Reemerging Kabul

Govinda Neupane

I had an opportunity for going on a short journey to Kabul. When I crossed the sky over the Pakistani town of Peshawar, I felt very much excited. The plane landed in the Jalalabad airport. The sky was clear and the valley looked like an oasis situated at the bank of Kabul River. There was the debris of several destroyed small planes spread on either sides of the airport. May be, the number of such planes was 5 to 6 and also there were two tanks. After 10 minutes of stay there, the plane took off for Kabul.

The hills and mountains were completely barren. There was no sign of any plant life around hundreds of square Kilometers. The higher peaks were covered with snow. After completing passport formalities at the immigration counter, I came out and went to a hotel to stay for a few days. The agreed upon room tariff was US $35. Looking at the size of the room and the facilities, it could be considered too high, but by going through availability of facilities in Kabul the cost was reasonable. There were electric heater, TV, VCD and fridge in the room. The bed was quite clean. There were three toilets/bathrooms for the 5 guest rooms in the floor. No room had attached bath.

After having some refreshing activities such as changing dresses, washing face and unpacking the essential items and keeping them at the proper places, I went out to look around the city. The Kabul International hotel where I had stayed was centrally located. The first street I walked had a unique name – "Chicken Street". Strange enough, there was no live or dead chicken bird available. Instead, in almost all the shops either sides of the road, beautiful Afghan carpets, shawls and craft items were in display. I visited “Flower Street” and saw flower displays, departmental stores etc. The area covering all these streets and the hotel where I was staying is the center of the city. The area has been called Shar-e-Naw. There is also a park by this name.

I went to the north-west part of Kabul city and slowly proceeded to the area where the Kabul University is located. The Agriculture Ministry is very close to the University. Just south of the University, I passed through the area where each and every house was destroyed by rocket fires during the war among Mujahiddin factions between 1992 and 1996. All the neighborhoods in this area had been destroyed. The destruction and devastation was so horrible that one can see and feel the war even today. Passing through Kabul Museum, I reached the area where two majestic palaces were standing. These palaces were constructed by King Amanullah Khan and are called 'Darulaman' (places of Amanullah). The roof and several parts of one of the palaces were destroyed by the rocket fires and the other palace was also partly damaged. In the second palace (the less damaged one), the Russians had killed Hafizullah Amin. Amin was a faction leader of the then ruling communist party. He killed the then President of Afghanistan Mohammad Taraki, another faction leader. Amin had unsuccessfully tried to take control of the city and the state. I reached Bala Hissar fort at the south and also saw the place where the famous Afghan king Nadir Shah was resting. In Wazir Akbar Khan area, I saw the place where former Afghan President Najibullah was hanged by the Taliban regime.

I bought an old but very nice and colorful map of Kabul city. Also, I observed the complicated process of buying and selling at the Chicken Street. The people from the west – Europe and America were the center of attraction for the shop-keepers. Several of them were roaming around.

I was a bit surprised when I saw two western soldiers hanging their ultra-modern guns on their shoulders and carrying the pistol type of weapons tied on their thigh, walking on the street with relaxed body language. They went inside a shop where on the window glass "American CDs" was painted. Most probably, they bought CDs. When they came out, I introduced myself to them as a tourist and politely beg permission to ask a question. They asked what I wanted to know. I simply asked them that do they feel secure while walking on the street. They replied in affirmative and said that Kabul is not that bad. Barring some isolated incidences, the city is normal. Their answer reconfirmed my preliminary assessment that Kabul sounds normal. The isolated incidences are taking place everywhere. That may happen in Kabul too.

Everywhere, the construction work is going on. The multi-story buildings are coming up. Road repair works are in progress. The construction boom has created employment. The debris is being cleared. All these activities are not only expanding economic prospects but also generating new hopes for a bright future.

No one was sure about the population of Kabul. The estimated figure was about 2 million. Medley and Barrand ("Kabul: The Bradt Guide" by Dominic Medley and Jude Barrand, 2003 pp: 33) have estimated the population between 1.5 million to 2.5 million. About two million refugees from Pakistan, Iran, India and the west have already returned and most of them are staying in Kabul. Still, more than a million people are outside the country and many more are internally displaced. Those who are back are trying to start a fresh life from the scratches. Difficulties, dwindling level of self-confidence, lack of basic family and community infrastructure are the limiting factors whereas the hardened life styles, hopes and the coping strengths are the factors which may contribute for their better future. Although, they are living in the hostile physical, social and security environment, the people are immensely enterprising and are trying to live the life in a very normal way. When I asked some of the returnees, whether they want to send their children to schools, they answered in affirmative. Unfortunately, at present, the school system in the area was not functioning and the families also are heavily preoccupied to resettling and meeting their minimum survival needs.

The traffic was full of chaos. Traffic jam is very common and ruthless driving sounds part of Kabul traffic. The drivers generally had no respect for rules. In the guide-book mentioned above, I had read that there could be around 40,000 taxies. The volume and transaction needed to sustain this many number of taxies signals the level of economic activities in the city.

A friend of mine invited me for lunch. They had prepared wonderful Afghan delicacies that included Kabab, roasted chicken, green-leaf vegetable curry, Pulao, Afghani nan, lamb curry mashala, kima-bean curry, capsicum-kima (kima filled in a full sized cooked capsicum) curry, green salad, sweets, fruits and green tea. The lunch was delicious, may be one of the best I ever had.

I had the opportunity to talk with some of the Afghan intellectuals and development professionals. They had fairly good understanding of the Afghan situation. Responding to my several queries, they told the following.

Afghanistan is fast recovering from the destruction and devastation resulted due to the wars fought for over 20 years.
Taliban, Mujahiddin, Russians and Americans all added to the already existing difficulties in all areas – politics, economy, culture and infrastructure.
Particularly, Northern Alliance was responsible for the destruction of the western part of the city. The Americans are blamed for high handedness. The example includes the killing of many innocent children. Therefore, people are generally supportive to ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) but they oppose Americans.
Pakistani Mullahs are responsible for the destruction carried out by the Taliban as they created, promoted and assisted Taliban.
Some Pakistani government officials, more particularly the Mullah's provincial government of NWFP and some section of the army have soft corner towards Taliban and are helping them even today.
Pashtuns (the speaker himself was a Pashtun) are generally indifferent towards children's education. Girl's education is something they do not know.
Perhaps, geography plays a major role. The northern Afghanistan has difficult terrain but there are secondary schools for girls even in remote areas whereas in the south the picture is very different. That might have been influenced by former Soviet Union's focus on education on the other side of the northern boarder whereas the Pakistani Mullah's Madarshas influenced the south.
The security situation in the north, west and in and around Kabul is fast coming to be normal whereas there are some problems in the south and east. It is because of boarder effect and Pashtun community leader's inability to understand the foreigner's (particularly Arabs) self interest. But, the propaganda that Afghanistan is at war situation is false. Look the situation in Pakistan. How many blasts took place there? Their President has been targeted repeatedly.
Foreign terrorists are still active in Afghanistan but, now, they are not that much strong who can challenge our emerging political process. Their inability to disturb the on-going session of Loya Jirga despite maximum threats proves their weakness.
Corruption is rampant within the government system. It is partly due to low salary and partly due to the sky high ambitions of the rising middle class.
Kabul is seeing lots of economic activities and construction boom. If this trend reaches the interior, we may develop very fast. For this purpose, Afghanistan needs rehabilitation of agriculture system; focus on education and health and building social and physical infrastructure. So, we need international assistance, rain, security and stability and a functional government.
This year, the agriculture production in the north was encouraging. Due to the production in the north, the price of wheat floor has been stabilized.
The Afghans staying abroad are the major investors in the economic revival process.

The discussions were meaningful. Now, I have some insights on Afghan situation and the perception of Afghan intelligentsia regarding several issues. Also, I have some bench marks to verify and make necessary adjustments by obtaining new information.

I visited Pashtunistan square. I saw the palace and surrounding areas. I walked the road starting foreigner's darling – the Mustafa Hotel. I saw a few restaurants. It was interesting that in each and every major restaurant the menu was in US Dollar.

Indian and Pakistani songs, music and films are popular. More particularly, the Indian films are most popular.

I also visited the industrial area about 20 kilometers away from the city center at Jalalabad road. I saw many factories coming up. It sounds the future is bright and promising. I met some of the boys and talked with them in broken Urdu. They said they do not go to school as they have to work. The boys were intelligent.

As I was just roaming in the Chicken Street, one boy came to me and asked to buy a "Newsweek" with Saddam's photograph on the cover. When I declined to buy, he asked me "don't like Saddam"? I answered diplomatically by saying "I don't know". He said "Saddam good, American bad". Interesting! The small boy of about 12 years of age not only knows some English but also has his own opinion on some of the most talked about agenda items – Saddam Hussein and America.

Although, in the hotel most of the staff did not speak English; they were polite, helpful and friendly. I left Kabul with a sense of satisfaction. The city is recovering very fast. It is rediscovering its past glory and repositioning itself among the cities of South Asia. Finally, I said "good bye" to Kabul, the ancient city with a bright future in making!

The People's Review Weekly, Kathmandu, July 1- 7, 2004