"Kandahar Chronicles is the ongoing story of the day-to-day life of an MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) Field Logistician based in Kandahar Afghanistan. You can email the author your questions and comments here: carlos@citizenlab.orgFriday, November 14, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #43 - 13/11/2003Bertein left Kandahar today, having completed her six-month contract, and is on her way to Holland via Turkmenistan. I was sad to see her go. We arrived here together in May, got the project running fairly smoothly again, sweated through the roasting summer heat, totalled hundreds of kilometres in land cruisers to and from the camp, dashed for cover after an explosion rocked our compound, started water rugby matches in another NGOs swimming pool, argued about meetings, picked raisons out our bowls of cereal and last week polished off a half bottle of Johnny Walker on the roof. She was good fun and a hard worker. I’ll miss her, she’s a good friend. Unfortunately, due to the sudden deterioration in the security situation, we had to cancel both a national staff and expat goodbye party for her. She did leave at a good time though with the security situation in the toilet and the nights getting progressively colder. posted by @ 02:34 PM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #42 - 12/11/2003 The calm after the storm. The city is tense following the attacks yesterday. UN agencies and NGOs meet in different venues around Kandahar during the day and stay close to their compounds at night. I feel like a prisoner again. Now we start the same old discussions about what is and isn’t an acceptable risk. Should we go to the camp? Low profile slow vehicle or well-marked speedy four wheel drive? Does that rumour about the Mullah have any foundation? Who blew up that vehicle outside the UN offices and caused us to have to cancel Bertein’s farewell party? Our computer has been down for two days and when I got it fired up again there were sixty two messages in our inbox-fifty of them security related. This will go on and on, summarizing, evaluating, discussing, speculating, restricting movements, securing approaches to compounds…on and on and on. posted by @ 02:33 PM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #41 - 11/11/2003 About an hour ago, a huge explosion rocked our compound and threw a plume of smoke and dust high into the air. The upstairs windows beside the roof door were blasted in and an ominous piece of twisted metal, about twelve inches in diameter, landed in our compound in front of the office. We are about two blocks away. Inside this piece of ragged, charred steel is a triple A battery and some home made wiring. Everyone is pretty shook up but we’re all drinking tea, trying to let the adrenaline settle. Sketchy reports we have gotten so far seem to indicate a car bomb was detonated outside some UN offices. This has not been confirmed and of yet there are no reports of casualties. I rushed to the forecourt and looked toward the area of destruction but couldn’t see much through the smoke. I could however, hear shouting and screaming clearly from my vantage point. posted by @ 02:24 PM EST [more..] Monday, November 10, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #40 - 09/11/2003Work is crazy again but too much security stuff I can’t write about so instead I’ll try to answer some comments and questions. Turqoise, Salam alakom, thanks for the “props”. What part of the country are you from? Afghanistan is a fantastic place and it’s a pleasure to be here even with all the shit happening. The people for the most part are strong and noble but they have a temper and memories like elephants. MSF works in some dodgy places around the world. Liberia, Burundi, DRC, Iraq and Somalia to name a few. They started in Nigeria during the Biafran war in 1967 and have been getting into the thick of it since then. There’s about twenty six NGOs in Kandahar now so by no means are we the only ones. posted by @ 10:58 AM EST [more..] Thursday, November 6, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #39 - 06/11/2003I had to make another quick trip out to the customs checkpoint last night. This is actually a police check that inspects vehicle passengers and cargo on the main Heart –Kandahar road far away from any international border. It’s known as the Silo post as it’s located across the road from a giant grain silo that sits unused since the Russians spitefully blew the top off the elevator by tank fire before pulling out of the country. The technical logistician, Victor, from HQ had managed to get through with one of the minivans being brought down, but the second one with its driver was detained. Every cargo sent down this way is stopped and these thirty minute drives to the roadblock have become routine. I jumped in with Mr Omer, the night driver, and Jaweed, and armed with the cargo manifest and MSF ID prepared to lock horns once again with my old foe, Superintendent Karim. posted by @ 12:02 PM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #38 - 30/10/2003 (This update was misplaced and so it appears out of order) “Kashmiris are Not Children of a Lesser God!” The huge banner stretched along the side of the avenue, lit by the headlights of the congested traffic. The driver that had collected me from the airport chain-smoked Marlboroughs as I watched the other motorists jockeying for position, sometimes four cars wide over the two lanes. Green trees and a wide grass verge prevented more impatient drivers from coming abreast of us and angry horns beeped continuously. Another large sign emerges from the gloom, “Islamabad, The Capital City.” That’s a catchy nickname for a city. I opened my window to let the acrid cigarette smoke out. An old man tottering through the cars comes to my window and holds up some newspapers for sale. His eyes are milky with cataracts and his lips tucked into his mouth for lack of teeth. I feel sorry for him and buy an Urdu paper for the driver. He happily hobbles off, in stark contrast to the sleek vehicles that spring forward together on the command of a policeman directing traffic. posted by @ 12:00 PM EST [more..] Tuesday, November 4, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #37 - 05/11/2003It was another of those conversations that can only happen in a place like this. I suppose it could take place anywhere but here you pay attention to every word. “Don’t you ever get nervous when you’re defusing a mine?” Bertein asked ‘Andy’, an British NGO demining engineer. “Only with the little ones, they hurt.” He deadpanned. posted by @ 12:02 PM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #36 - 03/11/2003 Islamabad is a distant memory. After five days of shopping, good food and a welcome lack of automatic weapons fire disturbing my sleep I feel refreshed and ready to face the realities of work again. Retail therapy is even more effective when spending large quantities of company money and I came back with stacks of electronic gear, including a security alarm I helped design, and only enough rupees left to buy a fanta. On another account, I’ve also purchased a new generator and five minivans. HQ is going to have a fit. posted by @ 11:58 AM EST [more..] |
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