SCENE

str $1 EE

en fs
rs
tv A
do
to or FR
ee /50

AFGHAN

ISSUE 63 - OCTOBER 2009

Top of our world

The men who conquered
Afghanistan’s highest peak
perspective • insight • people • reviews • pics • life
 SCENE
Afghan Introduction
Contents
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan
Afghan Scene
Scene October
October 2009
2009

ISSUE 63 - OCTOBER 2009

Publisher: Afghan Scene Ltd, Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul, Afghanistan

Manager & Editor: Afghan Scene Ltd, Kabul, Afghanistan
Design: Kaboora Production
Advertising: sales@afghanscene.com
Printer: Emirates Printing Press, Dubai
Cover photo: Jean Annequin
Contact: info@afghanscene.com / www.afghanscene.com
Afghan Scene welcomes the contribution of articles and / or pictures from its readers.
Editorial rights reserved.

7 Introduction
10 Cemetery sentry
David Gill meets the man who has been tending to the
graves of Britain’s fallen for 30 years.
14 Climbing for peace
David James on an historic expedition by Afghan
mountaineers to conquer Noshaq, the country’s
highest peak.
20 The Four Tigers of the Wakhan
Louis Meunier’s blow by blow account of how four men
20 went up a mountain and came back national heroes.
25 Inside the narco economy
Gregor Salmon lifts the lid on how Taliban from the south are
using opium to buy guns from warlords in the north.
36 Restaurant review
In her final review Rosemary Stasek samples some of the
best food Kabul has to offer.
38 Remembering Rosy
Afghan Scene looks back at the life and work of our long-
serving restaurant critic, Rosemary Stasek
42 Book review
Rose Taylor checks out an action-packed page turning
25 account of a CIA super spy in Afghanistan.

46 Be Scene
A selection of the summer’s best party pictures.
54 Bloggers’ FAQs
Scientists have invented things called “weblogs” designed
to give struggling, out of work journalists something to do.
PEEJAY TOBIA takes us through the plusses and pitfalls of
blogging.
61 Farewell Scene
Legendary British journalist Tom Coghlan reflects on the
good times and bad times.
66 Afghan Essentials
38 A super-sized directory of the best restaurants and hotels
in Kabul.

Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009 5
 Introduction
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

Farewell to a
Scene stalwart
I
t is only fitting that this week’s Kabul Help. She first came to Afghanistan in 2002,
at Work feature is about Kabul’s British focusing most of her attention on improving the
Cemetery. It was there on a sunny lot of this country’s women and girls taking her
afternoon late last month that around fifty case, on one occasion, to a personal meeting
people from all walks of Kabul life gathered with President Karzai.
to remember Rosemary Stasek who died on Afghan Scene’s thoughts are very much with
September 24 after suffering a heart attack her family and her many friends left behind in
related to the early stages of multiple sclerosis Afghanistan and across the world. And, most of
from which she had been suffering. all, with her husband Morne who she first met
Readers will know Rosemary as this and fell in love with in Kabul, a city she evidently
magazine’s tireless restaurant critic. With loved almost as much. �
dollops of wit and endless enthusiasm for
Kabul’s often dubious culinary output, Rosemary editor@afghanscene.com
had actually managed to review every eaterie in
the city which was prepared to be featured in
this magazine. Her final review on page 36 of
Sufi sees her returning to a restaurant she first
scrutinised long before.
But, as the deeply moving stories told by
those who attended hermemorial ceremony
showed, she was much more than just a food
critic. Her formidable list of achievements
include serving as city mayor of Mountain View
in North California and internet entrepreneur as
“I wonder how much longer Gordon Brown can last...”
well as running her own charity called A Little

Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009 7
Scene Team Farewell scene
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

Contributors
Afghan Scene Magazine is proud to showcase work from the best photographers in Afghanistan

David Gill is a British writer, photographer and videogrpher focusing on a social

documentary and overseas development. His current book project
Kabul, a City at Work is a selection over 100 original portraits.
web.mac.com/shot2bits/work

Harry Cole is a cad and a bounder. A former guards officer in the British army
he’s now a raconteur, wit and man about town who juggles security and
logistics in between scribbling Scene’s pocket cartoons.

Jérôme Veyret, 29, arrived in Afghanistan by car in 2003, at the end of a

roadtrip from Bordeaux. He works as a journalist for international TV channels,
making full-length documentaries. The most recent one covered the Afghan
Kyrghiz who live in the Pamirs at an altitude of 4,000 meters. Jérôme has also
covered a story for the magazine “Grands Reportages” called “The oasis of
Wakhan, a sanctuary for the wakhi and Kyrgyz peoples”.
www.noshaq.com

Almost all of the photographs and cartoons featured in Afghan Scene are available for sale direct from the
artists. Most of them are available for commissions, here and elsewhere. If you would like to contribute to
Afghan Scene, or if you can’t get hold of a contributor, please contact editor@afghanscene.com.

“Of course, it’s the children I feel sorry for...”

8 Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009
Kabul at work
Afghan Scene October 2009
The
Grave
Tender
DAVID GILL meets the man who kept the British cemetery
in Kabul through 30 years of war
R
ahimullah is a beautiful bearded old
Afghan man and caretaker of the
British cemetery in Kabul (aka - adire
gora- white people’s cemetery). He’s
been working here for nearly 30 years. It’s a
wonderfully serene, reflective place and it’s
as far away from the madding crowd as you
can get in this hectic, dusty city. The week I
visited him the murdered aid worker, Gayle
Williams, was about to be buried, following her
assassination in Kart-e Char. October 2008 was
a busy month here.
10 Afghan Scene October 2009
However the place is so peaceful as we sit
drinking tea, poured by one of his 30 plus grand
children, amongst the gravestones of fallen
British soldiers. As the gravedigger sets about
his task, he recounts stories of a visit from
Mullah Omar during the time of the Taliban and
about how he offended him after unfortunately
cracking a joke about being blind. The Mullah
only has one eye! The story is 18 years old
and he tells it like happened last week. When
pushed further for more exciting anecdotes he
volunteers, with a wry smile and a chuckle, that
www.afghanscene.com
Kabul at work
Afghan Scene October 2009
SIX FEET UNDER: SIX FOOT UNDER: Grave diggers prepare the ground for a new occupant | David Gill
none of the Kharijees (foreigners) have come there. This seems like a bargain and I make
back to haunt him and err… that’s it. a note to reserve a space or three. If the
His main focus seems to be getting a pay Taliban’s offensive continues next year I am
rise via me. He is currently paid by $140 sure there could be potentially a massive rise
a month by the British Embassy, which is in business. The grave hedge fund
roughly the same cost as getting buried starts here. �
Kabul, A City at Work is a selection of over 100 original portraits from the
capital. It’s authors describe it as a window into Kabul’s soul. For more
information visit www.web.mac.com/shot2bits/work | www. kabulatwork.com
www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009 11
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009
Feature scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
Climbing A
mruddin fumbled with the zip of his
jacket. His frozen fingers still covered
by two sets of gloves closed numbly
Peace
around the neatly folded flag. Malang
for
quickly grasped one corner to stop the icy wind
blowing it from unfeeling fingers and in an
explosion of colour the red, black and green
of Afghanistan unfurled above the cold white
summit of mount Noshaq. The two climbers had
just earned their place in history as the first
of their countrymen to stand on the 7,492m
summit of Afghanistan’s highest mountain.
Former soldier DAVID JAMES on how an historic climb by But the expedition is about so much more
four intrepid Afghans offers glimmers of hope in a war torn land than mountaineering. It is about a small flame
of hope that has been lit in the far north east
of the country, protected from the winds of war
by the impregnable Hindu Kush mountains. Four
Afghan climbers had set off from the village of
Qazi Deh in the Wakhan Corridor carrying with
them the dream of a better future. By battling
against unseasonally deep snow and high winds
SLOG: Onwards and upwards | Louis Meunier ENTOURAGE: Day one in the Wakhan | David James
14 Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com
Feature scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
two of the climbers finally reached the highest
point in the country to light a beacon for the
whole nation and the world to see.
“We just want people to know there’s more
to Afghanistan than the Taliban, opium and
roadside bombs,” said Amruddin, “We want
mountaineers to return to Afghanistan to
experience for themselves how hospitable the
Afghan people are.”
This historic feat took place in July which
was also the bloodiest month for NATO troops
serving in Afghanistan. With big questions being
asked about the international community’s
strategy in Afghanistan maybe it is time the
world stopped focusing on the military problems
and started focusing on the Afghan solutions.
According to CIA World Fact Book
Afghanistan has a population of 33 million.
According to the Afghan Minister of the Interior
just 10-15,000 of them are Taliban fighters,
that’s less than 0.05% of the population. Yet
Afghan Scene October 2009 15
Feature scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
16 Afghan Scene October 2009
“We just want people to know there’s more
to Afghanistan than the Taliban, opium and
roadside bombs”
this 0.05% of the population dominates the
international community’s consciousness and
resources. The four Afghan mountaineers
represent the other 99.95% of the population
who are just trying to get on with their lives
and hoping for a better future. To get their
voices heard above the media’s thirst for war
they literally had to climb to the top of the
highest mountain.
“Life for people in the Wakhan is very hard,”
said Malang, “if more tourists come then life
will get better. We hope that Afghans from all
over the country will start to climb and maybe
one day mountaineers will return to every part
of the Hindu Kush.”
“Afghanistan is covered in mountains and
mountaineering is a sport that all the Afghan
people could excel at,” said Gorg Ali another of
the four climbers. “We’d like to see Pashtuns,
Hazaras, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Wakhi people
climbing together in joint expeditions as an act
of friendship amongst the Afghan people. We
are Wakhi but first we are Afghans.”
But isn’t the idea of tourism in Afghanistan
just wishful thinking? “It is very safe here,” says
Afiat Khan another of the climbers. He was a
former Mujahedin fighter who took up arms
to defend the Wakhan during the Taliban era.
“We have had many visitors coming to climb
and trek in the Wakhan. There are no problems
www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com
Feature scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
here.” In fact just a few days after returning
from Noshaq Gorg Ali led an expedition for
British trekking company Wild Frontiers into
the Little Pamir near the border with China
and Afiat Khan led a French expedition to Lake
Zorkol.
Tourism may seem to be a frivolous
activity in a country riven by war but it serves
a strategic purpose. First it challenges the
world’s perception about Afghanistan. “When
I told people I was going to Afghanistan they
said I was crazy,” says French mountaineer
Jean Annequin “everyone said ‘It’s too
dangerous, you’ll get killed’, but crossing the
border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan
was like crossing the border between France
and Italy. It is like there are two different
countries; the Wakhan is definitely not the
Afghanistan you see on the news.” Secondly
this paradigm shift along with the developing
tourism infrastructure will provide the business
community with the facilities and confidence
to visit north east Afghanistan which is rich
in minerals, precious stones and other natural
resources. At the moment it is almost impossible
for local Afghan businessmen to develop the
distribution channels necessary for international
trading. Trekkers and mountaineers are often
well connected professionals with high levels
of disposable income. Therefore tourism offers
Afghan Scene October 2009 17
Feature scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
GRAND PLANS: Intrepid Afghan climbers discuss details of their historic assault on Noshaq
both the opportunity for direct sales to the
international market and the chance to build
relationships, that with some support, could
develop into long terms export opportunities.
“What the Afghan people need is jobs,” says
Amruddin. “If people don’t have jobs they can
get angry and that’s when trouble starts. For us
and for many of the other people living in the
mountains in Afghanistan climbing and trekking
is the only chance we have for working, so I
encourage everyone I know to get into these
activities.”
Mountaineering has provided a ray of hope
to the people of north east Afghanistan since
2003 when Carlo Alberto Pinelli organised the
Mountain Wilderness expedition to Noshaq
18 Afghan Scene October 2009
which he called Oxus: Mountains for Peace.
At the time Carlo’s modest objectives were to
show solidarity with the Afghan people who
had been so hospitable to him in the 1960’s
when he made a number of first ascents in the
Hindu Kush and to return Noshaq to a pristine
state by removing all the refuse left by previous
expeditions. However that expedition became
the genus for a programme of training Afghan
mountaineers and developing the tourism
infrastructure which has now culminated in two
Afghans climbing Noshaq, the country’s highest
mountain.
“We wanted to help the four climbers do
something that would be a source of pride
and hope for the whole country,” said Louis
www.afghanscene.com
Feature scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
UNFORGIVING: At base camp the team had endure the cold and discomfort of the high Pamirs
Meunier who helped the Afghans organise the successful and the Afghan people and our
expedition. “We had a dream to see an Afghan government will be proud too. Our dream is to
reach the top of the highest peak and we have see the Afghan flag flying above Noshaq the
achieved that. We hope this expedition will give highest mountain.”
other Afghans the confidence to achieve their Perhaps the greatest achievement of the
own dreams.” expedition was that in a year dominated by
“We are doing this for the whole of bad news four Afghans managed to give their
Afghanistan,” said Malang prior to the countrymen something to feel proud about and
expedition. “I am very proud to have this to share with them the dream of a brighter
opportunity and God willing we will be future. �
David James is a former television news cameraman who joined the army in April 2001 at the
age of 28. He served on two tours of Afghanistan and was awarded the QCVS for the second.
His military experience convinced him that economic development not military force was the
route to success in the county. He is now the director of Mountain Unity International a social
enterprise dedicated to providing economic opportunities to the people of the Hindu Kush and
Pamir mountains. Found out more at www.mountainunity.org.
www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009 19
Feature scene Feature scene
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

Conquering Afghanistan, Camp 3. 6,700 m. Dawn, a day before summit constantly battered by powerful and freezing

M
winds, and access to the summit is blocked by

The Afghan Attempt

A team of Afghan climbers overcame prejudice, poverty and ice cliffs to
scale the country’s highest peak for the first time in history earlier this year.
Adventure filmmaker LOUIS MEUNIER was with them
alang, his hands covered with a daunting 200 metre unstable rock barrier.
thick gloves, folds the tent Anyway, Afghans were rarely given a chance;
uneasily, clamps it under his arm they were employed as high-altitude porters by
and opens his rucksack. Suddenly western adventurers but they were not allowed
a powerful gust of wind blasts the surface of to accompany them to the very top. This time, it
the mountain and rips the tent away. Helplessly, was different: This was an Afghan ascent.
we stare at the yellow piece of fabric flapping From the idea of climbing Noshaq to the
away in the distance. expedition itself was a gigantic step. It took
We now have only one tent left, leaving over a year to put the project together. Rallying
room to four climbers only. No need to speak, support was a huge challenge. We had to face
we all know what it means: Two of us will have rebuttal and sarcasm from people telling us that
to descend. “Ba nam e Khoda, in the name of we were mad and that Afghanistan was not a
God!” It looks like the fortune is against us. place for such adventures. Besides which, we
Yesterday, Afiat Khan and Gurg Ali suffered had to identify and hire two qualified mountain
altitude sickness and had to descend to avoid a guides, wise enough to accept the idea that this
potentially deadly lung oedema. What’s next? part of the country was safe. We were lucky,
Will we ever manage to plant the Afghan flag Jean and Simon proved to be the best.
on the summit? Afghans are tough and rough mountain men,
The adventure had started over a cup but they are not mountaineers. The Tigers were
of tea, almost like a joke: “Why not go up not familiar with the techniques of rock, snow
Noshaq?” The question sounded simple and and ice climbing. Thus, we also had to organize
the idea titillating. Doing it soon became an a training course in the French Alps in order to
obsession. Mount Noshaq, the highest peak enhance their skills. Facing the red tape and
in Afghanistan, had never been climbed by an organizing the logistics for the expedition was
Afghan citizen. Amruddin, Gurg Ali, Malang and another snag. But finally we had managed to
Afiat Khan were ready to take the challenge. By set off. Together with a group of 68 porters, we
scaling Noshaq, the four Tigers of Wakhan - as had crossed the minefield – approximately 640
they call themselves - would earn a place in antipersonnel mines had been laid in 2000 to
history and open the way for more expeditions prevent a Pakistani incursion – and installed the
in this stunning, safe and remote corner of base camp. It seemed we had to climb Everest
Afghanistan. Above all, they would send a before aiming at Noshaq.
message of hope to their fellow citizens. And here we are now, at the foot of the
There are a couple of reasons why no Afghan rock barrier. The joke launched over the cup
had ever reached the top of Noshaq. First, it’s of tea seems far behind, and we would give
a serious mountain. At 7,492 meters, it is the anything for the warmth of a cup of tea. The
second highest peak of the Hindu Kush; it is fierce 200 metre rock wall is taunting us. Will

20 Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009 21
Feature scene Feature scene
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

any Afghan overcome it? Will the Afghan flag
ever float above Noshaq, or will the mountain
remain virgin from any Afghan footstep? What
to do with only one tent left? I have been
suffering from acute bronchitis, so I have to go
down anyway. Jérôme comes with me, leaving
Amruddin and Malang with the two mountain
guides, Jean and Simon. We say a brief but
emotional farewell and put all our hopes in
their hands.
The next morning, the summit team leaves
Camp 3 and attacks the rock barrier at 7,000
metres. At this altitude, oxygen is scarce; the
climbers have to move in slow motion. They
ascend gradually, inch by inch, placing their
hands and feet inside fragile fractures in the
Amruddin Afiat Khan cliff. Occasionally, they skid, prompting stones
to fall down and threatening to drag the next
climber. A few shivers and a couple of hours
later, they reach the plateau safely. This is not
the top. The summit looks like another mountain
far ahead. The mountaineers are exhausted but
they can’t rest. Indeed, the place is blown by a
glacial airstream, and one has to keep moving
to stay alive. The progression is slow because
of the deep snow surfacing the mountain.
Amruddin realizes he has left his pickaxe
behind. In order to maximize the success of the
expedition, Simon gives his one to Amruddin
and stays back.
Finally, on July 19th at 2.30 pm Amruddin,
Malang and Jean, reach the summit and unfurl
the Afghan flag, entering history and giving
reason to the Afghan proverb: there is a path to
the top of even the highest mountain.
A word for Gurg Ali and Afiat Khan: Although
they did not get as much recognition as Malang
and Amruddin, they deserve their share of
honour for what they have undertaken.
And another word for our main sponsors,
without whom this adventure would not have
been possible: The French Embassy in Kabul, the
Aga Khan Development Network, Millet, and La
Guilde du Raid. Thank you.

The ANA is gradually taking over some of the

operational duties currently undertaken by
NATO and US forces

Louis Meunier, 30 has been living in Afghanistan since 2002. A pas-

sionate mountaineer and outward bounds enthusiast, he has equipped
various rock-climbing trails in the Panjsheer valley, and has success-
fully led a group of 18 members of the Mountain Wilderness associa-
tion for a one-month long trek through the Pamirs and the Wakhan in
the summer of 2007. Louis has also crossed Afghanistan by horse in
the summer of 2005 and plays on Kabul´s buzkashi team, the country’s
Gurg Ali Malang national sport.

22 Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009 23

Afghan Scene October 2009
Afghan Scene October 2009
Trading
Drugs
for
Guns
Australian journalist GREGOR SALMON on the
personal risks he took on investigating
Afghanistan’s narco economy
‘T
hat’s him,’ said Bashir, my fixer. A
stocky man was walking towards
the car with a shawl draped over his
head. He got into the back seat and
we all said hello. He and Bashir talked. To
say the Taliban commander talked is not
quite right. He spoke at such volume you’d
swear he was addressing a rally. I tried to
refrain from blocking my ears. The guy was
uptight. The two or three times I turned
around to look at him - dark-skinned,
chubby, bearded - I could clearly see so.
www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com
Book scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
His eyes didn’t rest on me, or
elsewhere, for long. He looked
like a man wondering if he
was trapped. As we headed
further west through the
streets of Kabul we passed a
police checkpoint, positioned
there because a suicide bomb
had gone off up ahead a few
days earlier. The commander
said something to Bashir in a
voice that could split bricks.
Afghan Scene October 2009 25
Book scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
‘He is scared,’ said Bashir. ‘He said, “I am now
in enemy territory. You must take care of me.”’
We came to the house where we would
conduct the interview. We were shown into the
common room and sat down, the commander
positioned beneath a pump-action shotgun
hanging on an otherwise bare, pale-green wall.
He went by the name of Shukra. He said he
had around 500 men under his command in
Helmand. He’d joined the Taliban when they
first came through Kandahar in 1994, because
there were ‘tribal conflicts’. His motives for
fighting had expanded: ‘Since the [US-led]
bombardment we are trying to protect our
country and our people. It’s like a revolution of
Pashtun people, because we don’t have enough
part of the government.’
‘What’s the role of opium in funding your
effort?’ I asked.
The commander started snickering like a
schoolboy.
‘In this business, not only the Taliban are
involved,’ he said. ‘About 80 per cent of the
government is involved. The governor’s involved,
the police chief. How? I will tell you the process.
Look at my tribe. We are 400 families, so we are
all growing poppies. The Taliban get their zakat
and that’s it. They aren’t even encouraging the
farmers or protecting them. Our 400 families
collect 100,000 Pakistani rupees [$1250] each.
This forty million [$500,000] goes to the district
governor, to the police chief - to the people in
charge. They are protecting these fields. They
are encouraging people to grow because they
are getting a lot of money out of it. That’s the
process.’
26 Afghan Scene October 2009
Book scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
‘What do you do with the teryak [opium] you ‘One hundred per cent,’ he said.
collect?’ ‘Okay, I want to go.’
‘We buy weapons and ammunition from
the north. They have a lot, so we buy bullets, ***
AK-47s and machine guns for our jihad and
bring them to Helmand.’ Bashir called to tell me he was outside.
‘Where do you buy your weapons?’ When I appeared, Commander Shukra
‘In Kunduz and Takhar provinces from got out of the passenger seat and
Northern Alliance commanders. You can come climbed into the back. I got in and
with me and I will show you the business. was introduced to a Tajik guy
People make a lot of money out of this named Massoud. He was to
business, this exchange of money and drugs for be our ‘car minder’, Bashir
munitions.’ told me, employed to make
‘The Taliban are dealing drugs to the sure no one put a bomb
Northern Alliance? The Northern Alliance are under the vehicle while
supplying weapons to the Taliban?’ we weren’t watching. I
‘It’s like a friendship. Even in the time of suspected he just loved
Taliban, the Taliban used to buy munitions from an entourage.
the Northern Alliance. They got new munitions We set off north.
freely supplied by Russia.’ The sun was warm and
After the interview, we began talking about the air crisp. Shukra was
the prospect of heading up to Kunduz to meet in a far more relaxed
Shukra’s weapons dealer. Why would he offer to mood than our first
do this? Why would the people he introduced meeting, keeping Bashir
me to trust me? What was to stop them from and Massoud constantly
just killing me - and Bashir? It was a nerve- amused.
racking decision.
‘In a direct fight,’ said commander Shukra, ‘if
I arrest or detain an American soldier, I let him
go back. But if I find a spy, I’ll kill him.’
I don’t know why he said this. Maybe to give
me a hint as to what he thought about double-
crossers. My mind was working overtime, trying
to weigh everything up. I decided if Bashir was
cool with it, we’d go.
‘Bashir, do you trust this guy?’ I asked.
HIGH CALIBRE: Security enroute | Gregor Salmon
www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009 27
Book scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
SCORED: One of the millions of poppy bulbs in Helmand that helps the Taliban pay their bills | Gregor Salmon
When the first protracted silence fell, he
said, ‘I hope we are not boring you.’ I assured
him I was well enough entertained. I was with
a Pashtun fixer, an out-of-work Tajik and a
Taliban commander from Helmand driving from
Kabul into northern Afghanistan to meet some
gun dealers, but the vibe was that same cruisy,
escapist feeling that I knew well from many a
road trip up the east coast of Australia.
Passing through the Shomali Plain, the
commander said grimly, ‘If the foreign
forces pull out of Afghanistan, this will be a
battleground in ten days.’
28 Afghan Scene October 2009
Okay, so we were a long way from Byron Bay.
The drive through the Salang valley
was the prettiest I’d experienced - it was
the prime of autumn. The landscape was
beautifully alight, the sapped leaves of
mulberry trees coating the valley with a
praline glaze. The river was reduced to a
trickle, leaving its white, rounded stones
exposed. Further on, when we reached the
fields, men winnowed great piles of wheat
while children played chasings in rings of hay.
Donkeys trotted along, camels ambled, all
saddled with ludicrously huge loads of fodder.
www.afghanscene.com
CASH CROP: A farmer from southern Afghanistan with a crop nearly ready for harvesting | Gregor Salmon
Pats of manure were stuck on walls to dry into
fuel for the winter.
In Kunduz we took two rooms at the Ariana
Hotel. After dinner, Grease was on TV with Farsi
subtitles. With his eyes glued to the set, Shukra
couldn’t contain his delight. He stared joyfully
at the small screen as guys skidded across the
floor and girls bent this way and that, their
skirts flying like matador capes. ‘I like dancing,’
he said, his voice pitched high with glee. ‘I’d like
to be doing this dancing.’
‘You’re Taliban. What are you going to do
with this if you get back into power?’ I said,
www.afghanscene.com
Book scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
gesturing towards the screen. He knew I meant
music, dancing, television - the lot.
‘It will stay,’ he said, trying to be earnest,
like he’d actually have a say in the matter. After
dinner we sat around chatting about more
serious topics.
‘Where does most of the Taliban’s money
come from?’
‘I receive a small amount from teryak from
smugglers. The biggest source of our money
comes from Arabs. The Arabs give the Taliban
commanders very small diamonds to keep in
their pockets and sell when they need to.’
Afghan Scene October 2009 29
Book scene
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

‘Diamonds? In Afghanistan?’ I was, to say ‘Right.’

the least, sceptical. It was only later that I I had to force myself from walking away
learned how al-Qaeda had anticipated having from the interview. But I had to keep my
its accounts frozen post-9/11 and had converted manners.
tens of millions of dollars into another stable, ‘What’s going on, Bashir?’
convenient form of currency. ‘I think he’s nervous.’
‘But he’s the guy we came for?’
*** ‘Yes.’
I set my indignation aside and began to
In the morning, we took a short drive and ask my questions. For a man ‘not involved in
arrived at a very comfortable home belonging the trade’, Tofan appeared to be quite dialled
to Shukra’s weapons supplier, a handsome in.
man in his sixties named Tofan. But within The story he told resembled that of the
thirty seconds of the interview starting, I south. The militias of several commanders
learned I’d been sold a dud. were now registered as police but still did
‘He’s not in the drug business,’ said Bashir, their masters’ bidding, and these gangs of
almost into his collar. I could tell he was in a untouchables ran the trade of exporting
difficult position. heroin to Tajikistan and bringing weapons in.
‘He’s not in the drug business,’ I repeated. They could do whatever they wanted, even
‘No, and he’s not a gun dealer,’ said Bashir, daylight murder in the streets.
avoiding my eyes. Local officials had complete control of the
‘He’s not a gun dealer?’ I stared at Bashir, long border with Tajikistan; the drugs and
not sure what the hell was happening. It now guns were simply ferried across the river in
seemed our friend Tofan had had a change of small rubber boats. There were few, if any,
heart. small traders now.
‘He can talk about what’s going on, but ‘You need the official contacts to do this
he’s not part of the business,’ said Bashir. business,’ he said. �

Gregor Salmon is an Australian freelance writer based in Sydney. He has

written Australian publications including the Sun-Herald, Inside Sport and
Readers Digest and Playboy. He spent eight months in Afghanistan in 2007
investigating every layer of the drug trade. Poppy is only available online
order booktopia.com.au and gleebooks.com.au.

30 Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009
Food scene
Afghan
Afghan Scene
Scene October
October 2009
2009
Sufilicious
Sometimes you have to wait and occasionally you will struggle to get a
table, but ROSEMARY STASEK says Sufi is still one
of Kabul’s finest restaurants
Sufi
Shar-e Naw Butcher Street, Street 2,
Turn right 0700-210651
Open everyday 11-3 and 5-11
http://www.sufi.com.af
N
ew restaurants in town are almost
always fun but it’s nice to head
back to old favorites too. Sufi was
the first restaurant in town to bring
top-quality Afghan cuisine to the international
community and it still does it right.
Back in 2003 Sufi opened what was at the
time the classiest and most romantic restaurant
in town in Karte Parwan. When I first made
it there, it was the first time I had Afghan
cuisine at an international quality outside
California. It was a revelation and a delight.
Major construction in the area and a desire to
be closer to more of their customers led Sufi to
relocate into central Shar-e Naw in 2006 and
they’ve been a much-loved spot ever since.
36 Afghan Scene October 2009
On a recent visit my goal was to find
different things on the menu apart from the
usual line-up. It was a moderate success. One
of the classic frustrations in so many Kabul
restaurants is the 50-50 rule. There is only a
50-50 chance they’ll have the item you first
choose on the menu. If you’ve been eating in
town for a while, you know to always have a
choice B ready. Sufi is no exception. My first
choice of dolmai morch, stuffed bell peppers
was a no go, so choice B was the domai karam,
stuffed cabbage. It was tasty and a bit spicy. A
nice change from the usual mantu and ashak,
which are both great appetizers nonetheless.
For the main course my first choice, fish
kebab, was a no, so choice B was kecheri
www.afghanscene.com
AL FRESCO: Outside dining is an added draw
quoroot, mung beans cooked with milk rice
and dried yogurt. I got the vegetarian version
and was surprised how tasty and filling it was.
This is a terrific choice for vegetarians and that
got me looking at the menu for more veggie
options. I have to say that Sufi may be one of
the best places here for the no-meat team.
Sabzi chalaw, kachalo chalaw, the hearty bean
soup mashawa, pakawra, boulani, ashak, veggie
soup, eggplant borani, pumpkin borani, qurooty,
shoula. You can eat here often and not have the
same thing twice.
Dessert kept the trend going and the first
two choices of milk rice with saffron and milk
rice with cardamom where both on R&R and the
only option was firni. I was assured though that
if I called the restaurant three hours in advance
they’d make it for me my next visit. Three hours
in advance? Deciding on a restaurant for the
hubby and I normally involves making a choice
based on which direction the car is parked in
when we leave the house. Three hours is a little bit
ambitious for our normal meal planning schedule.
The food at Sufi has always been some
of the best in town and its thriving catering
business reflects that. Sufi caters to all the big
www.afghanscene.com
Food scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
COSTUME DRAMA: Sufi’s Arif in Afghan style
time places if that means anything to you, but
I’m recommending them because the Secret
Sufi Special is one of the best options you have
when you need to impress a bunch of out-of-
towners at an event. I call it the Secret Sufi
Special because although you can have it at the
restaurant, it’s not on the menu and you can’t
count on the waiter to tell you about it. If you
want a massive pile of food with just about every
classic Afghan dish on the menu for $16, this is
the one for you.
And talking about the catering. If you’re
heading to Sufi, you’ll want to hope they don’t
have a big catering gig that night. The night I
was there they had a 70-person Iftar for someone
very important and they pulled most of the
waiters off the floor to head over there. That left
2 waiters in the restaurant to serve a packed
house. It took us 30 minutes to coax one of them
to take our order for a main course after our
appetizers. And the rest of the night wasn’t much
better. Hire more cousins as catering waiters. But
who am I to say how to run a restaurant. I just
want good food in a nice atmosphere and Sufi
has always been a place you can count on for
both. �
Afghan Scene October 2009 37
Obituary scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
38 Afghan Scene October 2009
Rosemary
remembered
Afghan Scene’s long serving restaurant critic, Rosemary Stasek, died
of a heart-attack last month. Here some of her friends remember the
women’s activist who first came to Kabul in 2002
I first met Rose in 2006. A mutual friend of friends, I found
her sweet and generous company and later that year she
became partly responsible for one of the best decisions
I ever made when she drove me to Tigger House and I
chose my dog, Blister. I think Rose was almost as delighted
as I was. The next time Rose helped me out I needed a
restaurant reviewer for this magazine. Although I and my
friends had done our best we were clearly outclassed when
Rose came on the Scene. A passionate foody with great
local knowledge, Rose was a godsend. I was aware that
Rose had suffered a major health scare some time before
I left Kabul in 2008, but the last time I saw her was in
La Cantina. Hand in hand with her husband, I had never
seen her look happier. And that is how I shall choose to
remember this remarkable woman.
Andrea Busfield
R osemary Stasek was an advocate for women- especially
the women in Afghanistan. She wasn’t afraid to stand
out, set an example and speak out in order to challenge
the norm and customs that Afghan women face daily.
Rosey went out of her way to educate, provide and lead by
example programs for women. I remember Rosey telling me
about how she ordered a slew of midwifery materials and
was heading herself to the provinces to deliver valuable
and rare training in order to teach Afghan ladies to provide
this service to women going through childbirth. Rosey did
this through her NGO, A Little Help, with her own sweat,
tears and passion. This is just a glimpse of the wonderful
programs that Rosey led to better the lives of Afghan
women one woman at a time.
Carla Borges
www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com
Obituary scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
I will never forget the first time she asked me if her dog
‘Tequila’ could come over for a play date, which turned
into a regular Saturday afternoon thing where we would
trot off to watch the rugby at Global Country House and
leave the dogs to have a wild afternoon of fun, until all the
barking became too much for the neighbours.
The night that she met Morne and you could tell from
then on that they were going to be a perfect couple!
After buying La Cantina and Rosemary coming in to
review the new menu and as it always is Murphy’s law,
what can go wrong will go wrong! Busier than ever and
service completely falling apart, then a walk out in the
kitchen. Luckily she knew the chef and so forgave us our
problems.
Last night of La Cantina she reminded me of the fact that
we had gone to the opening together and were now at the
closing together.
Alison Rhind
R osemary was my friend from day one when I came to
Afghanistan in May 2006. She guided me, embraced me,
loved me. She was never afraid of anything and most of all
Afghanistan was her home. To say goodbye to Rosemary is
one of my hardest things I have to do. Rosemary, you made
a difference in my life like a light in the darkest night. I will
always love you and think about you and pray for you and
still continue to seek guidance and share my stories with
you. For me you will always live.
Shqipe Malushi
Afghan Scene October 2009 39
Obituary scene
Afghan Scene
Afghan Scene October
October 2009
2009
HAPPY TOGETHER: Rosemary and her husband Morne enjoy a meal at La Cantina
R osemary was one of the most cheerful, energetic and
inspired people I have ever met. She was always full of
life, ready for action and as eager as a puppy for adventure
and play. She was also an extraordinarily talented, organised
and determined person, the kind of woman who makes you
feel like you too can do anything. I will miss her in very
many ways, as a close friend in difficult circumstances, as
a colleague who I had known in several countries, and as
a source of extraordinary inspiration for her courage and
sheer joy of life.
She loved to drive around Kabul in her own car, which
very few foreigners do. She was intrepid in that way. You’d
call her and say let’s meet for a coffee and she jumped
into her car – it sounds like a small thing but if you live
in that environment it’s not. She was always looking for
way to come back to Kabul, finding new projects to do.
40 Afghan Scene October 2009
For someone form a very nice town in northern California
where life is plush and comfortable to come to a place like
Kabul, where nothing is easy, says a great deal about her.
Pamela Constable
I t is a bitter irony that less than a month ago I sat down
to write a recommendation letter for Rosemary to
accompany her application for a MA at the Fletcher School
of Management, and now I find myself writing of her life
in the past rather than the future tense.
Throughout her life, Rosemary’s charitable work for
the vulnerable of Kabul meant that she engaged with
widest cross section of people – she seemed eventually to
know everyone here – from the US base people, where at
www.afghanscene.com
one stage she had been involved in setting up the fast food
joint, to the staff of Cordaid, whom she recently undertook a
gender review for. Kabul and the international community in
particular has lost one of its key characters, whose tenacious
irrepressible energy, projects, and laughter will rarely be
matched.
We knew each other since 2002, when she first arrived
in Kabul with a delegation from Global Exchange – at a
discussion with the group she stood out for her enthusiasm,
optimism and practical sense of things needing to be
done and her clear sighted way to make them happen. I
immediately recognized someone who had (in her role as
mayor of Mountain View, California for more than seven
years) and would make a difference. After that she stayed
with me at my INGO, and as well as the many suitcases laden
with medicines she always brought back for the needy in
Kabul, she brought her bed – as part of a container shipment
of even more medicines and other aid. It seemed she intended
to stay. She asked me if there was something women in the
prison needed, and I said – can you renovate their living space
in the prison in central Kabul? With characteristic aplomb she
set about visiting the Minister of Justice and the builders, it
took less than three weeks from inception to finish. It couldn’t
take longer, because she had other things to do. When we
returned to the minister to say it was completed he was
aghast – I didn’t expect it this year he said, no one from the
international community ever says they will do something and
then does it. Well she said “when I say I will do something
I do it.” And over the years I found out how very true that
was. Rosemary never once turned down a request from me
for help, whether it was to fix the computers at GTZ Gender
Mainstreaming, sort out the aid to women prisoners or to pick
me up from my office when I was sick. She was a trooper.
The work she did for the women’s prison is recorded in
‘Kabul in Winter’ by Ann Jones. Rosemary, like others who
make up the characters in the book, was asked what name
she would like – she said “my own.” So that’s what she got,
the rest of us in that book bar one other all carry fictional
monikers, but I am pleased to say, that you can read about
Rosemary without any mask. Following the volunteer work
she did for Medica Mondiale, Rosemary took up the cause of
the Kabul Beauty School with passion. Her lecture tours of the
States were starting to become a regular feature of her life,
and she was to continue them up to this year.
Rosemary came back from her travels not just with money
for vital charitable projects which she was able to channel
through the fund she set up, but also with hilarious stories
www.afghanscene.com
Obituary scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
of events that had happened to her: from her suitcase
that went to Mecca instead of New York with some
rather shocking contents that thankfully customs never
got to see. To the confiscation of my copy of Vogue at
New Jersey Airport. Her tales of taking her beloved pup
Tequila with her always started to feel more and more
like shaggy dog stories. They invariably featured obtuse
officials too much money passing hands, and after, a
great deal of run around Rosemary getting exactly what
she needed. One thing that was a feature in all the
stories she told, was that she was laughing at herself,
but also always showing how she won out through
blocks, problems and unpredictable diversions. She fell
asleep one time at a US airport, losing her bags and
ended up walking home for hours half comatose. She
didn’t want to disturb anyone to ask for help. There was
never any self pity in her tales, and like her restaurant
reviews, and her real life comments she was rarely if
ever negative or critical of other people.
My last memories of Rosemary were of our
joint testing of Serena’s buffet, for what was to be,
unbeknownst to either of us, her last restaurant review
for Scene. We were there from 11.30am to 3.30pm and
I can confidentially say that she sampled almost every
single dish, whilst regaling me with her latest plans. I
gave up after the sushi, but she continued on sampling
and sampling, and enjoying with a particular relish the
deserts. We did talk of her illness, which I had known
about from the first days when she woke up in South
Africa without feeling in her side, but she minimized
it. She said she was adjusting, and trying not to do too
much. I left, once again amazed at her positive energy,
her ability to focus on the future, and her tenacious way
of going straight for obstacles that would put off most
of us. I am happy to say that we laughed a lot that day
– and she looked, I thought radiant – with a beautiful
gold necklace, and a white and gold embroidered
Shalwar Kamez, that she said was the first she bought,
in America.
I am sure that Rosemary leaves many legacies in all
our lives. I know that as time goes on I will remember
and miss more and more of her inputs to mine. I
hope that we can find a way to continue her fund so
that even after her death it can continue to support
communities in Kabul.
Rachel Wareham
Afghan Scene October 2009 41
Book scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
Ripping
Afghan
yarns
ROSE TAYLOR sorts the fact from the fiction in
an enjoyable tale of kidnap, ransom and rescue
B
rad Thor is a great name for a thriller
writer spinning yarns about American
patriots hunting down terrorists in
Afghanistan. Brad conjures up corn-
fed, all-American wholesomeness, while Thor
reeks of an indestructible viking superhero.
Brad Thor sounds like he could be the star of
his own books.
But no. The hero of “The Apostle” is Scot
Harvath, a former counterterrorism operative
who is hired by a politically-connected mother
to find her daughter, who has been kidnapped in
Afghanistan.
The story follows Harvath from Washington
DC to Kabul, Nangarhar and Kandahar as he
undertakes an ill-advised rescue plan to break
into Pul-e Charki prison and free the al-Qaeda
mastermind the kidnappers demand as ransom.
“The Apostle” is a fun and easy read but
what makes it stand out is the quality of the
Thor’s research. The author visited Afghanistan
in the winter of 2008 and his time here paid
off. And for readers who know Afghanistan well
42 Afghan Scene October 2009
there is the added enjoyment of being able to
identify places, characters and situations.
Anyone who has spent time in Jalalabad, will
immediately recognize the fictional Shangri-
La guest house as the Taj Mahal and Baba G
(Harvath’s sidekick) as a certain Mr Tim Lynch
(who oversees the Taj).
A description of the Shangri-La: Baba G
“saw the compound as a great money-making
opportunity and turned it into a guesthouse,
complete with free WiFi access. Its garden tiki
bar was the only international bar in the region
and did a hell of a Thursday night business.”
Mr Lynch was very quick to deny any likeness
to Baba G who is caught over-indulging, in a
post on his blog where, incidentally, he writes
as Baba T:
www.afghanscene.com
“I have to put in a quick word in defense
of Baba G. Baba G is, of course, a fictional
character but were he not I can guarantee you
that if he drank 11 beers in one night there is no
way he would let a guy he admires and respects
as much as he does Brad find all empties. Baba
G would spread them around like frigging easter
eggs so no one guy could get the evidence and
put 2 and 2 together. Baba G is way too sneaky
to be caught operating outside the parameters
of normal social mores – of that I am certain.”
Yeah, Tim. Right.
For all that is an action-packed page-
turner, I suspect that those who will enjoy “The
Apostle” most are other US patriots.
I did however enjoy Harvath’s dig at the CIA:
“I think the CIA is trying to kill me,” replied a
voice from Northern Virginia.
Harvath laughed: “Death by PowerPoint?”
www.afghanscene.com
Book scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
“Worse,” said the voice. “Mandatory
sensitivity training. They’re killing us with
kindness.”
Only CIA , thought Harvath, would waste
time and money putting its para-military
operatives through sensitivity training. If it
wasn’t so sad, it might actually have been
funny. “My tax dollars at work.”
“Look at it this way,” the voice stated. “When
I eventually kill bin Laden, I’ll be able to do it
while embracing all of the differences between
our cultures that make us both unique and
special.”
Although The Apostle is the 8th book in
the Scot Harvath series, it is the first one
I’ve read. It was a good read, and if I can
get past Harvath’s view that NGO workers
are “pot smoking hippies,” I’ll probably read
more. �
Afghan Scene October 2009 43
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009
v
Party scene Party scene
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

Be scene
Share your event or party pics with Aghan Scene. email info@afghanscene.com

TETE A TETE: Frenchies Clem and Rudolph NETWORK BLUES: CNN dream team Atia CHEEKY GIRLS: Scene lovelies Karen and Fotini ROAL’D OVER: Dahls surrounded at her party by Anna, Jon, NEWS TO ME: Kabul charmer Jules C chats to the lovely Elise
at Holly’s birthday and Kevin Flower at the AP bash Jerome and Leslie

MR FIX IT: Journo Nur kicks back after TALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN: Ben rates Sarah’s ENGARDE: L’Atmo’s Esmat greets gun toting STEVIE’S WONDER: Tim strikes a chord wih Sarah SHAWLY NOT?: Emily looks quizzical with Tom and Gemma
hours Cleopatra crop customers at a fancy dress bash at the AP soiree

46 Afghan
Afghan Scene
Scene October
Ocotber 2009
2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009 47
 Party scene Party scene
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

MAD HATTER: Kabul lothario Coggers at his KABUL SWEETHEARTS: Timur and Anna at HER INDOORS: Mrs Jason Straziuso keeps a OUT FOXED: Network news hounds Conor AUTUMN LEAVERS: Vianni and Ridwan REID ALL ABOUT IT: Scene lovelies Rachel and
own farewell Holly’s birthday hold of her husband at the AP party and Greg out on the town in election week prepare to depart Leslie

KABUL NOT AT WORK: David and Reuters HACK AND FLACK: Journo Jon and US PNHOM DE GUERRE: War corrs Ben and EYES WIDE OPEN: Julian, Nick and James at Coghlan’s leaving bash ENTENT UNFORGETTABLE: Herve, Jerome and Aurelia
head honcho Peter relax at Chez Straz embassy spokeswoman Erin at the AP bash Michael fresh in from Cambodia

48 Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009 49
 Party scene Party scene
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

INDY PEOPLE: Journo Kim with Scene’s TOP SNAPPER: Renowned photographer Tyler VIVE LE PRESS: Journos Jean-Pierre Perrin and BOYS FROM THE BEEB: Lady J feels the squeeze between BBC IF IT WASN’T FOR HER WE’D ALL BE SPEAKING ARGENTINIAN:
favourite Dahls Hicks and Jason P Howe at the AP party Luc at Tom’s farewell producer Richard and bureau chief Ian Maggie’s men Nick and George welcome Tom back to London

REELING: French favourite Aurelia with TIMES SQUARES: FT man Matt with Times of BOWLED OVER: Kabul lifers Belinda and Leslie FOR US THE BORE IS OVER: Kabul quitters Jo ‘Buckers’ Buckley and LADIES NIGHT: Charlotte, Sophie and Paula pose for the camera
Olivier at Tom’s farewell London supremo Jeremy at Tom’s send off smile at Tom’s leaving party Julie Fossler flank Ash Sweeting

50 Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009 51
 Hit
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

the

target with
your
message! Have you considered advertising in
Afghanistan's leading magazine
aimed at the expat community and
key business decision makers?

With over 8,000 copies distributed

free of charge, Afghan Scene keeps those
working in Afghanistan and new comers
to the country informed on recent
developments with articles
and reviews from
leading writers.

For full details email

sales@afghanscene.com

Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com

Afghan Scene October 2009
Blog scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
I blog,
therefore I am
Wannabe journalist PJ TOBIA gives Scene some tips on
making it in the blogosphere
A
bout three months ago I was hired by a
New York based media company called
True/Slant to blog about Afghanistan for
their website. These people were foolish
enough to pay me, and I rewarded their naiveté by
creating Afghan Desk (www.trueslant.com/pjtobia),
a site where I steal stories from wire services and
add off-the-record quotes from the anonymous
sources in my head. In the trade, this is known as
“trenchant analysis.”
After launching Afghan Desk (www.trueslant.
com/pjtobia), I immediately became a worldwide
commentator of great importance. I receive dozens
of emails daily from my adoring public. They ask
54 Afghan Scene October 2009
for opinions on counterinsurgency strategy,
women’s rights issues and if I would “like to see
photos of other singles in [my] area.”
But in addition to being talented, handsome
and modest, I am also magnanimous. Though
highly unlikely, there may be one of you out
there, holding this magazine in your trembling,
kabab besotted hands, who, like me, has the
skill and great hair necessary to become a
global blogging phenom. To this end, I have
composed a brief list of how to’s, indispensable
for anyone making a foray into the frenzied
digital journalism landscape known as “The
Blogosphere.”
www.afghanscene.com
1. People Are Stupid And Will Believe Anything
I really can’t overstate this fact. Your average
blog reader is more interested in pictures of cats
dressed like Hamid Karzai (so cute!) than actual
news and information about Hamid Karzai. Unless
you’re one of those unbearably dull policy wonks
or do-gooding NGO hippies, this will work to your
advantage. True story: I once posted a series of
pictures at Afghan Desk (www.trueslant.com/
pjtobia) of Afghan houses. Houses, people. In
a matter of hours this garnered about 25,000
hits. The piece I wrote about election fraud, for
which I actually made phone calls and attended
press conferences? Or the video I posted of a
colleague and I nearly dying in a gun fight? I
think my mom read those. Maybe.
The point is, people like pretty pictures and light-
hearted fare. Liven up that post about famine or
the opium trade with some celebrity gossip or
sports scores. Have fun with it! Your readers will
thank you, because they don’t know better.
2. Pick a Fight
In prison, the surest way to gain respect is to walk
up to the biggest, baddest customer on your cell-
block and stab him (or her) in the abdomen with
a homemade shank. In the prison yard that is the
blogosphere, similar rules apply. Find a blogger
with a large following, say, a million hits per day.
Wait till he or she writes about Afghanistan and
BANG! Stab them with the proverbial sharpened
toothbrush. Write post after post exposing their
alleged ignorance and explaining that unlike you,
the pro-blogger has never lived here. Never mind
the fact that you live in an armed compound and
www.afghanscene.com
Blog scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
the only Afghans you come in contact with
are the ones who bring you dinner. You have
an understanding that surpasses experience
because you live here! After enough insults, the
big-league blogger will be forced to rebut your
increasingly hysterical ranting and (cha-ching!)
link to your nascent blog-site. Next, just sit back
and watch the page-views climb while selecting
your next target, which in no way should be
Afghan Desk (www.trueslant.com/pjtobia).
3. Self Promotion and Afghan Desk
(www.trueslant.com/pjtobia)
Until you have completed Step 2, above,
nobody will have any idea who you are. The
phenomenon that is Afghan Desk (www.
trueslant.com/pjtobia) needed little by way of
self promotion, because it is so excellent. Still,
Afghan Desk (www.truslant.com/pjtobia) doesn’t
market itself, and on rare occasions I’m forced
to post links to Afghan Desk (www.trueslant.
com/pjtobia) on my Facebook page, or write for
low-quality expat rags that few people read in
order to boost readership at Afghan Desk (www.
trueslant.com/pjtobia).
4. Ignore So Called “Legitimate Journalists”
These guys are losers. They walk around all high
and mighty with their “bureaus” and “expense
accounts” and “real jobs,” generally looking
askance at those of us on the cutting edge
of media’s digital rebirth. They’re jealous and
cranky because we put their work on our blogs
without attribution. Lame. There’s this one guy
in particular, I’ll call him Jon Moon. He’s one
of these arrogant British types, and works for
Afghan Scene October 2009 55
Blog scene Cartoon scene
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

a Fleet St. paper. He seems unaware that nobody
really reads newspapers anymore and, despite my
international success, chooses to constantly deride
the noble and fast growing blog community. If
I listened to guys like Moon, where would I be?
Probably gainfully employed at a respected news
agency. But that’s not the point. The point is, taking
the best advice of successful news professionals is
the fastest way to never start a blog in the first
place, so ignore them at all costs.
There you have it, four simple steps to blog
stardom. While I’m not optimistic about your
chances of being as successful as I, I can now
sleep at night knowing that I have tried to bring
light to the darkness of your existence.
See you on the web!
(At Afghan Desk, www.trueslant.com/pjtobia). �

P.J. Tobia is a freelance journalist and blogger at Afghan Desk (trueslant.

com/pjtobia). his work has appeared in The Washington Post, Christian
Science Monitor, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, but in never anywhere as
esteemed as Afghan Scene. Editor’s note: Another great advantage of blogs
is there’s no real word limit and no such thing as deadlines. This article was
supposed to be 150 words in the September edition.

AfghanITT Limited is a SMB Cisco Select Certified Partner in Afghanistan so you can
be sure of getting genuine Cisco equipment with standard warranty and a host of
other benefits.
Benefits to working with SMB Cisco Select Certified Partner like AfghanITT:
• Value: Our certification will ensure your needs are fulfilled through an emphasis on
delivering value-added services for the SMB market.
• Proven technical expertise: AfghanITT is a Cisco Certified Partner with sales
and technical expertise in switching, routing, security and wireless solutions for
SMB customers, allowing them to deliver the new solutions you demand.
• Focus on customer satisfaction: With access to the same online customer
satisfaction evaluation tools Cisco uses to evaluate its own performance, we can
identify strengths and develop targeted plans to serve your needs.
Learn how Cisco is helping transform businesses. Contact AfghanITT today.
Call +93 799 622 868 or email info@afghanitt.com to find out more.

PARTNER
Select
Certified

Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009
Book scene
Now in Afghan Scene!
Afghan Scene October 2009 TO LET Ten bed house Shar-e-Now
Afghan Scene October 2009
Ref 2190 Six bathrooms, two

KABUL CLASSIFIEDS Sixteen bed house Shar-e-Now kitchens, saloon and dining
Ref 2002 Fourteen bathrooms, room two sub basements Out
saloon, two kitchens, terrace, buildings, Car parking for up to
garden and car parking for up to twenty cars. $20,000 a month,
ten cars. $9,999 a month, or ono. Call 0798 500 500
Trying to sell a bicycle or looking for love? Call 0700334455
Six bed house Shar-e-Now Ref
Got a room to let or want to buy a house?  
Ten bed house Shash Darak Ref
2052 Two bathrooms, kitchen,
saloon, great garden and
6031 Ten ensuite, saloon, kitchen,
  significant car parking $3,999 a
Afghan Scene is set to launch Afghanistan’s first sub basement, central heating
system Car parking for up to
month, o n o. Call 0700334455

comprehensive classified section for ex-pats, fifteen cars. $9,999 a month,  

o n o Call 0700334455
Eight bed house Sher pur Ref
4059 Six bathrooms, two
and all the ads are FREE.   kitchens, saloon, sub basement:
Eight bed house Shash Darak Ref hall, saloon, one bedroom and
6036 Ten bathrooms, living room, two bathrooms. Out buildings:
kitchen, sub basement: comprise four bedrooms, three
Car parking for up to two cars. athrooms and one kitchen,
$7,999 a month, o n o garden with swimming pool
Car parking for up to ten cars.
lsL S
Call 0700334455
PER onNaA
PeSrsO USED CAR $11,999 a month, o n o. Call
LT M MLO and
his why go els S  
Four bed house Wazir Akbar 0700334455
a ss y g ir l W ewhere to
Emb but for be cheated Khan Ref 3105 Three bathrooms,
r friendship,
  Fourteen bed house Sher pur
a te , n o t fo Come here ? saloon and dining room, kitchen,
m first!
ot required.
Ref 4084 Nine bathrooms, one
out buildings Sub basement,
fun. GSOH n garden and car parking for up to
kitchen, sub basement: open hall,
three rooms and two bathrooms,
two cars. $3,999 a month, or o n
central heating system Car
o Call 0700334455
  parking for up to eight cars.
Six bed house Wazir Akbar khan $17,999 a month, o n o. Call
ALE
F O R Se” Kevlar body s
Ref 3174 Three bathrooms, 0700334455
kitchen, saloon, dining room, sub
bl ole
reatha made h l basement, 4 rooms, out buildings:
New “B elmet. Man nia SPORTS
L u r &h h e s t. Orig 2 rooms 1 bathroom, garden
Tubby-w O SLoTstCCAatT ! ! ! ar m o n d c . with swimming pool Car parking
head a ger requires
  Practically new treadmill for sale. Send email to
hit e.Las
Gun Club t seen at the Kab
across n o l o n for up to three cars $10,999 a
anzachouse.orp24@gmail.com if interested.
shooting ul owner month, o n o. Call 0700334455
range.  
100 beds building Sher pur Ref
4082 Sixty bathrooms, thirty CARS
kitchens, saloon, dining room,
sub basement, 4 rooms, out White Toyota Landcruiser GXR (2001). ABS, 4.5L V8,
buildings: 2 rooms 1 bathroom, 156,000 miles. 160 litre tank. Ex-diplomatic. No
garden with swimming pool plates. Heavy doors. Total weight 2500kg. $14,000.
So if you’ve got something you want to sell, Car parking for up to three cars. Contact: hedvigb@yahoo.com or alexan33@gmail.
$59,999 a month, o n o. Call com
be it a bicycle or body armour, furniture or a fridge,
0700334455
Scene Classifieds is the only place to go.
 
56 Email: classified@afghanscene.com
Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com
Post your ads for FREE! Email: classified@afghanscene.com
www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009 59

Afghan Scene October 2009
Afghan Scene October 2009
Bestof
British
People said he would never leave but Kabul survivor
TOM COGHLAN has finally moved to London
Best of times?
The years 2004 to 2006 were extraordinary
times to be a young, struggling journalist in
Afghanistan. We went where we wanted and
did what we wanted, local people welcomed us
and treated us with extraordinary hospitality
and though it was dangerous enough to boast
about, it wasn’t too dangerous.
I was able to visit all but four of Afghanistan’s
provinces and to fall in love with a bleak but
www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com
Farewell scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
striking country and its people. I never knew
more about Afghanistan than on the day
I arrived. Since then I’ve just been getting
confused.
Worst of times?
In 2006 my driver and friend Sayed Agha was
murdered and I’ve lost count of the number of
Afghans I’ve known since who have been killed.
That goes for a growing number of Western
soldiers too. War can be exciting and fun, and I
Afghan Scene October 2009 61
Farewell scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
COMMANDO BLAGGER: Coggers in the the Kevlar, preparing tales of derring do, with which to woo
guess that is some of what pulls us all to Kabul
if we’re honest, but these days it’s getting a lot
less fun and all rather grimly war-like.
What will you miss the most?
I will miss the legion of heroes I was lucky
enough to meet; extraordinary people both
Afghan and expat. I’ve made friends I’ll take to
the grave (which hopefully won’t be anytime
soon). I’d like to single out my comrades at Altai
Consulting for their unflinching determination
to make Kabul a place of beauty as well as
industry: that’s female, French beauty which I
pursued relentlessly and largely fruitlessly for
five years.
The expat life in Kabul is a sort of perpetual
university freshers week and I will miss those
Kabul parties where the drink has run out but
62 Afghan Scene October 2009
the dancefloor is still rammed and the sound
system is so weak that you can hear your fellow
dancers’ breathing.
Finally I will miss the wisdom, bravery and
above all the wit of the Afghan journalists I
have worked with. I don’t know how Afghans
keep laughing amid the chaos, but they do and I
love them for it.
What will you miss the least?
I think driving brings out the very worst in
Afghan society. On Afghan roads drivers
routinely display a complete failure to
comprehend that if you are considerate to one
another, wait for another car to go first, stay
on your side of the road, display a modicum of
patience, everyone will get to their destination
more quickly. I have ground my teeth through
www.afghanscene.com
LADIES’ KNIGHT: Costumed Coghlan makes shapes for the ladies
five hour traffic jams on mountain roads caused
by nothing more than ego, stupidity and the
brainless decision to start driving down the
wrong side of the road if your side is stationary.
As an Englishman, I see orderly queues as the
benchmark of a functioning society and though
this sounds pompous, I’m still too pissed off to
care.
Favourite place in Afghanistan?
I’m torn between Helmand and L’Atmosphere...
L’Atmosphere has been a place of unremittingly
poor food and sublime good times. I arrived the
week it opened and was there through many of
its finest and funniest moments. I stood
shoulder to shoulder with Marc Victor during
his immortal 24-hour hunger strike against
the imposition of retroactive taxation by the
www.afghanscene.com
Farewell scene
Afghan Scene October 2009
Ministry of Finance and wiled away many, many
great evenings I can’t remember, so I must have
been there.
As for Helmand, it’s an awful place of heat and
dust and war and despair, but I wouldn’t have
missed it for the world.
What happens next?
I am working in London on The Times newspaper
covering Defence. This means that I still have
my eyes firmly fixed on all things Afghan whilst
enjoying all the cultural riches and amenities
of a fading European Great Power. I raise a
frothing pint of tepid English ale to my old
comrades and wish you all the very best of
British luck.
Cheers.
Afghan Scene October 2009 63
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009
Essential scene Feature scene
Afghan Scene October 2009 Afghan Scene October 2009

Afghan Essentials
Where to stay, where to eat, where to Shop. And how to pay for it.
Afghan Scene Making Life Easier

Hotels and Guesthouses Restaurants
Kabul Serena Hotel Delivery
Froshgah Street Easyfood
www.serenahotels.com Delivers from any restaurant
Tel: 0799 654 000 to your home
www.easyfood.af
Safi Landmark Hotel & Suites Tel: 0796 555 000, 0796
Charahi Ansari 555 001
www.safilandmarkhotelsuites.com
Tel: 0202 203 131 Afghan
Rumi
The Inter Continental Hotel Qala-e Fatullah Main Rd,
Baghe Bala Road
between Streets 5 & 6
www.intercontinentalkabul.com Tel: 0799 557 021
Tel: 0202 201 321
Sufi
Gandamack Lodge Muslim Street, Shar-e Naw
Sherpur Square
www.sufi.com.af Tel: 0774
www.gandamacklodge.co.uk 212 256, 0700 210 651
Tel: 0700 276 937
Herat Restaurant
Mustafa Hotel Shar-e Naw, main road,
Charahi Sadarat Diagonally opposite Cinema
www.mustafahotel.com
Park
Tel: 070 276 021
Khosha Restaurant
Heetal Plaza Hotel Above the Golden Star
Street 14, Wazir Akbar Khan Hotel. Tel: 0799 888 999
www.heetal.com
Tel: 0799 167 824, 0799 159 697 Mixed/Western
The Lounge
UNICA Guest House Lane 2, left, off Street 15,
Kolola Pushta, opposite Wazir Akbar Khan. Tel: 0796
Royal Mattress 174 718, 0700 037 634
Tel: 0797 676 357
Fat Man/What-a-Burger Cafe
The International Club Wazir Akbar Khan, main
Haji Yaqoob Square, Street 3, Shar-e road, On the bend near
Naw. Tel: 0774 763 858
Masoud Circle Tel: 0700 298
301, 0777 151 510
Golden Star Hotel
Charrhay Haji Yaqoob, L’Atmosphere
Shar-e Naw. www.kabulgolden- Street 4, Taimani
starhotel.com Tel: 0798 224 982, 0798
Tel: 0799 333 088, 0799 557 281
413 872
Roshan Hotel Flower Street Café
Charaye Turabaz Khan,
Street 2, Qala-e Fatullah.
Shar-e Naw. Tel: 0700 293 124, 0799
Tel: 0799 335 424
356 319
Cabul Coffeehouse & Café
Street 6, on the left, Qale-e Fat-
ullah Tel: 0752 005 275
Le Bistro
One street up from Chicken
Street, Behind the MOI,
Shar-e Naw Tel: 0799-598852
Red Hot Sizzlin’ Steakhouse
District 16, Macroyan 1, Nader
Hill Area Tel: 0799 733 468
Le Pelican Cafe du Kabul
Darulaman Road, almost
opposite the Russian Embassy.
Bright orange guard box.
Tex Mex
La Cantina
Third left off Butcher St,
Shar-e Naw
Tel: 0798 271 915
Lebanese
Taverne du Liban
Street 15, Lane 3,
Wazir Akbar Khan
Tel: 0799 828 376
The Grill
Street 15, Wazir Akbar Khan.
Tel: 0799 818 283,
0799 792 879
Cedar House
Behind Kabul City Centre,
Shar-e Naw Tel: 0799-121412
Turkish
Istanbul
Main road, on the left, between
Massoud Circle Jalalabad Road
Roundabout.
Tel: 0799-407818
Iranian
Shandiz
Pakistan Embassy Street, off
Street 14 Wazir Akbar Khan
Tel: 0799-342928
Italian/Pizza
Everest Pizza
Street 10, Wazir Akbar Khan
www.everestpizza.com
Tel: 0700 263 636, 0779 317 979
Boccaccio
Street 10, Wazir Akbar Khan
Tel: 0799 200 600
Bella Italia
Street 14, Wazir Akbar Khan
Tel: 0799 600 666
Springfield Restaurant
Lane 3, Street 15,Wazir Akbar
Khan Tel: 0799 001 520
Indian
Namaste
Street 15, Wazir Akbar Khan,
Between lanes 2 and 3 on the
right. Tel: 0772 011 120
Delhi Darbar
Shar-e Naw, close to UK Sports
Tel: 0799 324 899
Anar Restaurant
Lane 3, Street 14,
Wazir Akbar Khan
Tel: 0799 567 291
Chinese
Golden Key Seafood
Restaurant
Lane 4, Street 13, Wazir Akbar
Khan. Tel: 0799 002 800, 0799
343 319
Thai
Mai Thai
House 38, Lane 2, Street 15,
Wazir Akbar Khan
Tel:0796 423 040
Korean
New World
Between Charayi Haji Yacub
and Charayi Ansari, on the
right. Shar-e Naw.
Tel: 0799 199 509
Supermarkets, Grocers & Butchers
A-One
Bottom of Shar-e Naw Park
Chelsea
Shar-e Naw main road, opposite Kabul
Bank
Spinneys
Wazir Akbar Khan, opposite British
Embassy
Finest
Wazir Akbar Khan Roundabout
Fat Man Forest
Wazir Akbar Khan, main road.
Enyat Modern Butcher
Qala-e Fatullah main road,
Near street four
ATMs
Kabul City Centre, Shar-e Naw (AIB
AIB Main Office, Opposite Camp Egg-
ers (AIB)
AIB Shar-e Naw Branch, next to Chelsea
Supermarket (AIB)
HQ ISAF, Outside Cianos Pizzeria, US
Embassy Street (AIB)
KAIA Military Airbase, Outside Cianos
Pizzeria, Airport (AIB)
Finest Supermarket, Wazir Akbar Khan
(AIB)
World Bank Guard Hut, Street 15 Wazir
Akbar Khan (Standard Chartered)
Standard Chartered Branch, Street 10,
Wazir Akbar Khan (Standard Chartered)
Want to get on the Afghan
Essentials list of places to eat
and sleep?
Contact sales@afghanscene.com

64
66 AfghanScene
Afghan SceneAugust
October2009
2009 www.afghanscene.com www.afghanscene.com Afghan Scene October 2009
Afghan Scene October 2009

Afghan Scene October 2009 www.afghanscene.com