Thinking about Kabul again

It's been quite a while since I've posted on this blog, but that doesn't mean that Kabul has gone away. The attack on the U.S. Embassy, for one thing, certainly gave me a kind of scare. It was never clear in the media reports exactly which building the Taliban were shooting from, but I've always assumed that it was the building up near Massoud Circle that I was told will someday be the Marriott Hotel of Kabul. A building that, for that very reason, seemed to be a source of great hope.

Then in another "you never leave your last post" moment (post being, in this case, the assignment, not the blog), I was able to join former Public Affairs Section colleagues to play Trivia at Tonic up the street. With great memories of the Red Tent on the Embassy compound and the fiercely competitive Trivia matches there.

And finally, an email from Ram, filmmaker, IT guy, and dedicated teacher. He was part of the International Writing Program group that came to Kabul in May and in between reading his own poetry, showing new techniques to film

students at Kabul University, and generally being the good guy that he is, he finished several video projects about the tour. I haven't yet seen the feature documentary, but here is a short video about the poet Nathalie Handal, with images of her workshops at Kabul University's English Department (here in the photo) and at the Education Faculty.