A beautiful film on Afghanistan

Do check out this film on Afghanistan, with beautiful and unexpected images.

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.

Ruling the airways in Afghanistan

David Ignatius has a good piece today in the Washington Post about Tolo TV, one of the first and possibly the most successful private television networks in Afghanistan. Ignatius says:

Reading the news from Afghanistan, it’s easy to think that America has been pouring money down a sinkhole, trying to help a country that is forever primitive. Some of that gloom is deserved. But a look at Tolo TV reminds me that Afghanistan is actually modernizing quite rapidly and that its reform-minded journalists and television producers are some of the smartest (and bravest) people I know.

Tolo pioneered the Afghan soap opera, the Afghan reality show (Afghan Star, modelled on American Idol), and the Afghan crime drama. Its mere existence drives the Taliban crazy. Also, Tolo journalist Ahmad Farzad Lameh, who tweets in English at @FarzadLameh, is a well-informed source about Afghan news and politics. Check him out!

The cats are back

You may be beginning to think I'm a little crazy about cats, but after my last post I found this set of photos from last year in the Washington Post. As you will see, the Marines are a lot more generous toward their feline friends than the diplomats. Stereotypes, be gone!

The Consul speaks

A colleague at Embassy Kabul explains why he likes his job.

Nothing is easy in Afghanistan, not even a simple trip down the street.
Even after 10 years into my career, I'm always learning something new here in
Afghanistan. It's both exhausting and inspiring, frustrating and uplifting. For
me, working in Afghanistan isn't just an opportunity to serve on the frontlines
of American diplomacy, it represents a chance to take on unique
challenges.

Read more here.

In search of an Afghan cat

Snow Leopard, a photo by Aamir Yunus on Flickr.

Apologies at the beginning, because the title for this post is a really poor pun on the title of this blog. (I tell you this in case you weren't really paying attention.) But cats have been in the news in Afghanistan recently. First, the good news. The snow leopard of Afghanistan, considered extremely endangered, turns out to have a surprisingly healthy population in the Wakhan Corridor, in the high mountains of northeast Afghanistan, according to a report from National Geographic.

On the down side, read this story from the Washington Post about the cat population of the American Embassy in Kabul. It is, by the way, absolutely true that the Embassy has a pretty big population of semi-domesticated cats that most people either like or tolerate. The account of the crisis in the Embassy is wholly accurate, I would say. I was in Kabul when the "cat town meeting" was held, and although I didn't attend the meeting, by all accounts it was raucous. Never get between a cat and a cat lover, is my advice. My colleague feels bad that Ambassador Keith, the Assistant Chief of Mission, was called out in the Post article. I just think that if you are an Ambassador, you want to get in the newspapers standing up to tyranny or at least welcoming Lady Gaga. Not for cat genocide.

Personally, I always thought the cats were non-offensive at worst, rather sweet at best. They certainly didn't deserve the threatening notices posted all around the cafeteria. Except for the black cat that all too often sat on the steps of the Old Chancery, where our offices were located. We were convinced that this one was the Iranian Spy Cat, and no doubt deserved deportation, though certainly not execution.

Turkish Airlines to fly to Kabul

THY Turkish Airlines has announced that, beginning today, it will fly from Istanbul to Kabul three times a week. Not only will that be a nice addition to the approved flights that U.S. Embassy personnel can use -- assuming that it is approved -- but it's an impressive vote of confidence in the Afghan market. Perhaps not what one would think given the recurring news of Taliban attacks.

Ariana Afghan airlines already has a flight to Istanbul, but it's not too reliable. Nor is the flight approved for Embassy personnel, since the airline doesn't meet international safety standards. Nonetheless, relieved that Ariana hadn't had a reported accident in decades, a friend took the Kabul-Istanbul flight a few weeks ago. Although we could get him reconfirmed for his flight, he reported that the airline was uninformative about its flight delay and made an intermediate stop in Ankara that wasn't on the schedule, thus causing him to miss his onward connection. Since THY is reported to be the best airline in Europe, perhaps these issues won't affect its Kabul flight. To be confirmed....