# Greetings from Kabul again **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 28, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858 "2003-03-28T19:38:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/1 "2003-03-28T19:38:15Z")
Hey all, Still here doing the Kabul Karaoke. I’m working on an education project. Someone is burning down girls’ schools, someone is trying to kill the director of education in one of the provinces we work in, and Thursday armed men in central Afghanistan pulled an expat Red Cross worker out of his car and shot him to death. I have to work with corrupt local officials who steal from some of the poorest and most desperate children in the world, and I’m constipated. Just having a rough week, you know? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/2 "2003-03-28T19:41:29Z")
So, did anything _interesting_ happen? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/3 "2003-03-28T19:47:54Z")
a guy threw rocks at my car. big rocks. ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/4 "2003-03-28T20:01:51Z")
Anything good goin’ on over there? Are you inspiring the populace yet? 🙂 BTW, when do you think they’ll let Peace Corps workers into Afghanistan? I’d love to go there, but would rather wait until the excitement dies down a little, so I’m not pulled out of a car and shot. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/5 "2003-03-28T20:02:01Z")
At least they don’t have overpasses where they can drop rocks on your car as you drive under them. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/6 "2003-03-28T20:09:14Z")
I know W. had promised peace corps to Afghanistan, but they promised a lot of things. Maybe something in Kabul next year? Just a guess. The security situation is clearly declining Spring and Summer are the fighting seasons. They don’t have overpasses, but they do have mines that they put in the road, so six in one, half a dozen in the other. There are a lot of good things going on. A lot of people have interest in education, and people here aren’t waiting around, they are rebuilding quickly. But without a commitment to stability from the international community it won’t come to much. I think more NGO workers are going to get killed. They hadn’t really targeted aid workers before, it’s a troubling new trend. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/7 "2003-03-28T20:17:22Z")
How’s the food situation? Both for the community, & for yourself personally? ---
**Author:** ![Mooney252](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/8 "2003-03-28T20:24:11Z")
This is an e-mail that was forwarded to me about 5 days ago – > [@](#): > > (This is from a former Peace Corps CD just back from Afghanistan) > > I have just returned from Afghanistan. It is a beautiful country with colorful people but of course it has been destroyed. People in Kabul are living in pancaked buildings that could collapse at any time. Water and power are a thing of the past for many. Twenty two years of war has left most people who are younger than thirty, without any education. I was there to help plan a massive basic education project for thousands and thousands > of those who have been left behind. Unfortunately, it is becoming > increasingly difficult to get out into the provinces. Whereas the US was until recently a hero to the common people, the impending attack on Iraq has severely angered people and we (and our local employees) are targets. There are provinces where we operated until recently but which are pretty much off limits now. When the first attack on Iraq happens much more of Afghanistan will become a place where we can no longer work. It is a pity that while we were recently seen in Afghanistan as the leader of the free world, we are now seen by many as getting ready to lead a dishonorable revenge raid on a scape goat people. Whatever the truth, that is the perception. > > This is happening to lot more that Afghanistan. I have worked overseas in many countries for years. Some of my American friends abroad who have been working successfully with long standing and excellent local relationships, tell me they can no longer be productive because of the anger around them > over Iraq. In fact some Americans have been told to be ready to leave with only an hours notice. > > It seems a great waste to send the best of our youth to war when the result will be to make many more enemies around the world than we have now. How soon we have forgotten Vietnam. It will be different of course. This time we will win on the battle field and hopefully it will be quickly. But will we win on the battlefield and lose the war for the minds and hearts of the > world? America was seen until recently as the beacon of hope country. But now we are a pariah to many. It is indeed a very sad turn of events. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/9 "2003-03-29T08:50:43Z")
Food for me is fine. In Kabul, if you have money you can get whatever you want, right down to crunchy or smooth peanut butter. It’s more expensive than in the US. For the people, the diet is not great. I see a lot of kids who are too small for their age. There are desperately poor people here and Kabul is the most prosperous city. There are people doing well for themselves, merchants people who cater to the expat community. For the most part, I’m working on my specific tasks all day every day with the same set of people at the same locals, so I can’t give any sense of the nation as a whole, just my little project. It is true that people are living in really bad situations, right here in Kabul. It is certainly worse in the provinces. As for the war in Iraq, one strong sentiment is that Saddam was a client of the Soviets when they invaded Afghanistan and he never said one word in support of the Afghans, so he can go to the devil. That sentiment isn’t universal, of course. I’m really just tired. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/10 "2003-03-29T09:10:40Z")
As one of those dreaded “anti-war” people in America, I am interested in seeing how the US is fullfilling their promise of financial/medical/humanitarian aid now that the war on the Taliban seems to be taking a backburner position. If someone was so inclined, how would they be able to donate money or goods (books/clothes etc.) so that it would be put to good use, and not used for “administrative” uses? I am very serious. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/11 "2003-03-29T10:59:44Z")
Maybe we could get together a drive to send MadMonk blankets, trinkets, teaching tools and cigarettes (for bartering). Clothes. MRE’s or other food-ish type things. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-from-kabul-again/164858/12 "2003-03-29T15:03:25Z")
Really you can find anything you want here. Drove around town today, first day off in a few weeks and this town is bustling people are really getting to work. The city rings with the hammers of a thousand light industry factories. As for donated aid, money to a reputable charity is always a better option. Donated aid just ends up in the market. On the darker side, they have stopped three different fuel tanker trucks with timed explosives heading for Kabul. They say the Taliban is aiming to destabilize the government and kill some international aid workers to motivate them to flee. The murder of the ICRC employee is really the first time aid workers have been targeted here.