A Battlefield Tourist

The Island of Kabul

Feb 3 at 3:03am by David Tate

For years I have kept faith that the experiment in democracy here in Afghanistan would lead to better lives for millions of Afghans.  While this is true in many ways, there is a lot of concern in the capital that this experiment is moving rapidly toward failure.  As I sit here and brainstorm what is happening around, I find myself shaking my head in confusion because the elements that compromise this problem are so numerous that even optimistic people, like myself, are starting to doubt in a major way.

My former colleague, Nadir, has lived in Afghanistan his entire life.  Together, him and I have travelled the Kabul-Kandahar road several times back in 2004, and while we had reservations then, those days are long gone.

“Oh no, David… it is far too dangerous.  You can’t even drive to Ghazni anymore.”  

This isn’t news to me.  I have followed along as the Taliban have gained strength in areas that had very few militants just a few years before:  Ghazni, Wardak, Logar Provinces.  All three provinces are now beefed up with US and Polish troops in a second phase of troop deployments that will go down in the history books as the beginning of the largest escalation, to date, in this conflict (notice it is an ESCALATION and NOT a SURGE).  Now perhaps the days of driving to Ghazni may soon be back.  

What startled me most about our conversation was the fact that Nadir cannot return to his village outside of the northern city of Kunduz because of the same problem.  That’s right, Kunduz, a city that has seen little overt Taliban activity until the past few years.  

“The Taliban… they call me and tell me that if I want to go to my village, I will have to pay them $200 a month.  I told them to fuck off, so now I can’t go home.  They have a police chief and district lawyer… David, I’m telling you, 20 kilometers outside of Kabul, in any direction, is very dangerous and full of Taliban.”

Dinner Conversation

I was finally able to get to a hotel and a bed for a much needed nap following my trip over and by the time I woke up, it was dark and raining.  It was too late to get dinner at the hotel, so I made my way down the “tourist attraction” of Chicken Street looking for a restaurant.  I ended up in a relatively nice place called “Haji Lala” and ordered up some beef kabobs.  After dinner, I sat down with the owner over a water pipe filled with watermelon flavored tobacco to talk about his impression of life in general.

“Things used to be so good (back in 2004), now… things are very bad.”  Now, keep in mind I am talking to a restaurant owner who does better than most of his countrymen.

“If I get the chance, I’m going to sell this place and leave.”

I gathered the breaking point for him wasn’t the car bomb that killed some 50 people outside the Indian Embassy just down the street last year, or the fact that business is a fraction of what it used to be, but rather that his cousin was executed by the Taliban in Ghazni just two months ago as he travelled to Kandahar.

“We got a call from the police who found his SIM card and it was traced to us.  They said the Taliban had shot him and asked if we wanted to come pick up his body.  He was so good… so young.  What kind of person does these things.  They are not human.”

Ten Dollar Problems Takes One Thousand To Fix

The following day, I posed these questions to another established Kabul businessman, who I do not want to identify, and he was equally as direct in his assessment of his country.

“We are controlled by the mafia.  Criminals, Taliban, the police… everyone is corrupt.  Anything you want or need from the government comes at a price or they ignore you.  You have to pay or you get nothing.”

He talks of bribes and corruption at all levels of government as well as inexperience which makes for a difficult business environment.

“Back in 2002, many people came back to Afghanistan (from abroad) because they see a chance to make something of their country.  I personally know many of them, but most are gone now.  Me and my friends want to go too.  There’s nothing for us here.”

This is a man, who as a child, watched the Soviets withdraw from Kabul and then survived the ensuing civil war that reduced Kabul to rubble.