Kabul

Hello again,

I have been in Kabul for a week at this point and have had some interaction with the locals. Some of the Dari language is similiar to arabic. The greetings and religious things. That makes sense because the Arabs ruled over Afghanistan from around 900 AD to just before the period of European colonization around 1700's. That is a long stretch. Parts of Northern Afghanistan along the border of the other "Stans" was controlled by the ottoman turks. After that, the Russians. They just obtained independance after the Soviet union collapsed.

So, what is Kabul like? It is a city of about 4-5 million people that has a river (the Kabul) running through the center in a valley at an elevation of about 6000 feet surrounded by mountains that rise up to a least twice that. The city had a population of about 2.5 million 10 years ago but given the violence and lack of opportunity the people have moved to the cities in search of work.

I would say that Afghanistan is a "fourth world" country. It is poor. It has little to no infrastructure. The illiteracy rate is aound 80 percent. Illiteracy is also prevalent amongst many of the leadership. They all survived the Russian, the Taliban , and us and are basically warlords that are trying to leverage their position to get rich. Nepotism, corruption, tribalism is rempant.

The central government is quite weak as loyalty is shown first to family, tribe, ethnic group, than country. Much different than what we are used to. Little faith is put in the system it will be a multigenerational path to change.

Anyway, glad I had a chance to post this. Must run to work. More to follow. Miss you all.

Love,

Fran