Word: afghan
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...three turkeys arrived today, shrink-wrapped in red, white and blue plastic. Our Afghan staff handled the packages gingerly, unsure what to make of our enthusiasm for frozen food. When they buy turkey from the local market, it usually comes body-temperature, fresh from slaughter. Also in the goody-bag was a ham, contraband in this Muslim nation, but for me a Thanksgiving staple. It was crying out to be scored, studded with cloves, slathered with honey and mustard and slowly roasted. A friend with connections to the American military food supply business had been good to us this year...
...learn about a place, and putting on a feast for friends has been a great excuse to comb the markets. What started as a modest affair has grown in size: two years ago we served 70 and covered our front lawn with a tent usually reserved for Afghan weddings. The Kabul expatriate community is a close one, and most of us have been here for years. You can't turn family away at Thanksgiving, no matter how big the guest list. (Read a brief history of leftovers...
...that has sustained us, far from family, for many holidays. Already the guest list has come down in size as old friends leave Afghanistan, not because of the security situation but because of an overwhelming frustration with how development and reform has been so poorly conducted by both the Afghan government and its international partners. U.S. President Barack Obama's frequently leaked deliberations over his new Afghan strategy indicate to us here in Kabul that an exit strategy is being prioritized over a sustainable solution for a peaceful, stable future in Afghanistan. Those that haven't already left plan...
...years the expatriates in Kabul considered themselves above their contemporaries in Baghdad. We shopped in the markets and mixed with Afghan friends. We drove freely through the city and flew kites on Friday afternoons. Yes, there were the occasional kidnappings or rocket attacks, but never did we feel antipathy from our Afghan hosts. The new expatriates moving in, usually as part of big contracting firms, are increasingly being funneled into isolated compounds surrounded by razor wire and concrete blast walls. They shop at PXs, not local markets. They go out in armored convoys that cause traffic jams. And the only...
...that the Marines would not release them if there was evidence linking them to an attack. So ostensibly, there is no need to "reintegrate" them at all. But the "re-integration agreement," which also contains a clause in which the signatory volunteers his biometric data, is part of the Afghan government's attempt to reconcile with the forces inimical to it. McCullough said that supporting the Afghan government was paramount to his mission. But the reintegration forms, he explained later, "are not us, they are GIRoA. We helped them clean it up, gave them ideas, used our computers." (See portraits...