The life of the international community in Afghanistan is ruled by security companies

I like the story of Shah Massoud as told by captain Attayee. They were friends, both from Pansjir Valley (I have seen photos of them together that were taken in our garden). Our landlord complained: “He visited me, accompanied by an army of men. Our neighbors didn’t like it, neither did my family. How can you be relaxed, surrounded by so many soldiers? I asked one of our friends (please note this small detail: it is not polite to ask directly) to beg Shah Massoud to leave his army behind. Next time he came together with couple of guys. But when I looked outside – there were 15 armed soldiers behind the gate...”
Every day I visit the nearby guesthouse in order to check my emails. The boring guards always ask me to open my bag in order to check the content. Da baks computar dorum, inja internet kar dorum - tufang nadorum, khatarnak nes - khoredja astum. I have a computer in my bag, I need to use internet here, I do not have a gun, I am not dangerous – I am a foreigner, I repeat my mantra every time until the day I refused to open my bag. What the hell – has anybody heard of a foreigner lady, who is walking around, bombs in her hand bag?
After my refusal the guards start to treat me with some respect. They just answer my greetings and open the huge metal doors without asking anything. Sometimes I see there guests, women wrapped in shawls and men wearing pullet-proof vests. They climb quickly into their huge white jeeps bearing UN signs. They look towards me in confusion while I walk away.
We have discussed the security issues with our friends. We came to a conclusion that to a large extent the security rules do not make sense. It is just a big business. Security companies have to pay an annual tax of 5000 dollars to get registered. Every guard with Kalashnikov is paid about 250 dollars per month - and one guy is never enough, but at least four are needed. We were told that the American University is spending 46% of their budget on security measures. Does it make sense?
I call briefly my mother to tell her that next week I am planning to travel to north of Afghanistan. Unexpectedly for me she responds: please do not go because the situation in Afghanistan is so bad! I and my husband, we look at each other in confusion. I try to explain that our understanding is different: for a quite a long time the situation in Kabul has been rather peaceful. My mother’s „objective” understanding of the situation is based on the news broadcasted in Estonia. How can I explain that if something is happening far away from Kabul then it does not affect us?
Every day I receive security messages. Many people seem to emphasize the number of incidents instead of trying to look deeper. It is quite obvious, that some parts of Afghanistan should be avoided. And there are some places (for example – governmental buildings) and people (important politicians, international soldiers) that should be avoided in Kabul as well. Otherwise it is quite safe.
Anyway, the security companies have promoted the situation in which major parts of international civilian community stay inside barb-wired compounds under the watchful eyes. I visit a house, which is rent by my husband’s colleagues. It is a nice well-kept house in the middle of a rose garden. But the walls are edged by shining barb-wires – it is a costly advice of a security company. Before the house looked like any other on that street, but now there is a clear message: attention please, this house is rent by foreigners! It cost more than 2000 dollars to install the barb-wire, but the price of wire cutters is probably 10 dollars...
In this blog entry you can see the photos that were taken at a market place behind the mosque named Pul-i Khesti. I invited along Inger, my former employer, to join me for a walk. She can afford to behave rebelliously as she is about to leave the country. Otherwise she risks being sent home for breaking the security rules.
Inger and I, we enjoyed the visit: the market is a place where Afghans among other things trade, drink tea, read books, play games, share gossip, eat kebab and even sleep. Cheap manufactured goods from China, Pakistan and Russia are on sale, also the huge piles of local rice, raisins, nuts and beans. We followed the flow of the crowd through the narrow labyrinths. After two-hours-long-crushing we head back to our car, full of emotions. It is not possible to visit the authentic place like Kabul old city bazaar by a car.