglect. The area under irrigation was halved during the period of the war. While Afghanistan’s economy shrank and its water consumption declined, its neighbors, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan have been developing, expanding agriculture and industry, increasing their water consumption, much of which comes from Afghanistan.
The problem is that now Afghanistan wants to start expanding and intensifying its irrigation systems and using water for household and industrial use, but because its neighbors have been freely using the water for all these years, they now claim a right to the same flow of water. So it is in the interest of these countries to keep Afghanistan in chaos so they do not increase their water consumption or look to regulating the flow to its neighbors. The region is not exactly stable, but it is interesting that the Taliban is now based in Pakistan launching attacks on Afghanistan from there. (In fact, today the Taliban issued a Fattwa for the killing of Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan). There is also some suggestion that other countries may have manipulated the situation.
One river in the south flows from Afghanistan to Iran. During the war between the Mujahadeen and the Russians Communists (1979-1989), it is said that Iranians crossed the border and masked themselves as Mujahadeen attacking communists. Instead, they killed 30 irrigation engineers who were working on the canal. They continued to attack anyone who tried to repair the canals, forcing Afghanistan to allow all the water to flow freely into Iran. The result is that today the canals that functioned for hundreds of years are filled with sand. The area is still too unsafe to work in.
Negotiating with neighboring states on water consumption is one of the many issues that must be prioritized by the new government in order to avoid conflict with neighbors. This is complicated by the fact that the Communists, Mujahadeen and Taliban all burned records, books and buildings as they left Kabul and many of the records on water are lost. There was an agreement on water signed between Iran and Afghanistan in the 1970’s, but no one has been able to find a copy of the agreement so they may have to start from scratch.
Pomegranate
I was just standing on the cold white tile floor of my bathroom barefoot eating a pomegranate in Afghanistan winter while listening to Barenaked Ladies on my iPod. Heaven! (For those of you who are unfamiliar with this great fruit, they are very juicy and stain like crazy and I didn’t have a plate.) Pomegranates grow well here and this one was ruby red, sweet, aromatic and delicious. But the joy of the pomegranate extends beyond the flavor and a lot of the appeal comes from the fun of digging out each little carmine segment from the overlapping layers of perfectly shaped cushioning walls. The treat is that much sweeter because you have to work to get it.
It’s only my second day in country, but I am finding it difficult to understand Afghanistan and the Afghan people. While the city of Kabul appears normal and I do not feel any palpable tension (like I did in Ethiopia before and during the rioting), I think the city is far from normal. There are plenty of people walking on the streets, and lots of traffic jamming the roads, but something is just not right. Maybe it is because the city has been a theatre of war almost continuously from 1979 to 2001. Maybe people don’t know what normal is like. But it is more than that.
Under the Taliban regime (1996-2001) women were required to wear burkas. These are garments that in Afghanistan are almost always of a serene sky blue color and completely cover women from head to toe. They have a small grill over the eyes and nose that allow the wearer to see (only straight ahead) and to breathe as the burkas are made of suffocating polyester. Women were not allowed to go in public without their husbands or a close male relative. These rules were all banished in 2001 with the fall of the Taliban, but change is coming slowly. Interestingly, I see burkas that are only waist-length in front – meaning a woman’s legs are visible from the front. I see far fewer women who have tossed off the burka in favor of the head scarf (which is what I am wearing). But to be honest, I do not see a lot of women. There are few on the streets and still fewer in the offices I visited today. It makes me unsure of myself as I really do not understand how I am being perceived. I am also struggling to find a balance between the desire to be respectful of local custom, but at the same time to stand in favor of women’s rights and hopefully serve as a positive example as an educated professional woman.
Tomorrow I have four meetings (compared to today’s two) so things are heating up.
It’s only my second day in country, but I am finding it difficult to understand Afghanistan and the Afghan people. While the city of Kabul appears normal and I do not feel any palpable tension (like I did in Ethiopia before and during the rioting), I think the city is far from normal. There are plenty of people walking on the streets, and lots of traffic jamming the roads, but something is just not right. Maybe it is because the city has been a theatre of war almost continuously from 1979 to 2001. Maybe people don’t know what normal is like. But it is more than that.
Under the Taliban regime (1996-2001) women were required to wear burkas. These are garments that in Afghanistan are almost always of a serene sky blue color and completely cover women from head to toe. They have a small grill over the eyes and nose that allow the wearer to see (only straight ahead) and to breathe as the burkas are made of suffocating polyester. Women were not allowed to go in public without their husbands or a close male relative. These rules were all banished in 2001 with the fall of the Taliban, but change is coming slowly. Interestingly, I see burkas that are only waist-length in front – meaning a woman’s legs are visible from the front. I see far fewer women who have tossed off the burka in favor of the head scarf (which is what I am wearing). But to be honest, I do not see a lot of women. There are few on the streets and still fewer in the offices I visited today. It makes me unsure of myself as I really do not understand how I am being perceived. I am also struggling to find a balance between the desire to be respectful of local custom, but at the same time to stand in favor of women’s rights and hopefully serve as a positive example as an educated professional woman.
Tomorrow I have four meetings (compared to today’s two) so things are heating up.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Friday, December 09, 2005
The New World Trade Center
I have to start out this entry by letting you know that I am dizzy with jet lag at the moment. It’s only 10 pm here and I slept like a log last night for 9 hours, but that’s the joy of jet lag. So please pardon me if my notes lack their usual razor sharp wit. I promise that in the coming days I will write less about my daily activities and more about this fascinating country. Today I want to tell about my day to put everyone’s minds at rest, I am not in a war zone!
A familiar face from the home office was at the airport to meet us as we trundled off the plane last night. Unfortunately the airport road was closed because Hamid Karzai, the Afghan Prime Minister, was on his way to Saudi Arabia for the Haj. We had to drive on a cross between a dry river bed and a road under construction for 40 minutes, instead of driving of the best road in Kaubl for 10. On the entire drive from the airport, I saw a total of three women on the street, in contrast to the hundreds of men we saw.
The hotel is great – clean and comfortable. It is streets ahead of my hotel in Ethiopia! It is run by Pakistani’s and is in a walled compound with razor wire around the walls. There is an armed guard at the boom to the parking lot and large steel gate with armed guards patrolling the courtyard at night. On a brighter note, the hotel also has heating! I was warned that there would be no central heating here so I filled a suitcase with sweaters, thermal underwear and even a hot water bottle! I’m sure they will come in handy in South African summer next week.
After checking into the hotel, we went out to the Lebanese Taverna for dinner. No, not the famous restaurant in DC; the famous restaurant in Kabul. It was absolutely divine food and for those of you who thought that I would have a dry week, I had a Corona with my dinner! I didn’t even need to wear a headscarf inside the restaurant as it was mostly filled with ex-pats. I am gradually adapting to wearing the headscarf, but it is very annoying. I can’t even imagine how difficult it would be to have to wear a burka all the time.
Today is Friday which is the Muslim holy day so all offices are closed. In Afghanistan the work week runs from Saturday to Wednesday, so tomorrow is their equivalent of Monday. Now not only do I have jet lag, but I have day lag! As there was no work to do today, we were able to take it easy on our first day in country.
We had lunch at the guesthouse where some of my colleagues are staying. It looks like I will have plenty of company on this trip for a change. I am not only traveling with a colleague who is originally from Tunis but works with me in Bethesda, but there are also plenty of home office staff who are here for long- or short-term assignments on different projects. After lunch we hit the town. We drove up to “TV hill”, as you probably guessed, a big hill in the middle of Kabul where the Afghan Television Network is broadcast from. It was an amazing view but drove home even more how barren this city is. Afghanistan is really known as a country of rock and Kabul is no exception. Unlike in Africa where I mourn the deforestation when I see barren cityscapes, in Kabul there really were no trees to start out with.
Driving around the city the long and recent violent past was obvious. In some neighborhoods more than half of the buildings remain as they were after being shelled during the civil war of the Mujahadeen or the bombing of the US after September 11th. There are bullet holes in the plaster of walls in almost every neighborhood. But a little sense of humor also shows through: I drove past the new World Trade Center today.
A familiar face from the home office was at the airport to meet us as we trundled off the plane last night. Unfortunately the airport road was closed because Hamid Karzai, the Afghan Prime Minister, was on his way to Saudi Arabia for the Haj. We had to drive on a cross between a dry river bed and a road under construction for 40 minutes, instead of driving of the best road in Kaubl for 10. On the entire drive from the airport, I saw a total of three women on the street, in contrast to the hundreds of men we saw.
The hotel is great – clean and comfortable. It is streets ahead of my hotel in Ethiopia! It is run by Pakistani’s and is in a walled compound with razor wire around the walls. There is an armed guard at the boom to the parking lot and large steel gate with armed guards patrolling the courtyard at night. On a brighter note, the hotel also has heating! I was warned that there would be no central heating here so I filled a suitcase with sweaters, thermal underwear and even a hot water bottle! I’m sure they will come in handy in South African summer next week.
After checking into the hotel, we went out to the Lebanese Taverna for dinner. No, not the famous restaurant in DC; the famous restaurant in Kabul. It was absolutely divine food and for those of you who thought that I would have a dry week, I had a Corona with my dinner! I didn’t even need to wear a headscarf inside the restaurant as it was mostly filled with ex-pats. I am gradually adapting to wearing the headscarf, but it is very annoying. I can’t even imagine how difficult it would be to have to wear a burka all the time.
Today is Friday which is the Muslim holy day so all offices are closed. In Afghanistan the work week runs from Saturday to Wednesday, so tomorrow is their equivalent of Monday. Now not only do I have jet lag, but I have day lag! As there was no work to do today, we were able to take it easy on our first day in country.
We had lunch at the guesthouse where some of my colleagues are staying. It looks like I will have plenty of company on this trip for a change. I am not only traveling with a colleague who is originally from Tunis but works with me in Bethesda, but there are also plenty of home office staff who are here for long- or short-term assignments on different projects. After lunch we hit the town. We drove up to “TV hill”, as you probably guessed, a big hill in the middle of Kabul where the Afghan Television Network is broadcast from. It was an amazing view but drove home even more how barren this city is. Afghanistan is really known as a country of rock and Kabul is no exception. Unlike in Africa where I mourn the deforestation when I see barren cityscapes, in Kabul there really were no trees to start out with.
Driving around the city the long and recent violent past was obvious. In some neighborhoods more than half of the buildings remain as they were after being shelled during the civil war of the Mujahadeen or the bombing of the US after September 11th. There are bullet holes in the plaster of walls in almost every neighborhood. But a little sense of humor also shows through: I drove past the new World Trade Center today.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Surprise! I’m in Afghanistan
I am writing this on the plane flying into Afghanistan. You have to know it is going to be an interesting trip when you have to take three flights half way around the world and the last flight is on United Nations Humanitarian Air. I overnighted in Dubai last night – although I don’t think I should say “overnight” as I was only in the hotel for 6 hours. The scenery out the window on the flight from Dubai to Kabul has been amazing. After leaving Dubai and crossing the Persian Gulf all I could see was just flat desert marred by the occasional etching of fields (irrigated?). Then came the spectacular mountains that seemed to rise out of nowhere to the height at which we are flying. I am now looking out on an intricate lacework of snowcapped peaks and bare brown valleys.
As usual I was asked to come here only 6 days ago, but this time it was not an automatic yes from me. I was a little apprehensive about traveling to Kabul. It is a dangerous place, and I have previously refused to travel to Afghanistan. But for a multitude of reasons this was a good opportunity. I am not denying that there are risks, but I also know that my company mitigates those risks as much as possible and many trips to Afghanistan have been cancelled because the environment was too tense, even though in the end nothing happened. Plus I am only on the ground for one week so that also reduces my chances of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I have also been a little apprehensive about telling people where I was going. I received a very mixed reaction from the few people I did tell. Some were excited for me. Others told me straight out I was crazy. Then there was Amit who asked if he could take out a life insurance policy on me!
I am here gathering information for a new project that we will bid on in agriculture, infrastructure and irrigation. We are currently implementing several projects in Afghanistan at the moment including an alternative livelihoods project that tries to encourage farmers to stop growing poppies for opium production by introducing other profitable crops. I am sad that I did not have time to learn more about Afghanistan before I came, but I am sure that this will be a fascinating trip. The flight attendant just announced that we are landing so I need to turn off my laptop and let the real adventure begin!
An aside: For those of you who may want a more personal connection, I am becoming a techy (thanks to my Dad). I have a Skype (VOIP) phone and a Skype in number. This means that you can call me on this DC number – (202) 470 0129 – and pay local charges but reach me in Afghanistan if I am online. If I’m not online, you will go into my voicemail and I’ll get the message when I log on. Don’t you love the modern age!
As usual I was asked to come here only 6 days ago, but this time it was not an automatic yes from me. I was a little apprehensive about traveling to Kabul. It is a dangerous place, and I have previously refused to travel to Afghanistan. But for a multitude of reasons this was a good opportunity. I am not denying that there are risks, but I also know that my company mitigates those risks as much as possible and many trips to Afghanistan have been cancelled because the environment was too tense, even though in the end nothing happened. Plus I am only on the ground for one week so that also reduces my chances of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I have also been a little apprehensive about telling people where I was going. I received a very mixed reaction from the few people I did tell. Some were excited for me. Others told me straight out I was crazy. Then there was Amit who asked if he could take out a life insurance policy on me!
I am here gathering information for a new project that we will bid on in agriculture, infrastructure and irrigation. We are currently implementing several projects in Afghanistan at the moment including an alternative livelihoods project that tries to encourage farmers to stop growing poppies for opium production by introducing other profitable crops. I am sad that I did not have time to learn more about Afghanistan before I came, but I am sure that this will be a fascinating trip. The flight attendant just announced that we are landing so I need to turn off my laptop and let the real adventure begin!
An aside: For those of you who may want a more personal connection, I am becoming a techy (thanks to my Dad). I have a Skype (VOIP) phone and a Skype in number. This means that you can call me on this DC number – (202) 470 0129 – and pay local charges but reach me in Afghanistan if I am online. If I’m not online, you will go into my voicemail and I’ll get the message when I log on. Don’t you love the modern age!
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