Return to Kabul
22 Aug, 04 - 14:55    
Moobin taps on my door at 4.30 to wake me, and for many minutes I lie motionless in the dark, listening to the noisome river. Our flight is supposed to leave Faiserbad at 8am, so we have decided to leave the hotel at 5am. However, without having told us, Haji and the drivers have had other ideas; at 5.15am we are waiting in the hall downstairs, all ready to go, but there is no sign of anyone else. At 6am a couple of guys arrive with bread and eggs and shortly afterwards an apologetic Moobin who tells us not to worry, everything will be fine. Tom, who has been dreaming of eggs for about a week, impressively manages to impart the concept of soft boiled eggs and I must say it is the best breakfast we have had in weeks.

At 7am, still without any apparent urgency we load up the cars and head off, not to the airport, but to the Kamair office. It is clear that no one but us is at all interested in the time written on our tickets, this plane could leave just about any time. Moobin tells us quite seriously that the time on the ticket has to be early as Afghans are always at least two hours late for everything. At 10am we eventually make our way to the airport and unload our gear into the intense morning heat. Airport is a hugely inappropriate term for the Faiserbad roll-out metal military air strip. The site has clearly seen some of the worst fighting in this area and the terminal buildings' walls gape with mortar holes and its shattered roof beams hang like broken bones into its interior.

The ancient twin-engined, Russian-built passenger plane lands bumpily and we go through repeated rigorous searches by the uniformed personnel. Eventually, with sad farewells to Moobin, Kayoum, Abdullah and Waed on the hot tarmac, we board the plane. The only person we are thoroughly glad to see the back of is Haji. It's such a shame, as he knows such a lot and can be really interesting, but he is disliked even by the other Afghanis and it now seems almost certain that he has been ripping us off.

In an hour and a half we are back in Kabul and being driven through its busy streets by our new driver Aziz. The city seems unbelievably busy and sophisticated compared to what we have grown accustomed to. We are all really looking forward to settling into Kabul Lodge and getting clean and relaxed, but when we arrive there it is only to discover that only Tom will be staying there and the rest of us will be housed across town. A short drive later and we find ourselves finally housed in two basic but pleasant guest houses. Raymond and I are happy to be in what turns out to be the original Kabul Lodge. Our rooms are pleasantly furnished and there is a big grassy courtyard whose thick vines provide a lovely shady spot to relax in.

After meeting the others for lunch back at the other Kabul Lodge, Tom and I escape with Aziz to explore the tourist shopping strip, Chicken Street. When I say tourist obviously there aren't really any tourists, but Chicken Street is definitely the place to come for souvenirs, it is the centre for lapis lazuli and carpet dealers, fur traders, antique sellers and pretty much anything else you can think of. It's a great place to root about in and the friendly shopkeepers, although keen that you should enter their shops, are not yet aggressive and spoiled in the way of traders more used to mass commercial tourism; there is a delightful, friendly, naiveté to their attitude which I suspect will have disappeared by the time I visit Kabul next.

Aziz is a highly intelligent young Afghani who speaks excellent English and who discusses Afghan politics with us with great insight and intelligence. He discusses the forthcoming elections and the various candidates and is keen to know our perception of Al Quaida from outside Afghanistan. His own belief is that Al Quaida has simply become a brand name with which to label every Muslim terrorist group or action that doesn't fall obviously under another title. He feels that the name is a convenient tool for the West to simplify public perception of the 'enemy' in their war against terror. Although himself pro-American and UN he reminds us that we should not forget that it was in fact America who funded the Taliban before they broke away to ravage this country and that we are all capable of grave errors of judgement. I like Aziz enormously, as we quiz him he speaks thoughtfully, trying to explain to us the multiple points of view around our questions. He confesses that one day he would love to go into politics and I think with a few more Azizs around there really could be some light at the end of this country's tunnel.

We all meet once more for a late supper at Kabul Lodge and I am happy to meet up with our old friend from a couple of weeks back, Christian. He welcomes us warmly and we settle into the warm evening with gin and tonics and red wine.

Tom and I take the opportunity to sit down with Moobin's brother Muchim, Matthew's business partner, and go through the events of the last three weeks in detail. He is horrified to hear our assessment of Haji's conduct and behavior, but not altogether surprised; it would seem that he has had suspicions about the old guide's trustworthiness for a while and his thoughts are cemented by our account.

By the time we have eaten I am really tired and the older members of the group are rather fractious, I think we will all benefit from a good night's sleep. Tom and I arrange to meet at my place in the morning and we all disperse in the cars to our various Kabul homes.