Afghan Scene, May-June edition - PDF VERSION

Afghan Scene May-June 2009


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SCENEAFGHAN

ISSUE 58-59 - MAY-JUNE 2009

perspective • insight • people • reviews • pics • life

Afghan story, Sundance glory Be Scene returns

Eric Newby, 50 years on

Scene meets the TalibanTime to talk?

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Publisher: Afghan Scene Ltd, Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul, AfghanistanManager & Editor: Afghan Scene Ltd, Kabul, AfghanistanDesign: Kaboora ProductionAdvertising: [email protected]: Emirates Printing Press, DubaiContact: [email protected] / www.afghanscene.comAfghan Scene welcomes the contribution of articles and / or pictures from its readers. Editorial rights reserved.Cover photo: A Taliban fighter in Ghazni province, by Veronique de Viguerie.

SCENEISSUE 58 - MAY 2009

AFGHAN

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Afghan Scene May-June 2009IntroductionContents

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7 Introduction

10 Time to TalkFrance 24’s Afghanistan Correspondent Claire Billet relives the moment she risked her life and her reputation to join Taliban insurgents on a night raid in Wardak.

19 The Big Lens Theory Scene brings you its favourite Kabul blogger - the Afghan Hound - on the perils of the paparazzi in a green zone. Abused by school girls in the street and almost arrested by an American. It’s all in a days work for this picture monkey.

25 Top telly show hits the big timeAward-winning director Havanna Marking talks to Afghan Scene about getting gongs at Sundance for her documentary on Afghan Star.”

32 Be SceneEveryone’s favourite Scene feature is back with a slice of the month’s best party photos.

38 Short walk Matthew Leeming pays tribute to the greatest travel book in the English language, which just happens to be set in Nuristan and the Panjshir valley.

46 Faecal Matters, and other health myths...Public health boffin Dr S Ahib explodes a few myths about Kabul’s alleged health hazards.

50 You eatin’ with me? It’s not on Flower Street, and it’s not really a café anymore – Afghan Scene discovers how a man from the mob brought an old favourite into the Kabul restaurant premiere league.

69 Afghan Essentials A handy reference of the best restaurans and hotels in Kabul

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it all before?Scene

Introduction

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How times change. Just last autumn fear gripped the city, western security companies advised credulous clients that Kabul was “becoming like

Baghdad” and certain members of the expat community made discreet enquiries about procuring sawn off shotguns to “clear corridors” in the event of their homes being overrun by insurgents - or jilted boyfriends. We’ve printed the reminiscences of a visitor who had the misfortune of pitching up in the capital for the first time during the worst of it.

But today, the mood feels a lot more optimistic. Restaurants are thriving, the drizzle of April has given way to summer and Kabul is luxuriating in an extraordinary amount of daily city power.

Perhaps it’s something to do with the start of the new era in US politics, and President Obama’s dumping, in this Afghanistan speech earlier this year, of so many of the rotten policies he inherited.

Perhaps it won’t last. But in the spirit of the new confidence Afghan Scene has set a cover price of 50 Afs for copies of the magazine sold by our loyal vendors - street kids for whom the money goes a long way. And we have re-introduced our famous social pages chronicling the best of Kabul’s party scene. Now that Mr Obama has come down so decisively on talking to the insurgents (this month we have

an interview with someone who has done just that) we’re hoping

to include a few photos of fiestas in

Quetta in the months to come. �

It’s the wife - I can’t even fight a bloody war in peace!





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Kabul at work

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A voice of

sanityin a world

gone

madWords and picturesby David Gill

had “clunk click every trip” Kaka’s killer lines include: “Don’t touch!” and “Stupid! By killing civilians, you will never go to Paradise!” He has had to grow used to cheeky kids shouting his catchphrases at him as he walks through the streets of Kabul.

So far he has appeared in thirty commercials in the current campaign, which is being paid for by ISAF. Whether it’s working or not is anyone’s guess: western military and civilian officials have put the number of suicide attacks up by 25 per cent on last year. But without the voice of reason on national television, God knows how much worse the situation might be. Actually Kaka Nijat is probably the man to ask. �

Kaka Nijat, 72, is the face of a long running television public awareness campaign aimed at preventing the recruitment of suicide bombers,

an unfortunate employment growth area in Afghanistan at the moment. Kaka Nijat - roughly translated as ‘Uncle Rescue’ - plays a ghostly figure that appears in a puff of smoke and tries to trouble the conscience of would-be suicide bombers. A Christmas Carol for troubled Muslims if you will. The hotline to the police that he shares with everyone is 119 (nine eleven backwards… oh the irony).

He is now a celebrity in his own right, a Jimmy Savile of the noughties. But while Jimmy

The man in charge of deterring suicide bombers

has become a surprising pop culture icon

Kabul, A City at Work is a selection of over 100 original portraits from the capital. It’s authors describe it as a window into Kabul’s soul. For more information visit www.web.mac.com/shot2bits/work

Scene team

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SnappersAfghan Scene Magazine is proud to showcase workfrom the very best of Afghanistan’s photographers.

David Gill is writer, photographer and videographer focusing social documentary and overseas development. His current book project Kabul, a

City at Work is a selection over 100 original portraits. web.mac.com/shot2bits/work.

Jason P Howe is a British freelance photojournalist who has spent the last eight years specialising in conflict coverage. He is best known for his extensive

work on Colombia but he also spent several years in Iraq, documented the 2006 war in Lebanon and has been based in Afghanistan since mid 2007.

www.conflictpics.com

Ash Sweeting is a freelance photojournalist, videographer, climber and adventurer. After over five years working all over Afghanistan he

is still working on an exit strategy, but is yet to find anywhere as good.www.ashsweeting.com

Véronique de Viguerie is a fearless French photographer, with string of awards for her images of Afghanistan an d Pakistan. More recently, she has

also spent time in Lebanon, Somalia, India,Bangladesh,Israel, Kashmir, Cameroon and Iran.

www.lightstalkers.org/veronique-de-viguerie

Fardin Waezi is one of Afghanistan’s leading photojournalists.He suffered countless beatings from the Taliban for taking pictures as a

young man. His images have since been published and exhibited worldwide. He also helps train young photographers at AINA.

www.thruafghaneyes.blogspot.com

Almost all the photographs featured in Afghan Scene are available for sale, direct from the photographers. All of the photographers are available for commissions, here and elsewhere. If you

would like to contribute to Afghan Scene, or if you can’t get hold a contributor,please contact [email protected].





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Insight scene

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Insight scene

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TalibanAt war with the

that fill whole streets with blood. I had ridden motorcycles with them across no man’s land. But I had never seen them fight.

I’ve seen French soldiers fight. I’ve been with American troops when the bullets are whizzing past my head, but it’s like David and Goliath. If you’re a journalist filming Goliath you feel safe. But with David?

I packed as light as possible: a pocket sized video camera, a few bandages and a tourniquet in a bag underneath my burqa. I had two mobile phones, one in my handbag and one in my bra

- in case things went wrong. But the fear is not so bad once you’re on the road.

I was wearing a woman’s shalwar kameez and flip flops on my feet (high heels would have been more authentic but I didn’t have any in the house). In a second bag, in the boot, were a pair of running shoes and a set of men’s clothes.

Two hours out of Kabul we met our escort. One of them I’d met before. He looked the same, just older.

They took us to a big square compound in the countryside and they showed me how they

was too dark and too dangerous to leave Kabul at night, so we made plans to leave at dawn.

There was no small talk at dinner that night. The fear is always worst before you go. You imagine a thousand ways to die or how you could be kidnapped. I thought about everything I could lose. The pain I could cause, to my friends, my family and my boyfriend.

I had met the Taliban before, but this was different. I had seen them eat and pray in towns they call their own. I had seen the boys’ schools they keep open. I had seen the roadside bombs

I was peeling carrots when they called – a message from the Taliban to visit them at once.

It had been eight long months since my fixer and I had asked to meet them, but I knew exactly what the call meant. The fighting was intensifying and they’d agreed to let me see it.

No details. They said to meet them on Highway One, the road to Kandahar, as soon as I could.

The carrots were for a salad. I had friends coming over for dinner and I was cooking. It

WARRIORS: Taliban fighters loyal to Mullah Momin discuss tactics in Ghazni | Veronique de Viguerie

France 24 correspondent Claire Billet relives the moment she risked her life, and her reputation, to join the Taliban on a night raid in Wardak

Afghan Scene May-June 2009 www.afghanscene.comwww.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene May-June 2009





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Insight scene

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Insight scene

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the man’s shalwar I had with me, and I wrapped a chequered cotton scarf over my head.

They gave me a turban and agreed I could come – as long as my fixer stayed with me, so that he could carry me if I got hurt.

We drove through the night to a rendezvous with another group of fighters. One of the reasons I was dressed as a man is because Abu Tayeb didn’t want the other commanders to know there was a woman on the attack.

The moon was bright and the land completely flat. We marched for twenty minutes and then the men set off in different directions, surrounding an army outpost cloaked in darkness.

There was nowhere to hide. And then the shooting started. Men to my right opened fire. The ANA fired back, their muzzle flashes enough for Abu Tayeb to aim a shoulder launched missile in their direction.

Then they said they didn’t want to take me. They said it was too dangerous. They were worried I’d get killed. They said the Afghan soldiers would rape me if I was captured, and if I got wounded they were worried none of them would be allowed to touch me.

I thought about watching from a distance, but they said I’d look like a commander and if Nato planes were nearby they would bomb me. We thought about positioning ourselves in front of them, but they said I might be killed by “friendly fire”.

I had to show them I was ready. I went to my room in the women’s quarters and changed into

train – by shooting a rocket propelled grenade at a mountain.

Abu Tayeb, their commander, was clearly pleased to see me. He burst into the house with a big smile, but then he seemed to check himself, and spoke to my fixer, as if speaking to me directly was impolite. It was the first day of Ramazan, but they gave me tea and sweets all day.

The next morning things had changed. They said they were going to attack foreign troops, and I was convinced I would die. I didn’t want to come back without a story, but I didn’t want to die either.

UN-SCENE: Taliban gunmen mask their faces | Claire Billet

FIREPOWER: Taliban commander Abu Tayeb fires a rocket on the range | Claire Billet

TERRIFIED: Claire disguised as a man on the night of the attack | Claire Billet

HOME TURF: Armed Taliban gunmen drive around rural Wardak | Claire Billet

BRIEFING: Taliban commanders make plans toattack | Claire Billet






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Insight scene

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“I hope Madame, you will pass on the information you have on those [Taliban] to the authorities.”

“My husband is serving in Afghanistan. Don’t be proud of what you do - those men may be those who kill French soldiers.”

“Bravo: you have chosen your side and your status as a journalist doesn’t change anything. It’s like a mission with the 2nd SS Panzer Das Reich, exclusive with those elite troops”...

Not everyone thinks journalists should talk to the Taliban. Claire’s story provoked mixed responses from viewers on France 24’s website:

BATTERED: The army outpost attacked by the Taliban| Claire Billet

I was terrified. I felt like an animal acting only to survive, I squashed my body against the ground in a ditch only twenty centimetres deep and I filmed what I could through a night vision lens. And then I ran.

I ran as fast as I could. The Afghan troops were firing close over our heads. I could hear Kalashnikovs and heavy machine guns. My lungs were burning and I remember cursing myself for smoking so much.

Then I fell. I tripped in the darkness and smashed into the ground, tearing open the skin on my knees. The camera was still rolling and it

was only when I watched the film afterwards that I saw an RPG scream overhead.

My fixer grabbed my arm and we ran together all the way back to the meeting point. And then I had a cigarette. It was the only time I let them see me smoke.

I don’t know how the Taliban cope with that sort of fear – with being so defenceless, with no body armour and nowhere to hide. When Abu Tayeb came back he made a joke about me running. “We are human beings too,” he said. “We didn’t run so why did you?” �

TROPHY: Insurgents brandish an American hat from one of their recent victims | Veronique de Viguerie UNIT: Mullah Najib, one of the eight Taliban commanders in Ghazni | Veronique de Viguerie





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After I spent a few days with the Taliban near Musa Qala in October 2006, feelings ran high in Britain’s House of Commons – including suggestions that I be tried for treason. But comments on blogs ran about 60/40 in my favour, including on sites used by the military to express their views. The public wanted to know what the Taliban were like, and recognised what some politicians did not – that interviewing people does not imply support for their views. Afghanistan is a complex place. Trying to understand what motivates men to fight for the Taliban now is a crucial part of reporting the whole picture.

David Loyn’s History of foreign engagement in Afghanistan - Butcher and Bolt - is available for sale at Gandamack Lodge’

Claire’s account of accompanying the Taliban into battle immediately made me feel like I

David Loyn, BBC Developing World Correspondent:

Sean Langan, award winning documentary maker and former Taliban hostage:

was back in Afghanistan. I could feel the fear and adrenalin Claire must have felt before the attack, and the almost feral-like terror she describes once the firing began. One thing is for sure: Claire certainly has balls. And I admire her for that.

But I would have declined the Taliban’s offer to accompany them on an attack. When I was made such offers I weighed up my own personal safety and the legality of not reporting an attack I had advanced knowledge of. I concluded it would be unethical. But that was my own personal choice, and it’s a fine line in such situations.

I don’t condemn Claire for her choice. In fact I salute her courage and tenacity - future historians will probably applaud her for recording such events. Journalism needs to record all sides of the story. Footage of the Viet Cong in battle are now important historical documents. No one cares who filmed it.

There aren’t many people doing what Claire does; it’s a tough, lonely life, and one that may end in disaster. I was kidnapped and held hostage by the Taliban for three months. I now realise I was playing a game of Russian Roulette and as everyone knows: that ain’t a game you can play too often.

Insight scene

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for the Death of Princes Diana (which I am quite proud of, only don’t tell Mohamed Al-Fayed).

Practicing my chosen profession/vocation (delete according to wage slip) in Afghanistan is even stranger. Like most things in Afghanistan, it’s never straightforward. Photography was banned under the Taliban yet it’s almost impossible to walk past an Afghan male without being forced to ‘axe’ him. On the other hand, try and photograph a woman and you could lose your head. I’ve been to three weddings so far and I’ve not so much as smelt a female. Girl’s schools, outside of Kabul, are placed on

Documentary photographer, photojournalist, snapper, paparazzi, picture monkey, painter with light. You get called a lot things in this

game - none of them particularly flattering. The pay’s s**t, the hours are stupid, and I have a slipped disc due to regularly humping around 20 kilos of accoutrements. I’ve been assaulted, spat at, stoned and on one occasion whipped by a schoolgirl (I know some people would pay for that, but this was in Afghanistan so sexual intent can be pretty much discounted). I was once accused of being collectively responsible

Blog scene

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Afghan Scene brings you its favourite blogger

Paedophiles

big lens theoryphotographers

and the





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mountaintops so high that only God and fighter pilots can get a visual. So far so Muslim culture ...I can deal with that.

Only this country has what you might call a lot of women based stories. I was commissioned by a women’s mag do shoot Unwanted Advances - Facing a resurgent Taliban, Afghan women have had to cover up and take cover. Malalai Kakar, a female police chief led the piece. Shooting her was compounded by the fact that she got shot by the Taliban. So far so Afghan culture ...I can deal with that.

Well not really, but as you can imagine photographing women is not what you might call straightforward in this town. The “whipping incident” came when I tried to photograph a girl’s school. Despite having permission to shoot outside the school gates it wasn’t long before the Afghan branch of St Trinians, the infamous

Blog scene

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Blog scene

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MR WHIPPY: The caretaker clears the streets with a cane

SCHOOL’S OUT: Secondary students at the end of a long day




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coincidence. Most of them are so bunkered down that the ones who venture out and bravely attend parties seem to believe that a rowdy Brit brandishing a big Nikon is obviously on a mission to disseminate pictures to the bad guys. I call it the big lens theory and if we murdered Diana we’re a capable of anything.

One major incident (a ‘major incident’ out here can be as insignificant as a car backfiring resulting in 1,000 NGOs forced into a lockdown) occurred whilst attending a Friday morning knockabout Frisbee match. For security reasons I wont give you the GPS co-ordinates of this

school for ‘young ladies’ set upon me. I made a swift exit, aided by the school caretaker who helped drive the girls away with a big stick.

This I can deal with. Working round a society’s cultural customs is part of any documentary photographer’s modus operandi. What I have a real problem with here is the cult of paranoia amongst the country’s resident ‘internationlistas’. Mainly the Americans, whose fear, suspicion and mistrust (obviously linked to their war on abstract nouns) of photographers has so far placed me at loggerheads with lets say more than enough Yanks to be a

of anonymous sweaty jocks tossing a piece of plastic around an empty football field.

Leaving the secret location, which happens to border a military base, I was stopped by a US Soldier in full Terminator battle dress. “Excuse me sir I need to check your camera equipment.’ Cut to me showing some grunt the most boring set of pictures I’ve shot since I’ve been here. Occasionally the grunt would grunt, “delete that one”. “You have the power to order me sir. I will delete.” “I also have the ability to retrieve the pictures with simple software when I get home”.

weekly rendezvous but it’s held in a semi-public space – a sort of green zone lite. Obviously I was tooled up with a bigger than ‘normal’ lens/body kit. So within minutes I was being quizzed by various panting members of the Frisbee posse.

‘Why are you taking pictures? What for? Who for?’ I was accused of putting their lives in jeopardy. God forbid the Taliban got to see their pictures in print. Trying to explain that getting interesting pictures into publication was hard enough, never mind long-lens shots

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Afghan Scene May-June 2009Afghan Scene May-June 2009

CLASS CAP-TAINS: Students vie to attract their teacher’s attention DREAMCOAT: Girls streaming out of the school gates





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“Thebuzzbuilding”

just kept

Havana Marking, the director of a documentary about Afghan Star, explains what it’s like to have an international smash hit on her hands

ovation lasts for fifteen minutes, you can be sure the movie has become a phenomenon.

The woman behind Afghan Star, the break out hit about Afghanistan’s answer to Pop Idol, still can’t quite believe it.

Film makers know they are on to a winner when the audience jumps to their feet at the end to clap and cheer the credits. But when the screening is at one of

the world’s top film festivals and the standing



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GONGS: Doco producer Havanna collects the top prize at Sundance





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who, for all her success, is “still living in a cold flat in London” trying to keep the “ego monster” at bay.

The story of Afghan Star the movie is almost as extraordinary as Afghan Star the television show. Havana had known for a long time that she wanted to make a film about something in Afghanistan and had long been suspicious of the “embed culture in journalism”.

“I always knew that the full story wasn’t being told,” she says. “I was really fed up of this view where everything is about war and every Afghan woman is a victim and every Afghan man is a rapist.”

But she did not know what her film should be about and she only hit on the hugely popular Tolo TV programme when she was introduced to Rachel Reid, a former journalist who now heads up Human Rights Watch in Kabul.

“It was just bonkers! I was saying, ‘Come on everyone, sit down; this is just ridiculous,’” says Havana Marking who was named best director in the world cinema category at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

That’s quite something for someone from a TV background who had never made a feature film before.

It also won the world documentary audience award, making it the only doc to scoop two prizes.

And now the film is gearing up for a summer cinema release in the US and television runs in Britain, Canada, Australia, France and Belgium.

Spike Lee has seen the film, Prince Charles has asked for a copy and Oprah Winfrey’s people are in talks about dedicating one of the US chat queen’s shows to the Afghan Star phenomenon.

“I’m just sitting here watching all of this in amazement – it’s just bananas,” says Havana

“It’s like going to battle – it’s totally different from other film festivals. It’s where all the industry is and it’s a make or break moment for any film. We couldn’t afford a publicist and all of us were new comers to this features world.”

The team covered Salt Lake city with flyers and threw an Afghan party, with traditional food catered by a local refugee family.

Havana spent four months at the end of 2007 in Kabul, following every twist and turn of a TV show that would attract international headlines - and the fury of religious conservatives - when female contestant Setara Hussainzada dared to dance on stage.

In short, it had everything needed for great television and great cinema.

“It is just the idea of it that is so brilliant,” says Havana. “When I tell people that there is a Pop Idol in Afghanistan they still look amazed and I know that that was my first reaction too”.

She says she knew she had an extremely special film on her hands even before she got into an editing suite.

But the road to award triumph was not pre-ordained and required the “flipping hard work” of promoting the movie at Sundance.

“Remember you are not voting for a film, you are voting for a nation!”

SUITS WHO?: Sundance team won no points for style

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Afghan Scene May-June 2009Feature scene

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honours as party DJ. He had travelled with the team to promote the film, telling audiences who came to screenings, “Remember you are not voting for a film, you are voting for a nation!”

“All of theses things added to us becoming the buzz film,” Havana says. “There’s this really weird Sundance concept of the ‘buzz

“We had the best party in town. Every other film party was incredibly corporate but we had this old school British house party with an Afghan disco that went on until four in the morning.”

Guests all received a pair of traditional, knitted Afghan slippers and Dauod Sidiqi, the Afghan’s stars erstwhile presenter did the

International press acclaim for Afghan Star

The Times: This fabulous film tells you more about everyday life in Afghanistan than any number of news reports.

Guardian: The fascination of Havana Marking’s fabulous documentary lies in its glimpses of an everyday life in Afghanistan that we rarely see.

Sunday Times: Havana Marking’s documentary about last year’s series of the show provides an absorbing picture of life in Kabul and beyond.

The Observer: In a better world, this documentary about the phenomenon would get a primetime Saturday night slot on ITV1.

Evening Standard: An entertaining and revelatory documentary, showing us that a once liberal society is still infected by 30 years of war and Taliban rule.

Financial Times: Havana Marking’s uproarious, awareness-raising documentary tells us more about the title country than a month of newscasts.



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SAY FLEES: Afghan Star presenter Dauod Sidiqi, third from left, with Havanna Marking, left, and team, at the Sundance festival. Sidiqi later fled Afghanistan for a new life in the West

film’. It’s slightly weird because everyone thinks they have the buzz film but we really were. The buzz just kept on building.”

But the film has also benefited from lucky timing, principally the sharp increase in US public awareness about the situation in Afghanistan after so many years in which it was, in Havana’s words, simply seen as “part of the revenge for 9/11”.

“Seven years later people have stopped talking about Osama and extra money is being spent on Afghanistan even though the US is going bankrupt. People have realised that they just don’t understand what’s been going on there and they are hungry to find out.

“The great thing about Afghan Star is that it explains layer upon layer of different elements about Afghan society. The film has got everything – tribal differences, gender issues, power struggles between the religious council, war lords and the general public”.

Havana is coy about how she is going to follow up her success, but hints at a possible film catching up with some of the characters from Afghan Star – and no doubt a standing ovation or two. �

GET THE TEARS IN: Daoud wipes his eyes with Havanna on the podium

BOOM OR BUSSED: Sundance victors in front of their chariot



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Oh no, the place has been ransacked!





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Afghan Scene May-June 2009Party scene

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Be sceneShare your event or party pics with Aghan Scene. email [email protected]

OLD FLAME: Constance glows at Jemima’s leaving party

ON MESSAGE: Communications supremo Aleem on his way back to Kabul

HEAD OVER KEALS: Chris Kealey keeps an eye on Emma at the Reuters party

VIVE LE FLUFF: Herve strikes a gallic pose at his Altai farewell

HEMMING’S AWAY: Reuters chief Jon Hemming days before he left Kabul for home in England.

GOOD TAI’MS: Altai lads Alex and Gabi at Herve’s au revoir BYE-OCHEMISTRY: Tom’s in his element at Jemima’s leaving doUNI-FEMME FATALE: Women’s worker Rachel and school pal Jacob at an impromptu Kabul reunion

ROUND THE HORNE: Nick Horne and Amandine share a joke at a Kabul party


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DON’T LEAF: Nassim will’s Herve to put down roots athis Altai farewell

MON BLEU: Rudolph says adieu at Herve’s Altai farewell

HEATHER REGIONS: Dirk D and colleague Heather share a moment in L’Atmo GOTCHA!: Lianne Gutcher gets to know Matt Tilliard at L’Atmo

CURRANT BUNS: Sun men Simon and Tom celebrate their Helmandishire return

GOODFELLAS: Restaurant boss Timur with Sam, Tom and Jon at Lady J’s farewell bash


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Afghan Scene April 2009

WHERE’S WALLER?: Simely Sarah Waller grins with Nassan at Oxfam’s feed the expats bash

HUGH’S THE DADDY: Ridell works on his Boris Johnson impersonation

HOWITZER FOR YOU?: Jason Howe and Fis fool around at Alistair’s leaving bash

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL: Detective Gary and sidekick Hannah cook up a storm





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Other men’spansies

act of kindness to an unknown writer entirely typical of a man often thought of as a monster.

The epilogue shows Carless to be an equally accomplished writer and the close friendship between him and Newby shows itself in the epilogue’s seamless transition from Wilfred Thesiger’s immortal put-down to the half-dead protagonists - “God, you must be a couple of pansies” - that famously closes the book into Hugh’s evocation of their welcome back in the Panjshir. He shares Newby’s eye for detail, beauty and the quiddity of Afghanistan in describing the daily routine of a traveller: the 4am start through the most spectacular scenery in the world as the sun rises and slowly

What is the greatest travel book in English? Many people lazily -and to appear high-brow – cite The Road to Oxiana, overlooking

the fact that it is mainly the very funny and opinionated diary entries that Byron couldn’t be bothered to turn into a proper book on his return to England, plus some beautiful essays on the origins of Islamic architecture. A literary agent said to me recently that it wouldn’t find a publisher today. Byron is good at sentences but most readers want plot.

Far better is Eric Newby’s classic, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. It would be hard to think of a book with a better plot: a dress salesman from Mayfair (Newby) and a serious diplomat (Hugh Carless) decide to attempt a monstrous unclimbed peak on the border of Nuristan, despite having never been on a mountain before. To tell more would be to spoil the book for those lucky enough for it still to be a first-read.

A Short Walk has been continuously in print since its publication heralded by a laudatory (but rather sad) preface by Evelyn Waugh – an

Matthew Leeming pays tribute to the greatest travel book in the English language, which just happens to be set in Nuristan and the Panjshir valley

BATTLEGROUND: Soviet relics in the Panjshir Valley | Jason P Howe

STORY TIME: Panjshiri guides climbing Mir Samir browse Newby’s book, 2005 | Ash Sweeting

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Khan, where I always stopped to pay my respects. Bahadur Khan – the prosperous owner of beautiful horses and husband of several wives – had apparently never seen the book until, in November 2006, journalist, Jerome Starkey took him a copy, just a few weeks after Newby died. The explorer Benedict Allen (whose film, retracing the journey was recently shown on BBC4) rediscovered him in 2007. I took a copy of the book, inscribed by Hugh, to him in February 2008. A few months later I was shocked to learn that Khan, who seemed so healthy surrounded by his enormous family, had suddenly died.

The road runs out not long after, near the emerald mines at Khenj, where locals use recycled munitions to quarry the stones. From

illuminates and warms the valleys; the gradual unwrapping from one’s body the layers of fifteen-foot patou that keep out the chill; and that longed-for moment when the horse dung that has been produced en route is used to boil water for chai – a routine which still starts and defines the traveller’s day.

And what of the area of Afghanistan, principally the Panjshir and Nuristan, where the action of the book takes place today? Metalled roads are gradually pushing up the Panjshir, Afghanistan’s most beautiful river valley, the first thirty miles of which are now only a few hours from the capital and one can easily drive there to escape the bombs and dirt of Kabul. The road reaches the house of Newby and Carless’s horseman, the seventy-something Bahadur

by an exceptionally violent race, many red-haired and blue eyed - the descendants of an early Indo-European migration- wine drinkers with whom Alexander drunkenly celebrated the Bacchic mysteries in 327 BC and who were forcibly converted to Islam by Abdur Rahman in 1895, scared even Newby and Carless’s stout-hearted Panjshiris and remains one of the most romantic and inaccessible passes in the world. No-one really knows what is happening on the other side. It may contain one of bin Laden’s country retreats and there are reports of gem and silver mines (Marco Polo recorded that the Panjshir was rich in silver but the locations are now lost).

Why is A Short Walk such a great travel book? First, because Newby had an eye for

then on, the valley has hardly changed from Newby and Carless’s day. The valley rises and becomes bleaker and then divides. You take the right river to the Parian valley and after about fifteen miles, at the village of Deh Parian, take a path that leads to the mountain and the beautiful meadows surrounding it. Dominating the landscape is the forbidding mountain of Mir Samir. This is as far as I have ever got. It is a special place, one of the few left in the world, as Thesiger once said to me in his old age, where you can travel as he did, as if the twentieth-century had never happened. From the eastern foothills of this mountain the Chamar Pass leads into Nuristan. The prospect of travel in this mountain fastness, sealed from the world by 15,000 foot passes and inhabited

RUGGED?: Armed guides pack blankets, rugs and cushions during a 2005 attempt on Mir Samir. Newby and Carless were branded pansies for sleeping on mattresses | Ash Sweeting

KHAN’T READ: Newby’s guide Bahadur Khan spots himself in pictures, 2006 | Jerome Starkey

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Matthew Leeming is an author, reporter and entrepreneur from the watercress capital of England. He first visited Afghanistan in 2001 on holiday and unwittingly met the men who killed Ahmed Shah Masoud a few days before 9/11. He now lives in Kabul.

versions. The final one is of Newby and Carless, in goggles and windproof suits, entitled Portrait of Two Failures. But was their attempt which ended 500 metres from the summit of an unclimbed peak such a failure? To find out, I asked Ash Sweeting, Kabul’s most accomplished rock climber, who accompanied by an Everest veteran and armed with a copy of this book, made another attempt on Mir Samir two years ago but was also cheated of final victory by weather. “You’ve got to remember that there’s been an order-of-magnitude improvement in climbing equipment since 1957” he said. “We got up an ice face that took them hours in five minutes simply because of our equipment. It was a very difficult climb when they did it. It wasn’t a failure – for two beginners to come so close to the summit of Mir Samir was something like a triumph.”

Finally, I suspect that in another fifty years, this book will still be as funny and inspiring as it is today and new generations will have become obsessed with this wild, beautiful, hospitable, eerie and uncomfortable country and Eric Newby, Hugh Carless, Abdul Ghiyas and Bahadur Khan will still be living characters; there will be another celebratory edition and its status as the greatest travel book in English as incontestable as it is today. �

detail and descriptive ability that captures the beauty, as well as the bleakness, of Afghanistan. Here he is describing the end of a day in the bazaar: “The oil lanterns that were tied to the mulberry trees and which illuminated the street began to flicker and go out one by one.” Or again, on Mir Samir: “the cloud swirled like smoke about the lower slopes. From out of the glen came a chill wind and the rumble of falling rocks. It was like a battlefield stripped of corpses by Valkyries.” Second, and more unusual, is his withering honesty about himself and his companions. He records exactly what he felt at the time. One horseman looks “cunning, intelligent and the antithesis of the faithful retainer”.

No-one escapes, least of all Hugh Carless, who is actually the hero of the book, yet Newby is quite honest that without him he would have given up long before the attempt on the mountain. But near the top he records “a feeling of great affection for Hugh, this tiresome character who had led me to such a spot”. The book is dedicated to him with the words, “without whose determination this journey could never have been made”. Third, it is laugh-out-loud funny.

This anniversary edition includes pictures that have not been published in more recent

LEGACY: The Panjshir river snakes towards Masoud’s tomb | Jason P Howe

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The air

breathethat we

in your mouth after touching the door knob in the restaurant toilet but you will never get it from breathing the air. So, to clear this up once and for all - and let there be no mistake about it – you cannot get diarrhoea from breathing Kabul air. Desiccated turd in the lungs, yes, but diarrhoea, no.

Diarrhoea is a serious problem in Afghanistan and is likely responsible for about 40 per cent of the deaths of children aged 1-5 (that, by the way, is an awful lot of deaths...). It is mostly transmitted through poor sanitation, where effluent leaks into the water supply or simply lies in the streets. It can also be

Myth 1: Faecal matter makes up about 80 per cent of the air in Kabul.

Yes, Kabul air quality is bad, but the particulate matter in the air is unlikely to be dominated by faecal matter. That said, we probably do breath in an appreciable amount of turd with every breath. However, there is no such thing as an airborne diarrhoeal disease.

The sobering reality is that when you get diarrhoea it is mostly because someone’s contaminated faeces has made it into your digestive system... (not your lungs). You could certainly get the trots by putting your fingers

Myth 3: Carbonated drinks contain E. coli.

Apparently the Ministry of Health once conducted a survey of carbonated drinks in Kabul and found that “90 per cent contained E. coli”. Wow. This is a good one.

There are thousands of strains of E. coli, and many of them live inside you right now. Only a few are pathogenic (i.e. actually give you the shits), and these, it is true to say, cause serious health problems. They are mostly food born (think feco-oral). E. coli cannot live in carbonated drinks which contain too much sugar. They cannot live on the dry tops or caps, either. That’s why they are safe. They make you fat and spotty, for sure, but they are definitely not a culture medium for bacteria. Do wipe the can before you drink, though.

Myth 5: Opium is bad.

Opium addiction, like all addictions, causes serious problems in those afflicted and to society at large. The spectre of the drug can also cause severe paranoia, loss of objectivity and ultimately, deafness... amongst politicians and the public.

You see, medically, opium is one of the most effective and simple to produce of all painkillers. The direct result of continued prohibition is that literally millions of people in developing countries die every year in needless, relentless and unimaginable pain. A global opiate drug shortage and consequent high prices keep them out of reach of most.

There is simply no substitute for this class of drug when it comes to relieving the pain

transmitted from fomites (taps, door handles, etc) onto hands. The best way to prevent diarrhoea is to always drink clean water, wash your hands regularly with soap and water, and make sure you wash fresh fruit and vegetables – oh, and don’t play in the sewer. Most diarrhoea is self-limiting and does not require antibiotics. If you have very acute diarrhoea, or it is accompanied by plenty of vomit or fever, or it lasts for more than 48 hours, or it significantly worsens over a 24 hour period you should seek medical advice. Always keep well hydrated to replace the fluids and salts that you lose. If you can’t keep fluids down, get to a doctor who can give you a drip. Diarrhoea rarely kills, but dehydration does.

Myth 2: Mobile phones can transmit killer viruses.

In 2007, a rumour spread like wild-fire that if you answered your phone, a mysterious virus would strike you down. The result was that for an entire day it was impossible to get a call through to anyone (yes, and I also mean people in the Ministry of Health) because everyone was afraid to pick up their phones. The idea is so absurd, that I can hardly bring myself to dispel it. Take it from me. It’s impossible.

The jury is still out on the health effects of mobile phones but despite a number of large studies in western countries there has been no association found with ill health. Muppets crashing their cars and the irritation caused to bystanders and officemates by down-loadable Christmas carols or Bollywood spectaculars are probably the major public health problems associated with their use.

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Public health boffin Dr S Ahib explodes a few myths about Kabul’s alleged health hazards







www.afghanscene.com

This is the strongest argument most of us should need for regulated production and trade of opium.

Crime gone, insurgency quelled and pain relieved.�

of many terminal diseases. For sure, there are social problems of addiction (which are not exclusive to opiate addiction) but these problems are eclipsed by the scale of the suffering which resultsfrom prohibition.

Myths from the field A small sample of some challenges to improving public health awareness in Afghanistan:

• If your baby is late arriving lie under a camel.

• If your child stutters put a live fish in their mouth.

• Fish and milk causes skin de-pigmentation.

• Water melon and tea, taken together, will make you ill. So will drinking water after eating mulberries, worse if dried.

• Bitter oranges prevent malaria.

• If one of your family members has mental health problems, take them to Jalalabad and chain them to a tree for 40 days...

Health sceneAfghan Scene May-June 2009

Lapis is Afghanistan’s leadingfull service strategic communications company:

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research | public opinion | project management | production | media placement training and development | media monitoring | evaluation | market segmentationDari | Pashto | English | print | broadcasting | TV and radio | pr | event management

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You eatin’with me?

Flower Street CaféStreet 2, Qala-e Fatullah.

Tel: 0700 293 124,0799 356 319

The Qala-e-Fatulah eaterie has always been a popular haunt but Mr Nusratty has made it his mission to make it the “default lunch spot” in Kabul.

Scene can report that he is well on his way to fulfilling that goal by sharing the dishes only previously enjoyed by house guests at his exclusive Kabul dinner parties.

Trying to think of international parallels of restauranters with such passion for food one is

Timur Nusratty welcomes customers into his restaurant with the sort of warmth you might expect of family-run joint in Sicily’s hill country. The lucky few can

expect a man-on-man bear hug.“Have you tried the puttanesca? It’s

excellent,” the owner of the Flower Street Café bashfully suggests to Scene over lunch, referring to just one of the new dishes on his revamped menu.

One wonders whether Don Nusratty, who works as a mobile phone executive in his spare time, will soon be ordering the whacking of customers who don’t sufficiently enthuse about his chicken schnitzels, fried Baglani cheese salads and quesadillas.

But then effusive praise is what nearly everything on the revamped menu deserves.

Afghan Scene has always been a big fan of the café’s food and service, and once got into the dangerous habit of ordering a grilled Polo Loco sandwich and fries for home delivery on a daily basis. But it was a custom that had to stop as Scene’s waistline began to resemble that of Don Nusratty’s.

drawn to such superstars as Antonio Carluccio, the jovial cook who brought affordable but top-notch Italian food to British high streets.

But Scene cannot help thinking that the owner of the Flower Street Café is more Corleone than Carluccio – a mafia don overseeing a merry mob of waiters and chefs.

Just as this thought occurs, a Frank Sinatra number drifts across the garden from an iPod play list specially formulated by Mr Nusratty for his customers and the capo looks Scene squarely in the eyes and says “we have really nailed the coffee” – by which he means “improved”.

He goes onto say that prior to his takeover of the restaurant The Flower Street Café was washing its face, but not “really killing it”.

FAT: Sandwich and chips, a Flower Street classic | Jason P Howe

It’s not on Flower Street, and it’s not really a café anymore – Afghan Scene discovers how

a man from the mob brought an old favourite into the Kabul restaurant premiere league

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Qabuli pilau.But even though its food menu has moved

well beyond the repertoire of a mere café, it remains one of the best places in Kabul to idle away an afternoon with a laptop and pretend to be working.

The coffee has indeed been “nailed”, after Don Nusratty invested in some serious Italian coffee making kit and put time into teaching his enormously courteous and efficient staff how to use it. Smoothies, frapuccinos and the like are all available. The garden is as large and pleasant as ever and the wireless internet plentiful and free.

Under the boss’s direction there has been a major overhaul on the restaurant’s interior. The hideous fold up picnic chairs have been

The happy news for weight watching fans of Flower Street is that there are a number of new guilt-free options, including an excellent spinach, cheese and walnut salad.

Unfortunately the always tempting banana cake and brownies have survived the overhaul.

Anyone choosing some of the new Tex-Mex options can expect the restaurant’s roving proprietor to drop by their table, clap them on the back and give them pointers on the perfect way to place their salsa and shredded chicken on their home made Tostados de Tinga.

Don Nusratty promises other improvements are coming soon: Thai curries and some Afghan classics including mantu, kebabs and

Berkeley educated proprietor: smoking has been banned in the two best rooms in the restaurant.

“We had to do it, because, you know the French are just incorrigible,” he says.

The net result of this improvement drive is that the Flower Street Café is teetering on the brink of being seriously up market.

Indeed, it is now the only place in Kabul, that Scene is aware of, where something called a Roshan VIP card is accepted as part payment.

But Mr Nusratty comes from a proud family

switched with sturdier replacements and a lounge area created with cushioned benches almost as voluptuously proportioned as the boss himself.

A sledge hammer has been taken to a wall, to reveal an alcove that had remained hidden for decades – a slightly odd decision given its obvious potential as a place to discipline errant mobsters.

“We found a hidden chamber back there with a secret crawl space and a light,” the don says.

“We don’t know what it was for. Maybe it was from the Soviet era or the Taliban times – a place where people hid while watching TV. There’s a lot of history in this building.”

There is also more than a little California in the place too, as one would expect of its

“It’s a labour of love, it’s a family thing”

THIN: The new spinach salad has gone down a storm | Jason P Howe RESRVOIR MUG: Timur makes sure the customers like their coffee | Jason P Howe

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“It was never in Flower Street. I don’t know why it was called that. I guess it’s a catchy name and Flower Street is one of Kabul’s most famous streets.”

But when his brother-in-law went off to Canada to become Afghanistan’s ambassador in Ottawa the couple took Ali Sultani, their cook, with them. Flower Street Café was then reconfigured as an income generator for the family Ali left behind. His son, Reza, now manages the restaurant and several other family members are involved.

Don Nusratty was left to keep an eye on things and turn the family firm into a Kabul gastro-powerhouse.

“It’s a labour of love, it’s a family thing,” he says in a voice, which if it was only just a little raspier, would be worthy of Brando himself. �

of Afghan restaurateurs and was well placed to pull off this renaissance.

His parents were the proud owners of the Khyber Pass, the first ever Afghan restaurant in Oakland, California, which, back in the day was a magnet for celebrity A-listers. Muhammad Ali used to drop round for traditional Afghan food while Oliver Reed used to enjoy getting plastered there during the filming of the 1976 haunted house thriller, Burnt Offerings.

Indeed, the original café was set up by his sister and brother-in-law as a true coffee and sandwich place in Qala-e-Fatulah, which raises the matter of why it was ever called the Flower Street Café.

“Good question!” the don enthuses, before admitting that he never thought to ask his sister.

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THE DON: Timur Nusratty, restauranteur and goodfella | Jason P Howe





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“They had the road block set up but I got pretty ill and went back to Kabul. You’re invited to join my amoebic dysentery appreciation society on Facebook,” he concludes as we pull up to the Gandamack Lodge.

Final checks to cufflinks as we clear the three-tier security process. Tonight’s guests

It is quarter past seven on my third night in Kabul and I’m struggling with a bow-tie.

Matt, a friend, an aid worker, will be along shortly. He is also wearing black tie.

On the way to tonight’s party he relates how he narrowly avoided being kidnapped a few months ago on a trip out of Kabul.

Last October former Hollywood actor Max Benitz pitched up in Kabul just when the security situation was at it’s worst. Here he recalls that time and reflects on life after Afghanistan

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accidentally slapping me. “You love it, you little bitch,” he offers, by way of apology. He’s right.

The next day I meet a group of American NGO women in L’Atmosphere. All express their horror at the murder of Gayle Williams, 34, the British charity worker murdered last Monday. Our conversations about Obama - “the Afghans love him” - the bitter winter that’s coming and the security situation are brought to an apposite end by a text message. The bill is paid, cars are summoned and the ladies cover their heads.

“What’s the rush?” I ask as they leave.“The text was a threat alert. Planned attack,

here, now, source credible,” one says.A friend enters. As a new boy, I’m packing

bags and fill him in.

include top diplomats, journalists, and aid workers, brought together for the second annual Harry Flashman-Battle of Trafalgar Ball.

Jason Bresler is on my table. He will be dead in 36 hours. Gunned down with a British colleague, David Giles, 42, outside DHL’s Kabul office in what appears to have been an altercation with a guard. The spot where they fell is about 100 yards from where we have just toasted The Queen.

Jetlag and port combine to make the situation surreal. On the dance-floor, I pass a senior American diplomat, still wearing the crown-like felt Afghan hat he sports at formal gatherings. The opening riff of Mambo Number 5 strikes up and his hand shoots out,

headline. A bomb on a donkey - Taliban cavalry, we joke.

Neither of the two Brits I’m with for the day will consider leaving the country. While there are indicators that the situation is getting worse, the expatriate community here is more sanguine. Though concerned, and devastated at the loss of members of their wider community, there is resolve here. It will calm down, they assure me. In the mean time, there is work to be done.

I get home and check emails. The Embassy has alerted us all to a ‘credible’ tip-off about a planned kidnapping of a British National. The electricity will go out soon. It seems incredible that seven years after the Taliban fell, power

“Oh, don’t worry about those. They’re rarely right. Anyway, good place to be as a journalist if it did happen. Just hide in the swimming pool,” he says, ordering a Coke.

The next morning a text arrives from the same friend.

“There’s been another killing of a foreigner. Call me when you get this.”

He tells me to get a taxi to a nearby house where two other British workers are settling in for a day of ‘lockdown’. Conflicting details filter through Kabul’s bush telegraph. Our conversation twists through theories and then onto Afghanistan in general. My host produces a print out from a local news agency - DONKEY KILLS KANDAHAR POLICEMAN - runs the

CHOPPER: Hearthrob Max poses in front of a HIND helicopter | David Gill ON PARADE: Army chief Wardak gets in the way of Benitz photo op

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At half past five there is an earthquake. This is not real. This is a dream.

It is not. I am faced by a dilemma. I’m stark naked, the sun is up. In a country where showing shins is a taboo, can one, during an act of God, run into a garden wearing nothing?

The earthquake ends before I decide. Giving up on the idea of sleep, I boil a kettle in order to shave and wait for aftershocks. �

remains a fleeting guest in most Kabuli homes.What lights-out does to a newcomer with a vague kidnap threat for bedtime reading is predictable enough.

Kabul is unnaturally quiet at night, almost menacingly so. After an hour or so, I’m relaxed enough to attempt sleep. Then there are shots. Two snaps followed by four more. Less than half a mile away but not immediately dangerous.

Then the silence.

UP CLOSE: Max prepares for take off

POSTSCRIPT

Former child film star Max Benitz took the Afghan media by storm last winter during a three month stay in Kabul. This article first appeared in Tatler magazine.

While the rest of the public have more pressing matters to attend to, the meddling classes can be seen at lectures and documentary festivals, fundraisers and anti-war protests earnestly engaging in a debate they won’t move on.

Those who are the most vocal are often the most ignorant. Lindsey German, a prominent figure in the Stop the War movement, told me recently that if troops left Afghanistan immediately there would be no bloodbath. I asked her about the potential fate of Afghans who had engaged with the post-Taliban regime.

“It will be like the end of Apartheid – some will lose out. I understand why some view those who work for NGOs as collaborators. The NGOs act as an arm of the occupation. When the Germans left Italy in 1945, the collaborators lost out,” she replied, absurdly.

This absolutist ‘can’t-make-an-omelette’ thinking is one reason why a movement that attracted millions in 2003 could barely muster a few thousand onto the streets of London during the recent G20 Summit in London. Interestingly, in Strasbourg, many more anti-war protestors turned out to set fire to buildings and make noise at a recent NATO conference than turned up in London, despite France and Germany’s mercifully modest body count since 2001. Perhaps the Franco-German border is a more evocative place to try and stop a war than Trafalgar Square is. Perhaps the British are still used to sending their young to ill-defined wars in dusty places. Perhaps my friends’ indifference is more affected than they let on.

More than six months have passed since I wrote the above article, four of them back in the UK. It was a strange week to arrive in Kabul and being home alone on arrival made it all the more threatening. Things calmed down and that curious Kabul pace (day, day, day, Thursday night, day, day, day, Thursday night) swept me up for the rest of the time out there.

I was wrong to think a week of violence would significantly alter the pace of ex-pat life. This is testament to the optimism of a community who carry on in Kabul unnoticed until something goes horribly wrong. Certain lynchpins within that community, take a bow Dominic, deserve a decoration.

Returning to London was enjoyable. My job in Kabul, though fascinating, was desk bound and having not been a war correspondent I had no intention of becoming a ‘was correspondent’ (“when I was in Kabul…”) so kept quite quiet. Friends weren’t that interested. They’d want two anecdotes and then turn the conversation back to the economy.

In a way, this is quite refreshing. Running off to a war zone shouldn’t dazzle the sensible people of London. It shouldn’t be a short cut to being seen as an inherently interesting or glamorous person. However, whenever a friend looses their job or expresses boredom with the nine-to-five, I tell them that there are plenty of vital jobs to be done in Kabul. They look at me like my nose just fell off.

What’s not refreshing is the level of intellectual engagement here, over Afghanistan.

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Coming Soon to Afghan Scene

Trying to sell a bicycle or looking for love?Got a room to let or want to buy a house?

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Scenedonethere,

thatJemima Montagu first came to Afghanistan more than three years ago to help revive Kabul’s old city and is leaving with fond memories

it out. When I saw Murad Khane for the first time it was absolutely pouring with rain and the whole place looked like Paschendale. It was hard to share his vision that it could be turned into something.

I had a very sensible job in London where I was working for the Arts Council, giving money to fund cultural projects and public art. So I took the very sensible hedge position of taking a sabbatical and coming back in the summer

ASM: When did you first come to Afghanistan?

I arrived for the first time in February 2006 to check the place out. I had heard that there was a possibility of being involved in a cultural programme that Rory Stewart was doing. When he told me he wanted to set up a cultural organisation in the old city I said, “what do you know about culture?” He invited me to check

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it. And there’s the anxiety about the foreign presence – there is still a huge gap between Afghans and the internationals that live here.

ASM: What next?

We are exhibiting the contemporary art show at the Venice Biennale in the summer and then after that I hope to go to Yale to study for a year.

ASM: When are you coming back?

As soon as I can! But I don’t know at the moment. When someone offers me a job. It’s not a place you can really ever leave behind. I’ve been to other places in the world, but nowhere like this. It’s a complete life changer. �

Living Traditions: Contemporary Art from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran runs from June 7 to November 22 at the Venice Bienaale.

for two months. But after those two months, the deal was done. There was no way I was able to go back to my life in London. So I went home to leave my job, pack up my things and leave my sensible life behind and came back to Afghanistan to join the Turquoise Mountain Foundation.

ASM: What was it about Afghanistan that brought you back?

The beauty of the place. The sense that there was really something to do, rather than just twiddling my thumbs in navel gazing in London.

ASM: Best of times?

Shaking mulberries out of the trees, picnics in the Panjshir, the golden leaves of Istalif in the Autumn. The contemporary art workshops I set up to help young Afghan artists. And then there was my dream programme of organising an exhibition of contemporary Afghan, Iranian and Pakistani art in the Queen’s Palace in Babur’s Gardens which finally happened last summer.

And I made fantastic friends here. I had never met any of them just a few years ago and now they will be friends for life, both Afghans and people from all sorts of different nationalities.

ASM: Worst of times?

The moments of doubt about the whole project in Afghanistan and whether we are here on the back of a futile military campaign and whether NGOs like us sometimes feed off a political situation rather than contribute to

Kabul Fasion Weekreceives criticism that models don’t

reflect the shape of real women





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vv

Afghan EssentialsWant to get on the Afghan Essentials list of places to eat and sleep? Contact [email protected]

Essential scene

www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene May-June 2009 69


Hotels and Guesthouses

Safi Landmark Hotel & SuitesCharahi Ansariwww.safilandmarkhotel-suites.comTel: 0202 203 131

Kabul Serena HotelFroshgah Streetwww.serenahotels.comTel: 0799 654 000

The Inter Continental HotelBaghe Bala Roadwww.intercontinentalkabul.comTel: 0202 201 321

Gandamack LodgeSherpur Squarewww.gandamacklodge.co.ukTel: 0700 276 937

Mustafa HotelCharahi Sadaratwww.mustafahotel.comTel: 070 276 021

Heetal Plaza HotelStreet 14, Wazir Akbar Khanwww.heetal.comTel: 0799 167 824, 0799 159 697

UNICA Guest HouseKolola Pushta, opposite Roya MattressTel: 0797 676 357

The International ClubHaji Yaqoob Square, Street 3, Shar-e Naw.Tel: 0774 763 858

Golden Star HotelCharrhay Haji Yaqoob,Shar-e Naw.www.kabulgoldenstarhotel.comTel: 0799 333 088, 0799 557 281

Roshan HotelCharaye Turabaz Khan,Shar-e Naw.Tel: 0799 335 424

Restaurants

EasyfoodDelivers from any restaurant to your homewww.easyfood.afTel: 0796 555 000, 0796 555 001

L’AtmosphereStreet 4, TaimaniTel: 0798 224 982, 0798 413 872

The LoungeLane 2, left, off Street 15, Wazir Akbar Khan.Tel: 0796 174 718, 0700 037 634

RumiQala-e Fatullah Main Rd, between Streets 5 & 6Tel: 0799 557 021 La CantinaThird left off Butcher St,Shar-e NawTel: 0798 271 915

Flower Street CaféStreet 2, Qala-e Fatullah.Tel: 0700 293 124, 0799 356 319

Taverne du LibanStreet 15, Lane 3,Wazir Akbar KhanTel: 0799 828 376

The GrillStreet 15, Wazir Akbar Khan.Tel: 0799 818 283, 0799 792 879 Everest PizzaStreet 10, Wazir Akbar Khanwww.everestpizza.comTel: 0700 263 636, 0779 317 979

BoccaccioStreet 10, Wazir Akbar KhanTel: 0799-200600

Bella ItaliaStreet 14, Wazir Akbar KhanTel: 0799 600 666

NamasteStreet 15, Wazir Akbar Khan, between lanes 2 and 3 on the right.Tel: 0772 011 120

Delhi DarbarShar-e Naw, close to UK SportsTel: 0799 324 899

SufiMuslim Street, Shar-e Nawwww.sufi.com.afTel: 0774 212 256, 0700 210 651

Golden Key Seafood Res-taurantLane 4, Street 13,Wazir Akbar Khan.Tel: 0799 002 800, 0799 343 319

Cabul Coffeehouse & CaféStreet 6, on the left, Qale-e FatullahTel: 0752 005 275

Mai ThaiHouse 38, Lane 2, Street 15, Wazir Akbar KhanTel:0796 423 040

Khosha RestaurantAbove the Golden Star Hotel.Tel: 0799 888 999

Anar RestaurantLane 3, Street 14,Wazir Akbar KhanTel: 0799 567 291

Red Hot Sizzlin’ SteakhouseDistrict 16, Macroyan 1, NaderHill AreaTel: 0799 733 468

Springfield RestaurantLane 3, Street 15,Wazir Akbar KhanTel: 0799 001 520

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