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.