Good news!!! I found a new guesthouse. It’s very close to the office. It’s a good thing because it’s like a universal desire to live close to your workplace. But the bad thing is that I will really miss my little tours through Kabul. I really enjoyed driving to work, even if it was for only 10 minutes. The place is a bit expensive but quality comes with a price. I have my own toilet and shower. I share a TV-room with 3 other people. There’s a gym, a coffeebar, a pingpong table (luckily for you lorencito, you are not around), a snooker, 2 meals a day, internet and armed guards. Every Thursday we are having a barbecue in our garden. So I think it will be a good place for me. In total around 30 people are living there.

08-07-2009 om 17:36 geschreven door gijoom  

I can be short about security restrictions. Security restrictions are a bitch. I feel like I’m having house arrest for six months. Every morning you have to call in for a UN armoured vehicle to pick you up and bring you to your work. In the evening an armoured vehicle comes and picks you up to bring you to your place. So the only way I get to see Kabul is on the way to work. Luckily we take another route everydayJ

In the weekend you can use a UN vehicle if somebody of your guesthouse possesses one. Last weekend we went to a Lebanese restaurant and did some shopping. Other than that you don’t have any freedom of movement at all. Last weekend we had a security exercise which meant that everybody was locked down from 09.00AM until 02.00PM. This way the people responsible for the security of the UN-staff prepare themselves for the upcoming elections in August. Some people fear this is an ideal occasion for the insurgents to cause some embarrassment for the people in power. Others think the insurgents will keep quiet because they are actually quite happy with the current situation and the current president. President Karzai tends to accept that some provinces are under control of Taliban insurgents. He wants to talk and work out some deal with them to stabilize the country. That’s why the insurgents wouldn’t be malcontent with the re-election of Karzai. Bad idea if you ask me, (of course nobody asks me) we all saw what happened in the Swat-valley in Pakistan.

We also have a curfew. From 11.00PM to 06.00AM we are not allowed to go anywhere. The most unsafe time to be on the street is early in the morning. Most attacks and kidnappings have happened during that time of the day. In general the security situation in Kabul and elsewhere is getting worse. I’ve been hearing it from expats who have been here a while and I’ve been reading it on the security updates we get. Afghans are tired of our presence here and you can even see it in the way they stare at us when we drive around Kabul. Of course the way they look at us is also the result of how we are driven around in those armoured vehicles. I don’t know if they drive so aggressively because they want to prevent their escape route from being blocked or because they feel powerful driving an armoured vehicle. In any case it’s far from pleasant for the local population.

Everywhere you look you can see armed guards in front of compounds blocked by checkpoints and barbwire. Not all of the buildings are protected by the Afghan army. Some of the guards are wearing another kind of uniform. Those guys are members of private militias. Close to the city centre I saw a couple of armed guards from the private militia of one of the former generals of the Northern Alliance. He is an authority for the Uzbek population in Kabul.

Well there is a lot more to tell about security but for security reasons I won’t:)

Take care and be safe,

Gijoom

08-07-2009 om 17:33 geschreven door gijoom