The cold but the beautiful..

Like my title? *raises eyebrows* sound familiar? The bold and the beautiful Nooo.. it's original! tehehehe

Happy b'day to you.. happy b'day to you.. happy b'day to you dear Osama.. Happy b'day to you.. Takbir.. ALLAHU AKBAR.. Takbir.. ALLAHU AKBAR.. Takbir.. ALLAHU AKBAR... tehehehehe he's actually only turned fifty.. omg.. thought he'd be older!

We visited Paghman yesterday, it's an hour away from the city of Kabul. It was much colder than Kabul (didn't know it could get colder!). The striking difference i found was the taste in water. It actually had a taste! Mum had told me a while ago that Paghman water is the best tasting water. Touche!

I heard a song today on 'Tolo' by Daud Hanif, a song that's dedicated to all Afghans that are living away from home. It was the first non-Ahmad Zahir song that i could actually relate to! My favourite line was 'even a king away from home is a beggar...' mmhmm... That's very true! What do you think?

Found a job today! (Can't conceal whereabouts, but it's a good place!) Dad found it for me, thanks to his gov't official connections *wink*. Since our arrival, he's been spending all day, every day with gov't ministers and officials. Catching up with his good ol' mates from them good ol' days! My paternal grandfathers cousin is also a current MP, fought during the Communist invasion, was an interim PM for a while after. Can't wait to meet him in person, maybe exchange some ideas! He's a man that stood shoulder to shoulder with Ahmad Shah Masood.

I guess this will sound like a COMPLETE BORE! but you know what? i actually enjoy listening to stories from when they fought against the Communists- the jihadi stories! it's fascinating! You only ever hear about Ahmad Shah Masood on TV, but here i was listening to personal accounts from people who stood by him through thick and thin.

I spoke to a random elderly man today (i got the vibe that i could learn a lot from him!). He was a fast talker, i had to be extra attentive to comprehend. I approached him by asking how long he'd been in Afghanistan. Thirty five years! Basically, it was the first time i had received first hand information from someone who had experienced Afghanistan throughout the Communist invasion, the Taliban era and now the Karzai period. I heard the unexpected! He explained to me that never before had Afghanistan peace and security than it did when the Taliban were in 'power'.

He explained there were no stealing, no bag snatchers. He told me that when it was time for prayer, shop attendants would leave their shops as it was and head off to the nearest Masjid (Mosque). They would return to their shops and find everything in the same state as they had left it. The Taliban promised shop owners that if anything went missing during this time, they would compensate for it. All this applied only if you were a man! It was a man's world dominated by the men for the men. He stressed that women were under pressure, they weren't allowed to be educated or be seen in public in anything else but a chadari, accompanied by a male relative.

I felt that he preferred the Taliban over the Karzai period. I asked him what he thought of the current regime. On the verge of frustration, he replied that it was only the wealthy and the powerful that recieved gov't attention... the 'chawki daarah'. The average Afghan hadn't recieved any gov't assistance. All the buildings, the roads, the hospitals, shopping centres etc were built by rich Afghans abroad who wanted to do something for their country.

Hmmmmm......

Until next time, ba omideh deedar.. Khuda negahdaar!