Tag Archives: Kabul

Security through integration, not isolation

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La Taverna du Liban Kabul

Afghan security in front of bombed restaurant in Kabul. Photo by Johannes Eisele for AFP/Getty Images

The news of the bombing of La Taverna du Liban, a Lebanese restaurant in Kabul, reached me while I was following a pre-deployment course for a EU mission in Libya. I think I knew Kamal, the owner of the restaurant, who died in the assault; if it was the same man who set up the restaurant somewhere in 2004-5 (and it seems so from this personal account), he was a hearty, generous man and I regret his death, especially for his children. Continue reading →

Afghan Urban Housing Dilemma

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Afghan housing dilemma

When we visited the mayor’s office during my last trip to Kabul, the deputy mayor, a great fan of Persian poetry, lamented the fact that all the houses currently being built in Kabul are of the ‘international’ (Western) type: a standalone house on a plot of land, surrounded by a bit of garden or walkways, with all windows facing outwards.

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Kabul rising and getting high, 2013

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Today I guided a Dutch architect researching urban developments in Kabul. After fixing the roaming internet connection on his Apple computer in a record time – praise be to the helpfulness and tech savviness of Afghan shopowners – we drove up TV mountain to take some pictures. He had the good camera, I my phone. The weather was heavily overcast with occasional sunbursts.

Wide road up the mountain

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Attack on the Green Zone in Kabul

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This unfinished building overlooking the US Embassy compound was probably used by the Taliban in the current attack.

In 2009, while visiting Kabul, I was astonished by the fortifications that had arisen around a large swathe of land comprising the US Embassy, NATO headquarters, the Presidential Palace, key ministries and other embassies. Given the hilly topography and urban layout of Kabul, this cordoning off of a large chunk of the centre caused considerable traffic and access problems for ordinary Kabulis. Continue reading →