We are vulnerable when we are in the car. These days, our security team is most concerned about reports of robbery on the streets. Allegedly, the offenders like to slash tires and coax people out of the car in order to rob them. There have been no reports of kidnapping in these situations, but it could happen. We are told to be aware of our surroundings, stay in the car no matter what, and put ladies in the back seats.
Riding in the back didn't help me in this morning's incident. There were about seven mini vans fulls of ex-pats riding from RV to the office. The vans, following standard protocol, were driving in loose formation along Airport Road. As instructed, I'm in the back listening to my iPod, which is extremely vigilant of me. All of a sudden, I hear a loud popping sound and out of the corner of my eye I catch a ball of dust coming my way. In the lane parallel to me, a massive garbage truck tipped over, hit the pavement hard, and was sliding along the eerily empty street. Garbage was strewn across the width of the road and the truck lay on it's side, no movement coming from the drivers side. After a moment of watching the accident happen in slow motion, the reactions started. Our drivers led the convoy of vans away from the scene. A beige police pick-up truck cut off traffic behind the accident and military began swarming the area to see if the driver was O.K.
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| Unusually quiet Airport Road, Kabul |
Everything happened very quickly, and as per instructions from the security team, the drivers didn't stick around long enough for us to figure out details. Some friends who were riding in the van behind me said they saw the driver get out and walk around, and we've also speculated that he was definitely speeding when he popped a tire.
The irony is that if the opposite tire had popped, and the truck had tipped in our direction, it certainly would have been a classic case of death by garbage truck. After travelling all the way out to Afghanistan, that's really no way to go.
