Been Offline for a Bit

I've been offline for a time, busy doing other things. Since the last post, two Westerners were shot in front the DHL office where they worked, but that was a case of an employee going "postal" though the media tried to speculate that it was indicative of the "Taliban closing in."

Then we had a suicide bombing at the Ministry of Information and Culture, which is located at a busy market intersection right across the road from the "Bin Laden Mosque" from two posts ago. We drive past both the Ministry and the mosque almost every day. By the way, the association of that mosque with Bin Laden is actually an urban legend.

The Information Ministry was a target because it was a government building and it had very light secturity...past tense. There are now blast walls and more security personnel, so it is unlikely that that particular style of attack will work again on this particular office.

Finally, we had a French woman abducted late last week. An Afghan who tried to help her was shot to death. The other French person and their driver escaped. The Taliban issued and immediate vehement denial of being involved.

This in part because shooting the British woman (the story in the last post) turned into a public relations backlash for them. The woman was very popular with the locals and hundreds attended her funeral. Local mullahs denounced the killing and the killers at the funeral.

Without further comment, here's a new batch of pictures.

Sunrise over the demining camp.

Hindu Temple in Kabul
Listened to my driver, a Tajik who doesn't like Pashtuns.
Actually, this is the tomb of Timur Shah Durrani (1748 - 1793)
His father, Ahmed Shah Durrani is considered the father of modern Afghanistan.

School boys horsing around. Just like at home.

Massoud Day was in September.
Massoud posters are up around town all year.

"What do you mean you don't want to haggle?"

A corner bus stop.

A cookie shop.
Just starting to fill the window displays.

Hiding behind the bananas.
The military term is "banana defilade."

Location, location, location.

Dangers of Complacency

This week a woman working for a Christian aid group was shot to death near Kabul University. Her crime, according to the Taliban, was that she was "spreading Christianity." In reality what she specialized in was educating the disabled.

Her real crime was complacency. She got into a routine, taking the same route to work everyday at the same time and walked alone, probably because she felt safe.

It's easy to get complacent here in Kabul where Westerners are rarely greeted with a hostile glare and where the local merchants greet Westerners with enthusiasm. One simply doesn't feel threatened in Kabul.

While everyone knows that there are Taliban and Al Qaeda here looking for targets, the local people are so friendly and helpful that it is difficult at times to be cautious. I've been in neighborhoods in Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and Newark where I did not feel as safe as I do in Kabul.

The house I live in right now is in the middle of town. We have Afghan families living right next door to us. Their chickens wander the sidwalk outside the compound. The street in front of our house is a poorly maintained two lanes which is frequently difficult to navigate due to traffic. We have a wedding shop, car repair shop, computer stores, beauty parlors, banks, restaurants, street vendors, and travel agencies across the street and around the corner. In other words, I live among them and I do not feel threatened at all.

That's where complacency can creep in. In part that is why I take so many pictures. By always looking for a good picture, my eye is constantly roving the crowd, looking for that which may be out of place.

A while back I posted a picture of this restaurant where the sign read "HeIty and Tasty." They've fixed it...sort of. It now reads "HeaIthy and Tasty" which is an improvement, but they are still using an uppercase "I" for the lowercase "l." The Dari script on the right side of the sign is a transliteration of "Afghan Fried Chicken" on the left, rather than a translation.

Shopping with dad.
Boy in modern clothes, dad in traditional clothes.

The never-ending supply of fresh produce.

These graves near Darulaman Palace are a new National Monument.
They are the thirteen members of Parliament who were killed by a suicide bomber last November.

The mountains to the south of Kabul.

Mountains to the east of Kabul with the demining camp by Darulaman Palace in the foreground.
Another reason these guys don't get attacked as much by the Taliban is that when that happens, the locals take up arms and avenge them.
So it is equally for good sense that the Taliban don't interfere with them too much.

You frequently see some very nice horseflesh on the roads around Kabul.

The guy on the left is selling phone cards.
Note the wad of cash in his left hand.
The young lad seemed to be trying to make change.

A dress shop on a little side street.
Such a sight would have been impossible in Taliban days.

Donkey love.
She didn't seem to be all that cooperative.

Some More Street Scenes

Just another series of "Street Scenes" today. Things have been pretty normal by anyone's standards lately. In a recent report on the world's most violent cities, neither Baghdad nor Kabul appeared in the top ten. You have a better chance of getting killed in New Orleans, than in Kabul. Something to think about.

Generally, the Afghans are some of the most polite and courteous people I've ever met. There is an old saying: "An armed society is a polite society." Certainly fits here since everyone can have an AK. Pistols, on the other hand are forbidden. Their logic is that a pistol can be hidden and is therefore more dangerous. It's a bit hard to conceal an AK.

College girl walking home near Kabul University.
Just about everyone has a cell phone round these parts.



Young women chatting outside Kabul University.



This little girl was having trouble with the loaves she was carrying to her father's bakery.
This boy saw her struggling and lent a hand.
Such courtesy is quite common here.



A cobbler chats with customer.
You see these guys all over town setting up shop on sidewalks.



A local vendor takes a chai (tea) break.



The sun comes up behind the mosque.
This is a solar-powered society.
Which means the sun triggers human activity,
not the clock.



Sunrise over the demining camp.
The demining teams train here.
They then go out in the countryside to find the mines.
This is the most heavily mined country in the world, courtesy the Soviets.
There are daily reports of civilians finding mines the hard way.
Demining teams are among the few groups the Taliban leaves alone.
Even they appreciate what these guys do.



The Bravest Men in Kabul.
The traffic cops.
I kid you not. They earn this title for two reasons.
First, they are in uniform and unarmed.
Being in uniform makes them automatic targets.
Second, they stand in the roads all day,
surrounded by the craziest drivers in the world.
Afghans undergo a transformation when you get them behind the wheel.
They aren't so polite and courteous when they are driving.



Bin Laden Mosque.
Supposedly, Bin Laden put up the money that got this mosque started.
However, I don't think the locals intend to name it after him anymore.



Spiderman Sighting.
Shortly after Eid I saw this young guy out playing in his new outfit.
It came complete with fake muscles.