Adventurers Club

Benefits

2007-04-06T05:17:00.000-07:00

Last week I was made head of our Lahore office - definitely not a promotion and the company pretty much had to beg me to take on the added responsibility. But, in spite of the lack of additional monetary compensation, there are two primary benefits to the new responsibilities. 1) I get a paper delivered to my desk every day. 2) The tea man now brings me a constant stream of tea.

I'm not sure if I've talked about the tea man before, but the position of "tea man" is pretty much a requirement for all Pakistani firms. It's an employment generation scheme which suits the huge disparity in incomes in Pakistan and feeding the egos of the tea recipients. At any rate, every office has at least one man who's sole purpose in life is brewing and delivering tea to the executives. Yes, it's weird, and goes a long way to explaining my landlady's disbelief that I actually know how to boil water (I have a tea man to do that! At the office at least.).

2007-04-05T02:33:00.000-07:00

Things in Pakistan are not looking particularly good. Islamic fundamentalist youth are storming shopping centers and threatening video store owners, which must be a terrible quandry for the State Department since the videos are 100% bootleg. To condemn oppressive fundamentalism or the copyright infringers? They're of course taking the middle road, and staying silent. Who would have thought US copyright lawyers and the Taliban would be on the same team?

Meanwhile, the tribes in Waziristan are thrilled because for the first time in years their war drums are getting a workout. And no, I'm not using a colorful turn of phrase, they really are excited that they get to bang on war drums, something the Taliban hitherto had not allowed (too musical?). But the Taliban has approved a jihad against Uzbek militants in the area - something everyone can get behind, I guess...

At any rate, the uptick in fundamentalist activity has my middle class Pakistani friends and colleagues scratching their heads and shooting worried glances at each other while the government begs a crew of fundamentalist school girls to please stop kidnapping people and vacate the children's library. Chucking a bunch of schoolgirls in jail, regardless of their backing by stick-wielding men, is presumably perceived as too great a risk for sparking Ulema outrage. The big argument for the current military government is that it is the only force that can keep fringe elements at bay. Yet the Taliban operate with impunity, and they can't handle a group of militant schoolgirls. Hm...

More Cute Kids

2007-03-27T00:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic of some kids who trailed after me in a Kabul slum as if I was the Pied Piper. I was there trying to get a story on a carpet manufacturer, who'd gotten a $15,000 loan from a microfinance bank we work with. With that loan, he'd created 600 jobs (results not typical, but impressive).

Positively deviant

2007-03-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

Save the Children is doing this really simple, amazing, brilliant, obvious thing in Afghanistan, which costs very little so of course no donor will fund it. It's called "positive deviation." Basically, they go into a village where there's malnutrition (pretty much in all Afghan villages) then look for women who have healthy kids. They figure out what the mothers with healthy kids are doing, then train these mothers to work with the other village mothers and share their feeding/cooking techniques. This way, instead of importing infant formulas and frozen chickens from America, local women are sharing local solutions using local inputs. In the first village they tried this in, they ended malnutrition in twelve days. Yes, that's twelve DAYS.

This is the sort of aid work that *should* be happening all over the world, and let's hope we see more of it.

Military Aid

2007-03-17T03:15:00.000-07:00

In the development world, aid workers tend to sneer at soldiers to provide humanitarian assistance (that old hearts and minds). I've been thinking about it a lot lately, since delivering the funds to Help Afghan Kids, an all-volunteer outfit run by the soldiers at Camp Phoenix. When we dropped off the money, the soldiers explained that they weren't funding the orphanages any more because they were quite well stocked -- so well supplied that local parents were committing their children to them to make sure they were fed and clothed. To prevent that from happening, the soldiers decided to provide aid to the village children instead, and they do it quite efficiently. A medical check-up at one of their temporary medical tents only costs $1 per child.

Now I totally get the idea that if soldiers are delivering aid, people might be more hostile to non-soldiers delivering aid, confusing the two. However, the soldiers seem a lot more accountable than the average development worker, who gets handed grandiose schemes from some guy sitting in Washington. First, if they don't get public services out, they run the risk of people becoming more hostile and shooting at them (a good incentive). Second, the soldiers actually are looking around at what's happening in their little neighborhoods and delivering the goods - i.e., they're coming up with local solutions to local problems. That doesn't happen as often or as easily when aid workers are working off 5-year plans from DC.

So all in all, I guess I come down in favor of military aid. It may not change the world, but sometimes I wonder if our big USAID plans are doing any good either. And at least the soldiers are getting what's needed to folks who need it.

Back in Kabul

2007-03-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to access blogspot from Pakistan, hence the lack of recent posts. However, I'm in Afghanistan for the next week and a half and enjoying myself immensely.

This morning I was woken up by a large explosion. I was too tired to figure out it was an explosion at the time -- I thought someone was rattling my door (it was the window rattling), cursed, and rolled over. Then my colleague called to tell me there had been a car bomb near the Serena. It turned out to be four gunpowder shops suddenly and unexpectedly going out of business in the old city, which I guess is a relief but at least 13 people were killed in the explosion. And if you're like me, you're thinking, "gunpowder shops?" Okaaaaaay.

Once it was clear that it was safe to leave the hotel, I went to my security debriefing, and the statistics were utterly depressing. Attacks in Afghanistan more than doubled in 2006, and it looks like they'll be worse in 2007 if the trend continues.

Then work (yes, I do work), then off to Camp Phoenix to drop off the funds my company raised for Help Afghan Kids, a project run by the US soldiers there. What a great bunch of guys. You can read more about their humanitarian projects at: http://www.taskforcewarrior.org. Or, check out one of their blogs at: http://www.taskforcephoenix5.blogspot.com. How great were they? They let us shop at the PX! Nutter Butters and Enduring Freedom t-shirts! Whoo hoo!

Vacation

2007-01-03T17:16:00.000-08:00

I'm just wrapping up my three week vacation in California. By US work standards, three weeks vacation is disgustingly hedonistic. Coming from (and returning to) Pakistan, it doesn't seem nearly long enough. One of the highlights of this trip was a visit to La Nebbia (formerly Obester) winery, on highway 92 to Half Moon Bay. For $5, we got to taste eight different wines and keep the glass. Even more interesting was our chat with the owner, who was pouring - a woman about my age who chucked a career in Silicon Valley to follow her dream and run a winery - the California dream!

Two Things

2006-12-03T19:24:00.000-08:00

Two things of import happened in Islamabad last week. First, the Hudood laws, which required a woman to present four male witnesses to a rape and then charged a woman with adultary should she fail to prove rape, were repealed. It's the first time in decades the government has gone against the Mullahs. There've been a lot of protests, and I suspect this law will be implemented only spottily in certain regions, but it's a big step.

Second, McDonald's opened in Islamabad this weekend. Easy access to Big Macs aside (I'm a vegetarian), the opening of a McDonald's in a foreign country generally heralds two things: a) anti-Americanism is within managable levels; and b) local infrastructure has reached a point where McDonald's can ensure consistency of food production. Again, all good things.

However, these positive indicators aside, the radical fundamentalists still have way too much power, which they're exercising outside of democratic processes. If they don't like the way they think a vote will go, they boycott parliament and organize strikes. There's no concept of, "we lost this one, so we'll work through the process to try to win next time." They just reject what they don't like. Democracy still is something which people don't really "get" here, and I don't think that will change any time soon. Which leads to the bigger issue of whether people really need democracy, or if dictatorships are "okay" for some folks. I'm not a cultural relativist, but it took the west some 800 years or so to figure out democracy and I don't expect the east to do much better, despite our example.

2006-11-01T04:50:00.000-08:00

Looks a bit scary in this pic, but nice in person.

ISI

2006-11-01T04:45:00.000-08:00

For some reason, I can't access any blogspot blogs from Lahore. I can post, but I can't view my own blog or anyone elses. I blame the Pakitani secret police, the ISI, because they're freaky, they're everywhere, and I've been reading Ghost Wars so they're foremost in my mind these days. When I finish the book I'll give a complete review, but so far it's on par with Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game as a historical page turner.

Anyway, because I've been asked to and just to prove I'm still alive, following is a picture of the Buddha that got me into so much trouble.

Another Fine Mess

2006-10-18T04:12:00.000-07:00

It's unfortunate I keep forgetting my camera when I go to Taxila, because I probably can't go there anymore. Just to refresh your memories, Taxila is the site of an ancient city, with ruins spread over several square kilometers. I've seen almost all the ruins, some of which are more impressive than others. What's really impressive is the sheer size of the place. Anyway, my boyfriend and I decided to see some of the sites we hadn't gotten to yet, and then have a picnic at Sirkap, an ancient planned city founded by the Greeks. I was also on a quest for a large carved Buddha head.

Taxila today is the center of a stone cutting industry, mainly focused on funerary ware, but with a smattering of reproductions of Taxila sculptures. At every site I'd been to, I'd been hounded by touts hawking fake coins and small sculptures, and I figured if I could find the source of the sculptures I might find some larger pieces.

Unfortunately, the touts ruined our picnic, staring unblinkingly at us while we chewed our cheese sandwiches and then pouncing once we'd swallowed the last bite. In spite of the fact that they were annoying as hell, they also volunteered the information that they had larger pieces back at their shops, so I put up with it, and we followed one guy through okra patches to his village.

He did have a lovely piece, and the bargaining commenced. As usual, I botched it, but because the man's grandfather entered the room and began yelling at him that he was pricing it too low. The scene became heated so I just paid up (the price was good for America, bad for Pakistan, I was okay with it). Grandpa snatched the money from his grandson's hand, took 2/3rds, and gave the rest back. As soon as he was gone, the disappointed youth tried desperately to sell us more, but one large Buddha was all I really needed. He said he had a shop in Islamabad so we exchanged cards and departed friends.

That night, the man called me twice, saying "his heart wanted" to see me, and I should come to his shop tomorrow morning. I said "no." The next morning one of my co-workers came upstairs to my office and told me that a man from Taxila was "bothering" them, and that he said he knew me. In a fury at having my work interrupted, I went downstairs and chucked the guy out, the scene enfolding much to the entertainment in front of my boss from Washington and several other Washington visitors. The Man from Taxila called me three times immediately afterwards. I didn't answer and finally got a male colleague to call him back and tell him to leave me alone.

Which is a long way of explaining why no new pictures of Taxila will be forthcoming.

Paranoia

2006-10-06T03:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my landlord's teenage son began asking me about US politics, whether Americans thought Bin Laden was a bad guy (yes), and whether we believed the Israelis or US government blew up the WTC. Clearly, he thought Bin Laden was okay and he told me he thought the Israelis dunnit. I didn't argue with him too much, because I doubted anything I could say would change his mind. Perhaps it was the lazy way out, but I kept thinking of an American guy I know who spent the first two days teaching computer science here trying to convince his class that the moon landing was not faked.

They didn't buy it.

There are apparently a good number of folks in the US who believe these zany conspiracy theories as well, but I'm no longer surprised when well educated 20-somethings I meet here are willing to believe any mad theory which suits their world view. It's gotten a bit disturbing, which might explain my sudden irrational paranoia about a new hire in our office, who acts very squirrelly around me and has now managed to get my address out of a colleague. I'm annoyed about the latter (Hello? Has NO ONE read the security manual???), and the problem is I can't argue that this guy doesn't fit the crazed terrorist profile because from everything I've seen and been reading lately, most of these terrorists aren't the poor and downtrodden -- they're the middle class and educated (see: "Understanding Terror Networks," by Marc Sageman for an interesting demographic study on just who these guys are). Okay, realistically, it's probably post traumatic stress from Afghanistan, and a few months from now I'll feel deeply ashamed that I ever thought anything so outrageous.

But for now I'm sticking with mad paranoia. Why not? Everyone else here does.

Security Report

2006-09-21T00:36:00.000-07:00

The security report is in. It's been recommended that I move, but it was also recommended that the country director move and I don't think he's going to, so I should be off the hook. In the text I'm referred to as an "inmate" of my apartment. And we apparently need to "circumcise" our profile.

Hm...

Security Briefing

2006-09-12T23:31:00.000-07:00

Another day, another security briefing.

Actually, this is the first time this has happened here in the Lahore office. Our company hired a consultant to review our security and recommend improvements, which on the whole was a good step. However, I wish I'd had a secret video recorder for the briefing, because it beat anything on TV. You kind of had to be there, but as a brief sample:

Security Consultant: "Your driver drove a bit rashly. His driving was uncertain."
Office manager: "Rashly? You mean recklessly?"
SC: "No, he was not disciplined. He was not paying attention to the other cars."
OM: "So he is reckless?"
SC: "No, he is not reckless. But his driving was a bit eratic. We got into a small accident."
OM: "But this is Lahore. This is the driving style."
SC: "I know the driving style is different here, but--"
OM: "I have driven all over the world. And the driving style here in Lahore is different. Every city has a different style of driving. The driving style is different in Dubai then it is in Lahore. The driving style in London is different that it is in Lahore. The driving style in America is different than it is in Lahore. The driving style in Islamabad is different. The driving style in Faisalbad is different than Lahore. The driving style in Karachi is different. The driving style in Mumbai is different..."

My eyes started to cross at this point. And when the meeting finished with our (Pakistani) security team leader making the statement: "But of course, on a scale of 1-10, Iraq and Afghanistan are 9s and 10s, America is an 8, and of course Pakistan is only around a 3 or 4. Pakistan is much safer than America."

I'm in good hands.

Trader Joe's

2006-09-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I'd torture myself and see what Trader Joe's was selling in California. The American grocery store is something one just doesn't appreciate until it's gone (e.g. you're in Pakistan), and Trader Joe's is one of those quirky delights which brings tears to my eyes when I'm trolling around Lahore and think about it too much.

Anyway, my web search uncovered this gem -- a blog devoted just to the candy at Trader Joe's. Check it out at: http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/category/traderjoes/

I need a tissue.

This Old House

2006-09-06T04:23:00.000-07:00

Just read in a UPI article that Pakistan is "frequently described as the most dangerous country in the world." (See: http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060905-095733-6350r)

Oops. And there I was attributing the danger pay to US diplomats inflating the danger for their own selfish paycheck purposes.

In the mean time, while I was at work today in this super-hazardous place, a TV crew was filming the house I live in for a segment on up-and-coming architects (names and addresses will not be mentioned). I forgot to lock the fridge -- hope no one peeked in and noticed the bootleg wine. But kitchens are for servants, ergo not particularly attractive, so I'm guessing they won't have spent much time there.

No title (because that would require creative thought)

2006-09-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

Some of you have been wondering whether I've dropped off the planet. I haven't -- just haven't had anything nice to say and decided to take a break from the complaining (a wallet stolen in Cairo, deteriorating security situation in Pakistan, etc.). That said, I'm breaking my silence in spite of still having nothing good to say.

The Pakistani government dropped a missile on a Balochistan warlord, and the local rabble rousers are up in arms. Add that to a narrowly avoided vote of no confidence against the prime minister, and a whiff of instability now hangs in the air. In honor of this, I just learned our office is going to have a surprise "shocking" security test at a date not to be announced. If it's a faux "kidnap the ex-pat," I'm going to be super pissed.

Unless they faux-kidnap the visiting consultant.

That could be funny.

2006-08-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

At the Egyptian Museum, determined to get *some* culture on this trip.

Scarriott

2006-08-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

I was really excited about the hotel my company was putting me in -- the Cairo Marriott Zamalek. It's on an island in the Nile. It's built around a 19th century palace (i.e. two big towers were tacked onto the ends of the palace). The facilities are nice, in spite of the construction going on.

However...

Internet costs $18 for an hour. And if you're sap enough to use the cable they supply in the room (i.e. run it through the telephone) rather than use wi-fi, you get to pay an additional $1/minute!

The small plastic bottles of water in my room are $4 each.

I expect these sorts of shenanigans in the Khan-el-Khalili bazaar. I go to an international hotel to avoid this garbage.

So I went out and bought an entire case of large water bottles for $4. The bellman whined about having to wheel them up to my room (via the elevator) on his little cart, and I regret having tipped the son-of-a-pharoah at all.

Typical Egypt? The Cairo Marriott is managed by Europeans.

Cairo Politics

2006-07-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

I flew to Cairo yesterday for a three week assignment. Unfortunately, the Israeli-Lebanon war is being billed here as the United States-Lebanon war, and I've been warned to stay off the streets after Friday prayers. After the last riot I got caught up in, I'm taking this warning seriously. However, fortunately, so far everyone here has been pleasant and things seem fairly normal here. For Cairo.

2006-07-18T02:03:00.000-07:00

The road outside my office after only two hours of rain. What happens in a real storm? The monsoons are coming...

2006-07-12T01:04:00.000-07:00

"Butt" is a common family name in Pakistan, and the source of endless amusement to small minds like my own. Ah, the simple pleasures...

2006-07-10T23:32:00.000-07:00

The village water cooler. Vehari, Pakistan.

Multan

2006-07-10T06:07:00.000-07:00

Because several people have asked, no, I was not on the plane that crashed in Multan. Oddly enough, I just got back from a trip to Multan, however, I decided that I was not going to fly in anything called a "Fokker" plane and went by car and bus instead.

How was Multan? It was hot. Too hot to do any sightseeing. It was so hot, that when the dust storm hit at 6 pm the temperature dropped to 100 degrees.

Hot.

Banking

2006-07-04T01:07:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I found a sweet new duplex to move into. The price was suspiciously low, but the owners were wealthy and basically wanted a foreigner living above them. So I jumped on it. There was one roadblock, however: Standard Chartered Bank.

I figured it would take a day or two to set up a bank account, which I could then transfer money into from the US and pay my six months up front rent. It took a week to open the account, largely because of all the piddling little demands of the bank. My letter from my office stating I worked in Pakistan didn't have colored letterhead. I needed a reference from an existing Standard Chartered Account holder... It went on and on. I finally opened the account, only to have the money transfer delayed a week by my local bank in California, which probably makes international money transfers about once a year (okay, I can't blame Standard Chartered for that one).

Miraculously, the money arrived hours before I had to meet my landlords and move in. I proudly wrote a check from my new checkbook. Today my landlady called. She couldn't cash the check because my signature didn't exactly match the one the bank had on file.

AUGH!!! I can't carbon copy my bloody signature! So now I have to run down to the bank with my landlady to help her cash the check.

I can't wait until I get my ATM card.

Islamic Contracts

2006-06-28T01:47:00.000-07:00

My future landlords are very kindly allowing me to move in to their duplex tomorrow, even though I won't be able to pay them until next week. Cash transfers between Pakistan and the US take about a week -- add that to the week it took me to open a bank account with Standard Chartered (grrrr...) and my funds are a bit behind schedule.

Oddly, the standard contract I'll be signing for the duplex says I'm a Muslim. It's one of the quirks of living in an Islamic republic -- anything remotely legal touches upon one's religion. I suspect being a religious minority here is hell - I'm only able to rise above it by virtue of my (relative) wealth and position.

A Rainy Morning in Lahore

2006-06-27T00:31:00.000-07:00

It rained for about an hour this morning, and the street outside my office is flooded with over a foot of water. I wish I had brought my camera, to show you a picture of the guys trying to push a van through it. If this is what happens after one short (but heavy) storm, I can't wait to see what happens when the monsoon season begins.

Meanwhile, we had interviews lined up for two graphic designers this morning - neither could get to our office and so they cancelled. More critically, no lunch delivery! And I don't think we can get the car out to collect it either. Fortunately, I'm armed with granola bars.

Politicizing Aid (even more)

2006-06-26T04:17:00.000-07:00

I just got word that USAID's policies are shifting, and that they will be more closely "unified" with foreign policy. Specifically, the Administrator of USAID will now also be the Director of Foreign Assistance at the US State Department, and will have a coordination role in overseeing assistance budgets of other departments, including Department of Defense, among others.

Coordination of aid funds makes sense, and to a certain extent, aid has always been linked to politics. It's inevitable that any funding that comes from the government is going to have a political element, and foreign aid is no exception.

However, my immediate reaction when I read about this new intensity, was "OH GOD, NO!!!" Here's why:

First, politics is short term. Development is long term. The two are not compatible. An example is Afghan opium production -- eradicating it is a key US priority (and rightly so). But this has resulted in the panicked throwing of aid money at the poppy region. Specifically, in my field, microcredit, microcredit organizations are being cajoled and threatened to get their butts down there and start making loans. The problem is that these regions are lawless combat zones, and as much as I love microcredit, how is microcredit going to really make a dent in poppy production? Sure, a few high-minded farmers might take loans and switch from their $2k an acre poppies to $35/acre wheat, but realistically...? Furthermore, NGO workers are not soldiers - they're easy marks and a number have already been picked off during this season of terrorism. The knee-jerk USAID push to drive NGOs into these combat zones just seems wrong-headed to me (and a waste of taxpayer funding). And meanwhile, funding gets diverted from programs which are starting to work.

Real development is thoughtful - it takes time, energy, and patience. Am I describing US foreign policy here? I don't think so, but feel free to disagree. I don't claim to have all the answers here - just lots of questions.

A second cause for alarm is that lots of people already assume I'm a CIA stooge, and this makes things more dangerous for me and every other aid worker. Any narrowing of the policy/aid gap is just going to increase the risk that NGOs will become targets.

Bad planning

2006-06-20T04:02:00.000-07:00

I've been on the hunt for a long-term place to stay in Lahore, since it looks like I'll be here through the end of the year (with a possible diversion to Cairo in the summer). Two thirds of the very nice, very new, very modern kitchens I've viewed had no space for a refrigerator. In several cases, the refrigerator was plunked in the living room. It's all very weird.

I did end up plunking for an opulent duplex, with no space in the wall to wall counters for a refrigerator. We've agreed that we'll put a refrigerator against the door that exits from the kitchen to the servants' quarters, blocking that door off. (The servants' quarters has another exterior door). Given the extreme poverty in Pakistan, household help is dirt cheap, which explains the lack of labor saving devices (like washing machines) in wealthy pakistani homes. It's just cheaper to pay someone to beat your clothes against a rock then buy a machine and do it yourself. There may be some weird connection to this and the refrigerator-free zone, but so far, I haven't figured it out. Wealthy Pakistanis don't use the kitchen, they have servants for that, so... Or maybe there servants shop for fresh food every day, cook it for the householders, then eat the leftovers so there's no need for a fridge?

Hm... Another mystery to solve.

Why Pakistan's Lawless Provinces are a Global Problem

2006-06-05T04:20:00.000-07:00

And here's another good article (from the SF Chronicle, no less) on Pakistan's involvement in the fighting in Afghanistan. Pakistan's excuses have worn thin...

Check it out at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/31/MNGT1J4ULI1.DTL&hw=baluchistan&sn=001&sc=1000

2006-06-05T00:47:00.000-07:00

Attock Fort, overlooking the Indus River

To the Indus River

2006-06-05T00:36:00.000-07:00

Anyone with a passing knowledge of Kipling or tales of Great Gamesmanship has probably heard of the great Indus River - a river which has taken on mythic historical dimensions. The Indus river now forms a long barrier along the border of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), which encompasses North Waziristan (now in Taliban hands) and other regions the Pakistani government can't seem to control.

J and I took a road trip to the spot where the Kabul River flows into the Indus, the Kabul's dark waters forming a stark line against the pale blue of the Indus. An elaborate fort - Attock - overlooks this huge Y, staggering down the hillside toward the bank of the Indus.

Home Again

2006-05-30T05:04:00.000-07:00

After a sleepless night on the floor, they let me leave the safe house this morning. Things are calm here, but our security is watching the situation carefully (i.e. we're ready to run at a moment's notice).

I still have a hard time believing how quickly this happened. I woke up in the morning, everything normal, and then all hell broke loose. After having the hell scared out of me by the attack on my car, and then listening to the automatic gunfire outside, the evacuation to the safe house was terrifying. The mobs around my house had been temporarily scared off by the cops and army, but their burning road blocks were all over the place. We charged down the streets, horn blasting, careening around and in one notable instance through the firey blockades. The other folks in my car thought it exciting, but since I'd been caught in one of those roadblocks the whole thing was petrifying. At one point we saw a mob at a cross street ahead, the men carrying axes and clubs, and made a U-turn as fast as our armored vehicles could. I was sure we wouldn't make it to the safe house without getting caught up in something, but by some miracle we did.

Then, sitting at the safe house, listening to the radio traffic, and hearing my "house is burning!" blurted over it then nothing. When the mob set the guard shack on fire it must have caught the bamboo screen atop the wall on fire as well. I'm sure it was quite a sight.

I still can't get over the risk our guards took to protect our personal property. One's hand is heavily bandaged, the other has a crack on the head. The latter vowed this morning to defend us to the death - could have something to do with the lump on his head!

In spite of the fact that this rioting was like nothing I've ever experienced before, it's incidents like that that convince me that most Afghans are decent folks. They have a tremendous sense of hospitality, and all the Afghans I've met with since yesterday have bent over backwards expressing their shame and anger at the attacks and trying to make me feel safe. It seems a lot of things fed off each other -- the criminal element looting the city and setting things on fire (there were so many fires, the air still reeks of burning), the anti-foreigner element...

Anyway, it is hopefully over. I am scheduled to fly to Pakistan on Thursday and plan on taking a couple days off in Islamabad to regroup before heading down to Lahore.

Night time, Kabul

2006-05-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm spending the night at the safe house, and I'm guessing that we'll stay here in the morning until they can figure out if riots are starting up again.

It turns out the Afghan guards at my house (mostly unarmed) were champions, fending off an angry mob and putting out the fire on the generator shed. One sustained minor injuries - in the midst of all this crap I'm deeply touched that they cared enough about our personal property to risk their own skins to protect it. Fortunately, there were more guards than usual at my place. After the angry mob attacked my car and all the shooting outside, my office sent more guards to my house to keep me from freaking out too much.

My adrenaline rush is fading, and all I want to do now is go to bed, even if the bed isn't my own.

3:30 pm, Kabul Time

2006-05-29T04:10:00.000-07:00

They've moved me to a safe house, where I will stay until things get better or worse. Apparently after I left my house it was attacked and bits of it set on fire. I don't know how bad it was, but am glad I got out in time. There's nothing there I can't afford to lose.

I think I'll be okay. I feel better being in a group of people.

Evacuation?

2006-05-29T00:52:00.001-07:00

I'm being moved to the evacuation point. Got my emergency kit packed. Hope it won't go farther than this.

2006-05-29T00:52:00.000-07:00

My car, post-brick

Angry Mob

2006-05-29T00:18:00.000-07:00

My car was just attacked by an angry mob in downtown Kabul - across from the Emergency Hospital in Shar-e-Naw. I'm okay. They blocked the street -- a guy dragging and swinging a big piece of metal that looked like a bed frame piece -- people were suddenly pounding on my car, my idiot driver didn't DRIVE, he tried radioing in, I'm screaming DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE and suddenly a brick comes flying through my window, glass everywhere. That finally got his ass in gear, and he drove. I'm okay - still shaking a bit. I'm back at home - staying put until further notice.

Apparently there was a traffic accident involving international forces and some locals. Shots were fired, rioting began.

May Offensive

2006-05-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

It's May again, and that means the Taliban's spring offensive! Not quite as looked forward to as, say, the Nordstrom sale. It's probably not a good sign that my friends and I have become blase about the occasional bomb blast that rattles one's windows.

What's going on is terrible, of course. There's been some serious fighting in the south, along the Pakistan border (coincidence, I'm sure!), and the usual share of innocent bystanders have gotten killed in the cross-fire. In Kabul, where pitched battles aren't practical or realistic, there's been an uptick in rocket attacks and bombings... and innocent Afghans have taken the brunt of it.

It's all reminiscent of last May, when in a ten day period all hell broke loose. Hopefully this surge in bad stuff will end as quickly as it did last May. However, I don't remember the big battles in the south last year that have been going on over the last week. Something has changed, but I don't know what it means. Good that scores of Taliban fighters are getting their asses thoroughly kicked. Bad that they've been able to group like this for battle. Bad that they're running from American fighters into villagers' homes and getting those destroyed in the process, along with their inhabitants.

Birthday party

2006-05-20T05:16:00.000-07:00

Today I got a good reminder of why we're here. A young Afghan colleague of mine had invited me to her birthday party. It was women only (naturally), and the other guests were all smart, hip, and unassuming. Some worked for NGOs, others at government ministries, and hearing their stories of Taliban days, it's as if they've come out of hibernation and are starting to bloom (some mixed metaphors there, but you get the picture!).

One had just graduated from highschool when the Taliban took over and, banned from work, ended up starting a clandestine school in her house to teach other girls. Once the Taliban fell, she got a series of jobs, eventually ending up in a low-level position at the World Bank. The other young women had similar stories, and they seemed upbeat and hopeful about their futures.

This country has a long way to go. It won't transform from a medieval to modern country in this decade, and probably not the next either. But when I meet Afghans like these women, it doesn't seem completely hopeless.

Security

2006-05-18T01:51:00.000-07:00

Kabul's famous French restaurant, L'Atmosphere, has taken on a decidedly uncongenial tone, frisking the male patrons as they walk in and searching the purses of women. More annoying was being stuck out on the street while customers clotted up the doorway, waiting for their turn to be searched. L'Atmosphere is a fairly high-profile place, and there was an attempted kidnapping nearby last year, so I suppose they feel the higher security necessary, but I don't think I'll be going back there.

In fairness, this sort of thing is standard in Turkey and Pakistan, and I wonder how long it will be before we're impatiently queing up for metal detectors to get into shopping malls in America.

2006-05-16T22:15:00.000-07:00

The Dubai Creek and shoreline - taken from a water taxi.

2006-05-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

Water taxis - the cheapest transport in Dubai.

Descent to Kabul

2006-05-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

My psychic descent into Kabul began in Dubai's Terminal 2. The folks who run a lot of airports thoughtfully segregate those coming from or going to third world countries from folks coming from or going to 1st world countries into different terminals. With just as much thoughtfullness in mind, the "3rd world" terminals are never quite as nice as the "1st world" terminals. They're older, dirtier, and don't have half the facilities. The Vienna airport is the most egregious example of this that I've encountered, or at least it was the last time I flew through it a few years back. I'll never fly through Vienna again, and for the hell I went through at that airport I retain an irrational loathing for Austria.

At any rate, Dubai's Terminal 2 is a far cry from the high-tech, clean, and fashionable cheerfullness of Terminal 1. It was like a slow descent into hell. First I was prepped at the hotel, which sprang all sorts of fine print charges on us (note to self: never stay at a Le Meridien again). Then dreary Terminal 2, staffed with sullen guest workers (in my entire stay in the Emirates, I'm not sure I ever saw a native of that country) and clotted with cigarette smoke. On to the utilitarian but roomy UN plane, and then... Kabul.

I shouldn't complain, because we actually got quite lucky on the Kabul flight. When we emerged from the plane onto the tarmac, the sky was sunny and blue. But when I got through customs and out of the airport, a dust storm was in full force. Better to drive than fly through it.

2006-05-15T21:35:00.000-07:00

Another magical night in Dubai. Sigh.

Emirates

2006-05-14T23:27:00.001-07:00

I took off for a long weekend in Dubai en route to Kabul. Being back in the first world, if only for a weekend, is glorious. I'm eating too much (at every American chain restaurant I can find), drinking too much (alcohol isn't illegal here!), and shopping... well, I have restrained myself in that department, relative to my friends. Mainly I'm just happy to be in a sanitary environment again. Funny how one takes decent plumbing and basic hygene in public places for granted.

My colleague and I did manage to pry ourselves away from the wonders of Dubai, renting a car and setting off across the desert, passing hordes of camels along the way and sand dunes along the way. It was hot and dusty, but bearable enough for us to get out and explore a bit.

Away towards the Omani border at Hatta are rugged hills of multi-colored stone riven by wadis (dried river beds). We were hunting for some swimming holes, but never found them. Instead we trekked along and through the wadis, encountering an occasional oasis of palm trees but no water source large enough or clean enough to splash around in.

It was okay though. Our hotel pool more than makes up for it.

2006-05-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

Camel Crossing - United Arab Emirates.

*&^! It's hot!

2006-05-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

I'm in Lahore, and it's hot. Too hot to be trailing after loan officers in a bazaar trying to analyze their sales techniques. After seeing a temperature reading on the way to work this morning I did a celcius to farenheit conversion on the Internet. 97 degrees at 8:30 am. Bugger. It was over 114 this weekend, and seems to be averaging around 105-110. And it's humid, and it's polluted.

I've now taken to wearing the traditional baggy pantaloons beneath my long tunic. The Pakistanis probably think I'm one of those odd foreigners who tries to "go native." I'm just trying not to have a heat stroke.

Defence

2006-05-02T00:53:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Lahore yesterday evening, spirits sinking as I observed the omnipresent film of pollution fed by burning garbage, old vehicles and farm machinery, and dust, all co-mingling with Lahore's famous ground fogs. It seemed to foreshadow what I'd find when I got to my new apartment -- lots of dust and dirt and what appears to be lizard droppings. The lizard itself is large enough for me not to hazard evicting it, and is a delicate pale yellow color. Once the place is cleaned, it will be nice. It's a duplex of sorts. I live on the top half and a wealthy Pakistani family (the landlords) live on the bottom. The neighborhood is one of the best in Lahore -- Defence, where wealthy soldiers go to retire.

dust

2006-04-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

Today I got caught outdoors in a sudden dust storm. Everything went grey, then black because I had to close my eyes or be blinded. Since Kabul has the highest percentage of particulate fecal matter in its air of any city in the world, what I was really caught in was a shit storm. Yes, ewwww... I agree, it's disgusting. Before, my experience with these dust storms was through a window. I hope to keep it that way in future. As soon as I got home (two hours later) I stripped and hit the shower, but though the body is clean, my eyes remain a startling Dracula-red.

The Greening of Kabul

2006-04-21T01:23:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been noticing a lot of freshly-painted green buildings in Kabul. A friend told me the city was doing it, and I figured they had gotten a deal on green paint, or maybe someone's relative was trying to unload green paint on the city.

But the latest story I've heard is far more sinister, ridiculous, and, therefore, believable.

As most of you have heard me complain (repeatedly), Kabul is a dusty place. The civil wars led to the deforestation of the nearby mountains, as trees were blown apart by artillery or chopped down for fuel. So, the local government received a $2 million grant for the "greening" of Kabul.

Paint was cheaper and easier than trees and plants, apparently.

Press Clippings

2006-04-19T21:05:00.000-07:00

I check out SFGate.com on a near-daily basis to see what's happening back home. This morning I was surprised by the headline: HUGE EXPLOSION ROCKS AFGHAN CAPITAL. It was the first I'd heard of it.

But that's because the explosion was neither huge nor rocked Kabul. I suppose "Rocket Strikes Near US Embassy and Kills No One" wouldn't be as thrilling a headline. But it wouldn't be so misleading either.

Management Institute

2006-04-17T03:09:00.000-07:00

I've got a terrific Afghan colleague - he's smart, eager to learn, hard working, and sensible. He's also looking to advance his education, and today he brought in brochures from various colleges. The one he's leaning toward is an International Management Institute. Its logo: Fear of God is the Beginning of All Learning.

I don't think I need to comment on this one.

Things I Won't Miss

2006-04-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

I flew back in to Kabul this morning, clear blue skies but the ride was bumpy as hell coming over the mountains and into the bowl of Kabul. Flying over the mountains is always turbulent, I guess because the planes have to skim in low to make the runway. Anyway, this ride was worse than usual. If it weren't for the seatbelt I would have hit the roof on several occasions, and even so, I had to brace myself against the roof with one arm to keep from pitching into the elderly lady seated next to me.

When I landed, I discovered that today was a holiday - again, a holiday NOT on the lunar calendar which could have been planned well in advance, but was announced yesterday evening.

Then the scrum to get out of the airport - dozens of people pushing carts and laden with bags trying to get through the "green line" at customs. I finally ended up climbing over a counter to get through the meelee, two Afghan men tugging backwards on my bag trying to "help" me and garner a tip in the process. Were my luggage lighter, I probably would have started whacking them with it. As it is, the whacking remains just a fantasy.

Misadventures in Pakistan

2006-04-03T02:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm in Lahore, Pakistan, though I nearly had a heart attack getting here.

My office blithely assured me that the Daewoo bus ran every 30 minutes between Lahore and Islamabad, and I was dropped off at the Islamabad station that Saturday afternoon. However, at the Islamabad station I learned that few Daewoo's run from Islamabad - most leave from Rawalpindi, and they don't leave every thirty minutes. I hopped in a cab and raced for Rawalpindi, but when I got there the 4 pm bus was full - next bus at 5:30. "Do you have a reservation?"

"No."

"Take a number - yours is 70. We'll let you know at 5:10 if there's a seat or not."

I stood there with my suitcase feeling one hundred pairs of eyeballs on the odd foreign woman and decided this was a crummy idea, made an irate call to the office, and we decided I'd rent a car outside. This would have been a good idea, had I known what the hell I was doing. As it was, I hired a car that ran on compressed natural gas (CNG). I hope it's good for the environment, because there were only two CNG stations on the freeway between Rawalpindi and Lahore, and they were jammed full. I waited over an hour at the two stations, blood pressure rising, then my sneaky driver insisted on getting a few more bucks worth of gas in Lahore (on my dime, naturally). AND, getting the windows washed, AND getting the bumpers washed... At the bumper washing I exploded, having spent quite enough freaking time in this car which cost 5 times more than the Daewoo and took 90 minutes longer to get me to my destination. Also, naturally, the driver didn't know where my hotel was (only the largest and most well-known in the city), so we had to go to the Lahore Daewoo station to pick up someone who could direct us there...

The best moment, however, was when we finally got to my hotel and I changed money to pay the driver. He pitched a fit when I gave him two 500 rupee notes instead of a 1,000 rupee notes. I just walked away, steam coming out of my ears.

Not as Bad as it Sounds?

2006-03-28T23:10:00.000-08:00

Several folks in the States have asked me about the apostasy case. I only know what I read in the papers, and cringe along with everyone else at remarks like:

Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, so we'll kill him if he doesn't recant!

Or:

God has been humiliated! (As if God is cowering in a corner somewhere)

But after all the scary quotes, the result was a demonstration in one northern city with around 200 angry men. Now make no mistake, the fact that this came to trial at all highlights a serious issue: Afghan law is completely at the whim of the judges' interpretation of the Koran, and the judges in question are fundamentalists. But 200 angry men... I'm not convinced that's reflective of the population as a whole.

I prefer to look at percentage of jerks. For example, when people complain about ugly Americans, I explain that there may be more of us stomping through their countryside, than, say, Japanese. But as a percentage of the US populace, America has no higher rate of willful idiots than any other country.

But the real test will be Friday prayers, which provide an opportunity for mullahs to harrangue the populace. I might revise my opinion of general sensibilities here after that.

Reading List

2006-03-22T23:07:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have heard about the Afghan who converted to Christianity, returned to Afghanistan, and is now being brought up on apostasy charges, punishable by death. So far Karzai has said he'll stay out of it, which is too bad because Afghanistan's judiciary is run by conservative Islamists and have been given a stunning amount of power under the Afghan constitution.

With this in mind, when I saw an article on SF Gate (Today's True Feminists, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2006/03/22/cstillwell.DTL) about Muslim women fighting for religious moderation, I found myself noting down the many books listed and thought I'd share the link.

What the Heck do they Think Calendars are For?

2006-03-18T21:54:00.000-08:00

Today is Sunday, the first day of the Afghan work week. Tuesday will be a holiday, Nohruz, the first day of the Muslim New Year. The government is now talking about moving the Education Day holiday to Wednesday, which would automatically make Thursday a government holiday as well, since it's the last day of the work week and they only work half days on Thursday anyway.

BUT THEY STILL HAVEN'T MADE A DAMN DECISION.

The government does have calendars. Neither Nohruz nor Education Day are lunar (i.e. the dates are fixed, unlike certain other holidays where people watch for the moon and then declare the holiday). Why can't they make these decisions in advance?

Oh, but they can.

They're just to [CENSORED] [CENSORED] [CENSORED] to do it. And these are the key organizational skills which somehow make the Afghan government qualified to manage billions of US dollars in aid money? Granted, they do have an argument that the westerners aren't doing a whole heck of a lot better - money is wasted, spent on too many bloated ex-pat salaries, etc., etc. But at least we use our freaking calendars!!!

If I knew for sure that I had five non-work days coming up, I might be able to plan a trip out of here. But even if the holidays do go through, my company could well decide to work Wednesday and Thursday anyway.

My escape from Afghanistan isn't looking good.

I Resemble That Remark!

2006-03-17T00:51:00.000-08:00

About every four months there's an article in an international newspaper about the disgustingly luxurious ex-pat lifestyle in Kabul, and the four months is up. The latest article on Kabul debauchery, "Let the Good Times Roll," isn't as nasty as some of the other reports. But it isn't particularly accurate, either.

It's not surprising; a journalist who spends a week in Kabul might not "get" the desperation that drives the drinking, dancing, and smoking. Loud laughter tinged with hysteria, depression barely held at bay.

Kabul's dozen international restaurants, sadly, don't constitute a "boom." I'm thrilled they're here, but frankly, there isn't that much to do aside from drink, which is why they get so much business and I see so many alcoholic foreigners. Ex-pats in Kabul get a certain haunted look after a while, particularly after rocket season starts up in the Spring (yes, there is a rocket season, after the snows melt and terrorists can more easily climb the heights to shoot into the city).

It sure beats Baghadad, but I don't want Baghdad to be my standad, thank you very much.

The prices in Kabul are high - it reminds me of stories I've read about boomtown San Francisco or Alaska. But the numbers from the article should be cut in half. At least. $50 for a round at the Kabul Golf Club? It's $20 - still too much when you've seen what the course looks like. That four bedroom house for $2500/month? I'm living in it. With three other people. And it's no narco-palace. If the reporter could see my bathroom... It's fabulous for Kabul (flush toilet AND hot water!) but pretty gungy by all other standards.

And pity the soldiers at Camp Phoenix. They're living in metal boxes, and aren't allowed out to restaurants.

So I suppose I could sit in my room, feeling miserable as some sort of sympathy protest for the Afghans, but then what would all the Afghan waiters and caddies do for tips?

2006-03-16T01:22:00.000-08:00

Too much of Afghanistan looks like this. Buildings blasted by artillery, landscape deforested by people desperate for fuel.

2006-03-11T20:08:00.000-08:00

It's a challenging course, mind the bumps...

2006-03-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

Kabul Golf Club

Girls, Guns, and Golf

2006-03-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning I braved the Kabul golf course again, this time in the company of three women golfers and two armed body guards (the PC term of the moment is "close protection workers"). The course had greened up a bit from my last visit, but it was still mainly rock-strewn dirt pitted with furrows and trenches (handy for diving into should one come under attack). Add the threat of mines, and the course is a sort of extreme golf, with the balls ricocheting off stray rocks, bumping over the uneven earth, and flying across (or into) deep canyons, and I wondered aloud if the ladies weren't going to find smooth green courses too easy when they got home.

"Are you kidding?" B said, leaning on her rent-a-club that looked like it came from a 1970's garage sale. "I don't think I"ll be able to golf without my shooters."

Afghan Aid

2006-03-09T04:21:00.000-08:00

A frustrated friend of mine wrote this, and I thought it was funny enough to pass along...

You're an Afghan farmer with 2 cows. You receive a $1.2 million technical assistance grant to feed the cows and buy non-Iranian farm equipment to support your dairy. The cows accidentally walk across the border to your cousin’s farm in Iran. It’s not your fault, you don’t know what happened.

You receive a $600,000 grant to buy enough Swiss cows to supply milk to your new dairy. You still complain and must continue farming poppies for 2 more years until the Swiss cows produce enough milk to make a profit.

Ooops that damned NGO forgot to tell you that YOU must buy feed for the cows – you receive a $500,000 grant to purchase a feed mill and enough raw materials for feed (flown in from Dubai because you cannot deal with Iran and Pakistanis will steal it). The NGO sets up the feed mill and integrated farm for you, but in the process the feed materials rot because you don’t have a suitable warehouse or dryers.

You receive a $2 million grant to build a complete storage facility imported from Iowa to properly store your feed for your Swiss cows. You are forced to form a cooperative to support the community. You gather your relatives and form a co-op to satisfy the requirements, but do not have an office to hold the board meetings.

You receive a $750,000 grant to buy land and build a 1200 sq.m. house for all the board members to meet and drink green tea. You convince the NGO after they allocate the money that foreign contractors cost too much to build your meeting place and build it with Afghan construction for half the price. You buy 10 new Land Cruisers to transport the Afghan workers to/from the building site. They complete the first floor, but a 2.3 earthquake destroys the construction and you’ve run out of money because the Land Cruisers consume more fuel than the NGO predicted.

2006-03-06T19:58:00.000-08:00

Available at http://www.sphinxbooks.com

The Contrary Countess, A Mystery in Old California

2006-03-06T19:55:00.000-08:00

SAN MATEO, Ca – February, 2006 – The Contrary Countess (SphinxBooks.com/January, 2006/$4.99), an eBook by Tallinn Jones, draws the reader into pre-boomtown San Francisco, an environment of secrets and danger. The year is 1848. Upon the death of her father, Sensibility Grey is shipped off to San Francisco to live with her uncle. But when the young Englishwoman arrives in California, she finds ships abandoned in the harbor, a sleepy village deserted by all but a handful of women, and no sign of the uncle she was sent to live with. Alone and penniless, she must make her own way in the chaos that follows the discovery of gold... chaos that sets the stage for murder.

If Sensibility can survive a hoodoo curse and the dangerous intentions of a bank robber, she might have a chance to uncover a murderer. Add to this brew the disturbing presence of the darkly handsome Krieg Night, and the west becomes wilder than even Sensibility bargained for.

I’ve always loved reading historical mysteries, particularly Elizabeth Peters,” says Tallinn Jones. “I wanted to write one about my home, the San Francisco peninsula, and the gold rush era seemed ideal for a female heroine. Women of that time and place couldn’t afford to be shrinking violets, and the anarchy provided a perfect set-up for an amateur detective. I also wanted to explore what would bring a rationale, thinking person to engage in crime-solving. Playing amateur detective always seemed rather arrogant to me!”

“I decided to submit my story to an eBook publisher when, after reaching the final submission stage (editor in chief) of a print publisher I was told, ‘Great story, but I just don’t think there’s a market for western mysteries.’ I thought, ‘Tell that to James Doss and Nevada Barr!’ I didn’t think my novel was too “out of the box” for traditional publishing – it’s a frothy historical mystery - but I was frankly tired of beating my head against a wall.”

Tallinn Jones has lived for over a decade in the “wild east” of the former Soviet Union and, most recently, in post-war Afghanistan. She used her experiences in these lawless lands to color the emotional landscape of a California beset by anarchy. Read about her experiences on her blog: http://adventurersclub.blogspot.com. Tallinn is currently putting the finishing touches on the sequel to The Contrary Countess, Death of a Duchess, coming soon to SphinxBooks.com.

SphinxBooks.com is an ePublishing company founded in 2005, specializing in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror. eBooks are sold in multiple formats, and are available for purchase at SphinxBooks.com

Augh!

2006-03-06T02:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the equivalent of trying to convince the Flat Earth Society that the world is round, or the Baker Street Irregulars that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character (I spent several months haunting the latter's e-mail list and was eventually ejected for my skepticism and keen logic). No matter how you say it, or what you say, they'll still proclaim for all to hear that the earth is flat and Sherlock Holmes really did exist (the dastardly Conan Doyle was simply Watson's editor and took all the credit for the stories).

The dead horse I'm beating is, of course, microcredit. It's become highly politicized here. There was even a recent, sneaky attempt to nationalize the microfinance organizations (which appears to have failed, fortunately). The main complaint is that the interest rate is too high.

What's too high? Some folks say any interest rate (it's un-Islamic) is too high. Others whinge that interest rates in Afghanistan are higher than in the US.

Well, duh.

There's a good reason why CitiBank hasn't opened a branch office in Kunduz, Afghanistan. It isn't profitable and is an all around pain in the butt. Of course the interest rates are higher! But no matter how many times I explain it, no matter what other countries I cite (Afghanistan's microfinance interest rates are lower than any other country's I've looked at), no matter how brilliant my arguments, it's all to nought. It's a political issue now, and the politicians (be they donors or Afghan government officials) don't want to learn about the issues.

It's much easier to wreck something than build it up.

Out of Pakistan

2006-03-02T02:25:00.000-08:00

My colleagues here in Kabul (yes, I'm back in Afghanistan) claim that Pakistan is more dangerous than here. I disagree, but the more time I spend reading the papers in Pakistan, the more concerned I become about the country's inherent instability.

Here's the sitch:

There are big chunks of Pakistan territory lying along the Afghan border which the federal government has no control over. This has even been codified -- Pakistani federal law only applies within 10 feet in each direction of the highways in these regions.

The optimistic view of this situation compares it to that of the US many years ago, when the states had more juridical independence from the feds, and criminals could commit a crime in one state and run to another to escape prosecution.

A darker view would compare it to the US pre-Civil War, however, instead of cotton-growing slave owners, Islamic militants are running things. These militants are accused of having created a haven for terrorists, sending everything from rockets to suicide bombers across the border (the regions are also a weapons free-for-all; you can get anything there, for a price).

Pakistan's president, Musharraf, does not seem to have the political or military capacity to get control of these regions, and some of his generals, who he relies upon to stay in power, are in sympathy with the fundamentalists. So what happens if the US decides, "enough is enough" and starts bombing the border areas?

Last month we did just that, taking out a few Pakistani hoouseholds that were holding a dinner party for Al Qaeda terrorists. The general public was infuriated at this infringement of their soverignty, and I suspect that this has fed the latest cartoon riots, which have morphed into anti-government demonstrations, linking Musharaff's government to the corrupt and decadent west.

I don't see a lot of happy endings to this.

2006-02-27T21:56:00.000-08:00

Bahia Palace, Marrakech

El Bahia

2006-02-27T21:49:00.000-08:00

“The beauty of Moroccan palaces is made up of details of ornament and refinements of sensuous delight too numerous to record, but to get an idea of their general character it is worth while to cross the Court of Cypresses at the Bahia and follow a series of low-studded passages that turn on themselves till they reach the centre of the labyrinth,” Edith Wharton, "In Morocco."

Edith would know. While in Marrakech the little minx stayed at the Bahia Palace. Ah, those were the days.

The palace, built in the 18th century, is a fairly recent addition to Marrakech. And it is stunning – room after room of intricately painted ceilings and doors, carved arches, and gardens twittering with song birds. The problem, however, is that so many buildings in Marrakech are voluptuously adorned. After only a few days, I began to feel overwhelmed and then blasé about it all. But not bored.

2006-02-26T20:48:00.000-08:00

The Kasbah today is simply another market section of Marrakech, enclosed by a reddish-colored wall. Storks nest atop its main gate.

2006-02-26T20:45:00.000-08:00

Rue de la Kasbah, Marrakech

2006-02-26T19:16:00.000-08:00

The 12th century Koutobia mosque dominates Marrakech. Non-muslims can't enter, so I contented myself with a few photos of the exterior tower.

2006-02-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

The blue doors of Essaouria

Essaouria

2006-02-22T21:28:00.001-08:00

“This must be the place where they empty all the old hourglasses.”
-Turkey Jackson, "Road to Morocco."

I was expecting a bit more in the way of sand as my colleague and I drove the winding highway to Essaouria. But instead we passed olive groves, green fields, and orange and yellow wildflowers. In fact, the only sand I saw that day was on the beach at Essaouria, a romantic beach town on the Atlantic shore. The package tourists tend to bypass Essaouria due to the rough ocean currents, which make swimming hazardous. (Three cheers for the currents, which send spectacular 15 and 20 foot waves crashing together AND keep out packaged tours!)

Essaouria is a charming town of blue doors, rugged battlements, and arched gates. At night, the town’s crooked streets are lit by tin lanterns punched with geometric shapes and lined with colored glass that cast fantastic shadows upon the white-washed walls. The souk is a relaxing change from Marrakech, with lower prices, less hassle, and minimal bargaining. If no deal is made -- no harm, no foul. It’s a far cry from Marrakech, where vendors get angry if you can’t or won’t meet their price.

Settled by Phoenicians, Romans, Portuguese, and finally Moroccans, most of what stands today in Essaouria was designed in the 18th century by a Frenchman hired by Sultan Sidi Mohammad bin Abdallah. This could explain Essaouria’s romance-saturated atmosphere. Or perhaps it was just because I was there on Valentines Day, and our hotel had decorated the dinner tables with heart shaped candle sconces and red roses.

As much as I enjoyed strolling its windy ramparts, Essaouria is a smallish place, and after an afternoon I felt we’d thoroughly explored the walled town. The next morning, we would return to Marrakech.

2006-02-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

The Ramparts of Essaouria

2006-02-21T20:41:00.000-08:00

Majorelle's studio, Marrakech

Jardin Majorelle

2006-02-21T20:27:00.000-08:00

No visit to Marrakech is considered complete without a visit to at least one of its gardens. I'm not entirely sure why this is so -- perhaps the contrast of greenery against the bustle of the city, or greenery against the reddish stone of the medina -- but there are several famous gardens in Marrakech. I chose to visit the Jardin Majorelle. It's a newish garden for Marrakech, designed by French painter Jacques Majorelle around 1924. The brochure I picked up heralds it as "a place of rare individual expression and mystical force."

Riiiight.

The garden is pretty, though I think the botanical gardens at UC Riverside are more interesting. The Riverside gardens, however, lack the cachet of being located in Marrakech, designed by a French orientalist painter, and managed by a famous fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent. They also lack an expensive gift shop.

On the other hand, Pirhanna Women and the Avocado Jungle of Death was filmed at the Riverside gardens.

It's a tough call.

2006-02-20T20:00:00.000-08:00

Djmaa el Fna, Marrakech, Morocco

"Like Webster's dictionary, we're Morocco bound." - Road to Morocco

2006-02-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I returned from Morocco to Pakistan, where soldiers guard the major intersections of Lahore to prevent further rioting. I don’t want to think about that, so I’ll relive my Moroccan travelogue instead.

Day 1:Marrakech is one city that lives up to the romantic and mysterious images its name conjures up. Marrakech glows with every shade of red – from rosy pinks to burnt oranges. It’s the color of the Atlas mountains, which provide Morocco’s red rocks as well as its fertile plains. Moroccans in long coats with peaked hats drift through shady crimson-tinted alleys like jedi knights. It’s said that George Lucas’s planet Tatooine, from the original Star Wars, was inspired by Moroccan architecture and dress, and once I have the Star Wars comparison in my head I can’t get it out. So I tell all my colleagues and they are similarly stuck with the same surreal images.

Its old city (the medina) is a labyrinth of twisting, narrow streets designed to foil invaders and now confounding countless tourists. Maps aren’t much help when there are few street signs, and those that do exist are primarily in Arabic. So our first day we did what we’d absolutely been warned not to do, and hired a guide, Moustafa, off the street. He was the only one who approached me in my entire visit to Marrakech, and he was wonderful – a museum guide at loose ends while the museum was closed for renovations. He charged our group of 6 about seven dollars, and we ended up giving him double.

We visited some of the major tourist sites, then ended up in the famous Djmaa el Fna (the square of the dead, so named for executions which once took place there) plaza for dinner. Edith Wharton’s description of the nightly festival there when she visited in 1918 is still accurate. Storytellers, snake charmers, dancers, musicians, and thieves still prowl the square, entertaining Moroccan and tourist alike. In fact, there were only two differences I noted from Wharton’s description: more tourists, and the constant roar of motorcycles. The streets of the medina are so narrow that motorbike is the preferred mode of transportation, and during my stay in Marrakech I saw several pedestrians get clipped or knocked down by them.

2006-02-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

Medina, Marrakech (Morocco)

Satire and the Muslim World

2006-02-08T01:33:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have been wondering about the cartoon riots in Pakistan. I haven't been commenting on them because a) so much has already been said; and b) I haven't personally encountered any. People in Pakistan treat me the same as they ever have -- mostly well. I have had a few watercooler discussions with my Pakistani colleagues over the riots (when people start setting things on fire, they're rioting, not protesting, dammit!). My colleagues are uniformly unhappy with the cartoons but disgusted by the violence. I think/hope this is the silent majority, though it's unfortunate they remain silent. In the face of fundamentalist rage, however, I can't entirely blame them.

In the meantime, I'm keeping my head down and am soon leaving Pakistan for... Morocco.

Help Afghan Kids

2006-02-05T07:43:00.000-08:00

A buddy of mine, Master Sergeant Cesar Howell (GO ARMY!), has been working with some Afghan orphanages. CNN did a story on this project a couple months ago, and now he's got a website up for people interested in donating goods. Check it out at: http://www.help-afghan-kids.org/

Afghan orphanages are truly ghastly, and Cesar and his guys are making a real difference in these kids lives when they're not chasing down baddies. These guys are real heros, and I'm proud to know them.

2006-02-04T10:46:00.000-08:00

Hooray for Lollywood!

Victims and Villains

2006-02-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

If Bombay, India, is "Bollywood," then its counterpart in Lahore is... wait for it...

"Lollywood."

I've been told Pakistani films don't measure up to their Indian counterparts, though I haven't seen enough to judge. I am, however, becoming somewhat of an authority on the local soap operas. I can't understand a word, but it doesn't matter because the actors are always replaying the same situations. I make up the dialog in my head anyway.

Cuckolded Wife: YOU??? And my HUSBAND?!
Cuckolded Wife's Best Friend: That's right! And your brother! And your cousin Akbar!
CW: Nooooooooooo!!!!

Pork is "haram" in Pakistan, but I've never seen so much hammy acting on TV. Dramatic pauses to rising music, a camera zoom on a shocked face, eyes widening with horror. Gasp! The plot lines and facial expressions are on par with the The Sheik, (one of the unintentionally funniest movies of all time), and I wonder if a local acting school was inspired by Rudolph Valentino.

Who's Barphlinker?

2006-02-03T00:26:00.000-08:00

People that books made host becomes the cosmos
- Barphlinker

I don't know what it means either. But whatever Asian company produced my new desk lamp saw fit to write this in gold letters across the base of it. Is it some sort of Confucian, "sound of one hand clapping" puzzle? A secret Al Qaeda code?

What makes it all the more unusual is that all the words are spelled correctly.

I try rearranging the words in my spare time, and get even more bizaare combinations.

And who is Barphlinker?

Top 10 Uses for a Headscarf (Dupatta)

2006-02-02T02:12:00.000-08:00

10) Rappelling down the side of a burning Afghan wedding hall.
9) Tourniquet
8) Picnic blanket
7) Backdrop at a trade fair
6) Flagging down a rescue chopper
5) Bandito-style mask in a dust storm
4) Sarong/beach cover-up
3) Table cloth
2) Hand towel
1) Escaping a mine field (ask me how!)

2006-02-01T00:37:00.000-08:00

Steve MacQueen

2006-02-01T00:34:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to a recent BBC article about the murder of my colleague, Steve MacQueen, last year. The author was generous in saying that the Afghan authorities have stopped looking for his killers. You can't stop something you've never started.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4662850.stm

Review: The Bookseller of Kabul

2006-02-01T00:24:00.000-08:00

I'd been avoiding reading The Bookseller of Kabul, by Asne Sierstad. Though I'd heard good things about it, there are no happy stories written about Afghanistan, and frankly I see enough grief there not to want to engage in it during my leisure time. But when I picked up the book, I had a hard time putting it down.

A Norwegian journalist spent three months living with an Afghan family. She had initially befriended the patriarch, a wealthy and relatively well-educated Afghan bookseller who espoused women's rights and a host of other liberal ideas. But when she spent time in his home, she discovered that what he preached and what he practiced were two very different things. The book might better be titled "The Bookseller's Wives," because the family drama portrayed puts Dallas and Dynasty to shame. It's a great book, and the scenes it portrays feel very "real" to me.

The infuriated bookseller is now suing Sierstad over defamation of character, but after reading the book, I feel little sympathy for the man. And knowing what I do about Afghanistan, I believe Sierstad's portrayal is spot on.

Sadjet, Shafik, and Sadjet

2006-01-30T23:28:00.000-08:00

Charming Child Labor

Another Bad Day in Kasur

2006-01-30T22:46:00.000-08:00

I returned to Kasur to develop case studies of small businesses there, to be used for training and analysis. From a work perspective, the trip was a success (and I managed to stay out of the noxious leather sector). But as usual, somewhere the trip took a left turn, this time into the murky realities of child labor.

At an embroidery business I visited, among the dozen workers were three young boys, aged 10, 11, and 12, stitching beads and sequins onto silky fabric. They'd been working there for five years, eight hours a day, and earned less than $1/day. None of them had ever gone to school.

The reality is that their families have no choice but to send them out to work. When the choice is between education and eating, eating must win. There is no free education available for them, and when the opportunity cost of lost income is added to the mix, there is just no way the very poor can send there kids to school. It's a colossal state failure, which produces ignorant, illiterate citizens with no hope of meaningfully participating in a democracy (coincidence?), much less rising above their poverty. The situation breeds fundamentalism, ill health, violence, and a host of other social ills with affects which, I believe, reach well outside the nation's borders. Functioning democracies don't tend to go to war with each other. But countries where the majority of citizens are poor and illiterate have little to lose, and are at the mercy of firebrand fundamentalism.

I also knew, short of starting a school that provided free meals and possibly paid the children to attend, there was little I could do for the boys. I could have kicked up a fuss, but even if, by some miracle, the business owner agreed to send the three boys packing, what then? They wouldn't head merrily off to school. They'd either go hungry or find somewhere else to work, possibly a place where the conditions weren't as good as they were at this small business. So the children become a part of my case study, and hopefully will get local organizations thinking about this issue.

Still, even as I told myself this, my distress must have shown on my face, for my Pakistani colleagues kept asking if I was upset. Hell, yes, I was upset! Children shouldn't be faced with the dreadful choice of a full belly or an education.

After the day was done I walked into a shop near my hotel; it turned out to sell luxury fabrics (these things are not always obvious from the store front). "Pakistan is famous for its beautiful fabrics and exquisite gold jewelry!" the salesman enthused, showing me bolt after bolt of $50/yard handmade silks.

Opulence and poverty.

2006-01-30T20:16:00.000-08:00

Open sewers in Kasur

Read This Article

2006-01-30T04:36:00.000-08:00

I just returned from a long, grueling day in the field and am too tired to write about it. But just so you don't feel neglected, here's the link to a short but good article on what we're doing in Afghanistan: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/20/AR2006012001636.html

I think the author has hit the nail on the head about the need to stay the course and about the crossroads which Afghanistan and America have come to.

Kasur

2006-01-27T02:09:00.000-08:00

A thick haze of pollution choked the road to Kasur. Wood smoke, exhaust, dust, and ground fog mixed to create a thick brownish haze. At times we could see no more than 10 feet from the front bumper.

Once in Kasur, the stench of leather tanning chemicals, open sewers, and rotting animal flesh added to the mix. My head began to spin, and just as I thought I was seriously in danger of fainting, someone handed me a medical mask. I clasped it gratefully to my face. The leather tanning industry makes up about 40% of Kasur's business, and though there are leather-free parts to Kasur, I didn't spend much time in them.

The sights were no better than the smells. Flat carts passed laden with slick, jiggly, grey "animal fats." Excrement from every sort of creature, including human, seemed to be everywhere. The residents dressed in rags, one young man wearing a woman's black knitted cloche hat adroned with a black-knit flower. I imagined an American woman tossing it into a Goodwill bin. There was an overall air of ill-nourishment - the children were scabby, clots of greenish snot dripping from their noses as they shot marbles across the garbage-strewn brick paving stones.

In the west we take the basics for granted -- clean water, clean air, sewer systems. I cannot imagine how people can get up every morning of their lives to face this kind of grinding poverty, slogging it out in these chemical sewers just to a dollar a day (if they're lucky) and do it all over again the next day.

Conspiracy Theories

2006-01-25T03:22:00.000-08:00

My favorite conversation themes are trying to figure out what's really going on. Do the Pakistani authorities really know where Bin Laden is hiding, waiting to pull him out of a hat and present him to the US at some later date when nuclear power is on offer? Is the latest string of Afghan suicide bombings really being conducted by foreigners, or are Afghans jumping on the band wagon? Was the Pakistani president really ignorant of the US intention to bomb Damadola village in order to kill Al Qaeda's #2, El Zawahiri?

And now I'm rubbing shoulders with square-jawed, steely-eyed men working in nebulous positions within the US government, but even though they've probably got some good answers to these questions, they're not talking, and I can't ask. It's driving me nuts. Blathering on about the latest conspiracy theory is pretty much second nature to me, no matter who I'm talking to. With these guys I have to rein myself in or be subjected to withering looks and pointed silences.

Asking questions is so uncool.

I need to spend more time with aid workers.

A Blindfold and a Valium

2006-01-24T00:03:00.000-08:00

All one needs to navigate the streets of Lahore are a driver, a blindfold, and a valium. The roadways are one unending game of Chicken as drivers create four lanes out of two (watch that donkey cart on the side!) and squeeze, Harry Potter-esque, between impossibly small gaps in traffic.

This is only my first day on the road with our office driver, but I'm having doubts about him. He seems to be careful of his own driving (good), but stopped twice on the way to the office to lean out the window and scream at drivers who offended him. On the way to lunch today we drove past a road-rage inspired street brawl, and the driver laughed while I cringed in horror.

Last night my Pakistani colleague made an illegal U-turn across three lanes of on-coming traffic. When someone else did the same thing fifteen minutes later, cutting in front of her, she exclaimed in exasperation. She did, however, have the grace to laugh at herself when I pointed out the hypocracy.

Islamabad has a new "safe driving" campaign, which hasn't made its way to Lahore, where it is more desperately needed. Perhaps the government has given Lahore traffic up as a lost cause.

All I need now is that blindfold and valium.

???

2006-01-22T22:46:00.000-08:00

The anti-American demonstrations continue in Pakistan, though I have yet to see any of them. I do find it ironic, however, to read interviews from raging Islamic fundamentalists bleating their outrage over the deaths of "innocent women and children." It's the first time I've heard fundamentalists giving consideration to the lives of women or children.

However, in spite of the rise in anti-Americanism, so far my own reception in Pakistan has been much the same -- mixed. Most folks are friendly, even after I've told them where I'm from, but there is the occasional odd occurence that leaves me scratching my head.

For example, an American colleague and I asked a taxi driver if he'd take us to the Serena, the largest and best-known hotel in Islamabad. He didn't appear overly enthusiastic (which was strange in itself - usually cabs stalk me as I walk down the street), but he agreed. When we got in the cab, however, he professed not to understand where or what the Serena was (which was unlikely), and stared at me in such an odd fashion that I suggested we get another cab and got out of the car. Our exit was ruined, however, when my friend discovered her jacket was stuck in the door. I finally had to go around the car and open the door myself to extricate her. The taxi driver parked next to him took us directly to the Serena with a smile.

Was taxi driver A being deliberately dense to frustrate the foreigners? Was it all a misunderstanding?

2006-01-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

Pity the poor kitemaker...

There Oughta Be a Law...

2006-01-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

Or there oughta be someone to slap legislators silly when they start dreaming up new laws. Most laws take away someone else's rights, and if I were elected to the legislature I'd run on a ticket of obstructing as many new laws as possible.

Pakistan has taken this legal folly to new heights. Most recently, Pakistani lawmakers have made it illegal to fly kites and to serve food at weddings. The rationale for these laws is that the poor are spending too much money on both activities and need to be saved from themselves by banning them. In today's paper there was a complaint that the rich were getting around the wedding laws, for the more laws Pakistan creates, the more opportunities there are for pay-offs for the enforcers to turn blind eyes.

Blasphemy is also illegal, a law much abused of late, with neighbors irate over property disputes sending each other to jail for blaspheming. And pity the non-Muslim, a blasphemer by nature.