Word: kabul
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...engagement, and conservatives, influenced by al-Qaeda, who preferred continued isolation. But assuming that at least some Taliban leaders want to reach out to the West, what would a conversation with them be about? "Everyone says we have to talk to the Taliban," says Hekmat Karzai, director of the Kabul-based Center for Conflict and Peace Studies. "But when you do, what the hell are you going to say?" It's a good question. The first thing the Taliban would want is a cease-fire, says Antonio Giustozzi, author of Decoding the New Taliban. "They crave the kind of legitimacy...
...past four years, my friends and I have made it a tradition to host a typical Thanksgiving feast at our home in Kabul. As a former chef, I often look at the world through a lens of food. With friends it's how I communicate love and affection. With strangers, it's how I find common ground. To me, grocery shopping in a foreign country has always been the best way to 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...
...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 to do so in the coming months. These are people who came to Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003, lured not by money but a determination...
...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...
...this Thursday, when our friends gather around our laden table, one essential ingredient will be missing from our Kabul Thanksgiving tradition: feverish debate on what it will take to make things better in Afghanistan. Many of the debaters have left; others have simply given up trying...