Kabul diary week one

It is cheaper to buy Afghan stones in London than in Kabul; they are smuggled out.

Saturday

A case of beer now costs $140.00. It’s getting more and more difficult to source, The dealer who delivers the alcohol, at some risk, has so many people to pay off. He leaves my friend some hash, although my friend doesn’t smoke, and watches TV with a group of us for a while. He is getting married on Monday, although he wasn’t even engaged a few weeks ago. Tajik vodka seems readily available if you are brave enough to try it. The shop at the corner sells it.

Speaking of marriage, I use Trust taxis to get around the city. There are number of car services that cater to foreigners. They know where everyone lives, know the gossip, and can tell you who goes to what party.

The drivers speak English, and are great. One conversation is about the pull out. There is anxiety about the future. Where will money and jobs come from? We get on to this topic talking about weddings. Karzai has banned big weddings due to the outrageous expense, but no one seems to take any notice. The figures are mind boggling. It’s not unusual for these – by all accounts deadly dull affairs - to cost $30,000. Remember that this is the poorest nation outside of sub Saharan Africa.

That includes renting the wedding hall, food, inviting everyone you have ever known, and spending literally thousands of dollars on gold jewellery for the bride. People are in debt for years.

Sunday

It is difficult to convey how easy life is for those of us privileged to be in Kabul at this time. Some say it is like Saigon during the Vietnam War. There were lots of good times against a dramatic backdrop.

Like Saigon in the final days before the Viet Cong took over, you can see how the restaurants aren’t quite as busy as they were, the big projects – supported by institutions like USAID – are losing their funding, people are leaving, heading for the next big story. The large poppy palaces built in a Pakistani style that have mushroomed over the past several years have For Rent signs stuck up when once they would have had security companies and large NGOs as tenants.

House prices are down significantly from even last year. A friend is selling an old family house that has been restored. He has had to pay a $16,000.00 bribe in order to process the sale. If he doesn’t he was told he would have to wait two years before they would let the sale go through.

Security in Kabul is reasonable. Things are fine until they aren’t, but the mood is fairly gloomy, everyone is waiting. Just like the fall of Saigon in 1975 and the largest helicopter evacuation in history, everyone is waiting for that last chopper? flight out before the city goes dark.