Afghan II

So a little flashback to the past 4 days - which has seemed like two weeks. We left for Kabul on sunday morning in a flight half full of deportees from the UAE to Afghanistan - which gave the flight a Conair flavour. But the we harmless enough. The flight into Kabul is a fantastic one from the air as the city is surrounded by mountains and the updrafts they cause. So pilots on landing there are forced to bank sharply before they land - which makes for interesting flying.

At Kabul airport the main worry we had was getting the booze we had brought from Dufry in Sharjah "incountry" as there were rumours about that Karzai had begun a crackdown on booze in Kabul. We had no troubles and any fears about this went unfounded at the resturant we made it to later that night.

Arrival was also made much easier by the presence of our UN companion RB whose presence meant that a man was at the airport to pick us up and ferry us to the Kabul Inn - a nice little hotel in the middle of town. But on the road from the airport we were reminded of how poor this country is, watching as kids took there lessons in a tented primary school and men with limbs missing begged on the street.

The talk amongst anyone and everyone in Afghanistan is security, or the lack of. Our friend J-Dog - who has been working in Kabul now for almost a year once caught a bus from Kabul to Kandahar - a prospect that fills even the most hardened security specialist with dred these days.

But the problems seem restricted to the south. While Talibs live in and around Kabul they weild no influence. (Unlike the underpaid police who stop cars at checkpoints every 2 km or 3 km after dark).

Im Bamiyan - where the Taliban wreaked such distruction only a few short years ago - everything is very safe. The locals are open and friendly and would love more people to come. Escpecially our hotelier Sheer - otherwise known as the "Fonz of Bamiyan".