Spring in the City

Spring has sprung here in Kabul. The snow on the mountains has melted away, leaving us with warm, sunny afternoons and clear, breezy evenings. In any other part of the world, a phrase strung together like that would bring forth images of frolicking in green grass or casual evening drinks on outdoor patios. Not in Afghanistan.

Snow Capped Mountains, Kabul February

Spring here translates to "spring offensives" or "targeted attacks" now that the weather has warmed up. (NYT: Spring Offensive to Begin, Taliban Say) 

In fact, ever since our friend Terry Jones decided to grill a Koran down in Florida, things have been pretty bad over here in Afghanistan. First there was the attack on the UN compound in Mazar, then the mastermind escape of 480 prisoners in Kandahar and finally, the incident at the Kabul International Airport last week. In the midst of all of this, Afghanistan celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Soviet departure last Thursday, or the "Islamic Revolution" as it was referred to in the email from HR.  

Needless to say, there have been a lot of locked down days.

And now, the biggest news of all: Osama Bin Laden is dead! (Quite honestly, I thought he had been dead for years. When was the last time we even heard from him? And audio tapes don't count.) I guess this brings closure to a long chapter in US history that began in the early 90s in Africa and culminated with the World Trade Center attacks ten years ago.

It's of course a huge victory for the Western world, who has been terrorized by him for decades. But given that the life expectancy in this part of the world is 45 years old at most, it's not like the ol' guy had time on his side.

As far as I know, we haven't seen any immediate repercussions in Kabul this morning, although my Security team tells us Kabul is on high alert. We're currently on restricted movement, which means no visits to government buildings or embassies, but we are at work today. I assume security will tighten up this week when the reaction comes, and it will lead to more days of lock down.

Until then, we will continue to fill our evenings with Friendly Friday poker and long stints at the gym.

Friendly Friday Poker Game in RV