Afghanistan
What Wally Would Want
Today would have been my father Wally’s 74th birthday. It has been just over a decade of mourning his death. Too soon to have lost a father and friend. I can’t help but reflect on all that has happened that I missed out in sharing with him. My stories would have been told, over a…
Read MoreOut of Juice
Being in the field sometimes means being energy challenged, whether it be the assortment of battery operated gadgets, or just being beat from really long work days and days on end of road trips. Today, just when I was starting to feel like I myself needed a break (after five days of driving and meeting…
Read MoreToo Close to Home
When the world is your home there are many consequence to how small the it is. Events half way around the world can trigger images faster than google can call up BBC. In this case it was images of Islamabad from its majestic mountains, but the events were not so serene. It was the recent…
Read MoreTorn
The warmth on my cheek contradicts the chills that mark the uncertainty that is just settling in. We are starting our dissent into Washington. I should have been on a flight back to Kabul tomorrow. But life has a way of throwing itself at us. I marvel at a series of events a half a…
Read MoreUnderstanding Afghanistan
While I certainly would not purport myself as an Afghan expert, I would have to say that my understanding of the challenging and issues facing Afghanistan become deeper by the day. I realized at a meeting the other day for my new position, since I’m overlapping on both project until next week, that I couldn’t…
Read MoreNew Position
Today marks one year in Afghanistan! And what a year it has been. While I’m very glad to have taken the leap to Kabul, I’m also delighted to announce that I’ve landed a new job and will be moving on to even more challenging and rewarding work. I’ve now taken an executive position with another…
Read MorePraise Allah It’s Thursday
In this part of the world, it is Thursday we crave. The Muslim workweek varies a bit, but in Afghanistan our schedule is Sunday through Thursday. Thus we’ve changed the TGIF to PAIT, Praise Allah It’s Thursday! Thursday is our biggest going out night. In the past year there have only be a few Thursday…
Read MoreLove Hate
To follow up on my last post, I wanted to clarify a few things. While I’m clearly fed but with the US occupation of Afghanistan, this doesn’t mean that I don’t love the place in many ways. Afghanistan is a place of love/hate relationships. Most of the areas that I discussed in my last post…
Read MoreThey Hate Us
According to a recent study by Reuters: They hate us. Afghans are pissed off. And really, can we blame them? Americans back home are isolated from the affects of our foreign policy. Even here in Kabul you can be if you want to. We are certainly isolated from the people. We’ve been occupying an already…
Read MoreObama from Kabul
Obama has a fanclub even here in Kabul, perhaps particularly here in Kabul. We are the folks who will be affected greatly by political outcomes of the next election. We also see the daily impact of the policies over the past 7 years that have led Afghanistan to the state of chaos that exists today.A…
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