Brian Conley's News & Notes

I touched down in Kabul approximately 7:30am. Immigration and Customs was notably easy, my first mistake came when I realized I didn’t have the instructions for my arrival.

I left baggage claim for the area that, in a “normal” airport in a “normal” part of the world would be the area where your ride might pick you up, or you would catch a taxi.

Unfortunately in Kabul there is not only a parking lot A, for VIPs, but they go all the way up to C, which is where Afghans are able to reach. Eventually a helpful airport porter offered to let me use his phone and help me find my ride-for a fee of course.

Ahmed Shakib, a training assistant at Pajhwok Afghan News, and all-around-good-guy from what I can tell so far, finally found the porter and me standing around. It was an uneventful ride to the Kabul Inn, a hotel that is not much to look at from the outside, but has an appropriately gaudy garden and sitting room, complete with apparently “vintage” British rifles hanging on the wall.

After a quick shower-read cold water over my head-it was off to Pajhwok to begin meeting my new colleagues. Pajhwok Afghan News is an all Afghan news agency based in Kabul, but with reporters in 23 of Afghanistan’s 34 states.

After my first day I can say with assurance that Kabul may not be much to look at, but its charm is certainly present in its people. Everyone I met at Pajhwok was friendly, earnest, and welcoming. Consciously straying into the cliche I can say that these are, by and large, salt of the earth people. Similar to many(any?) Central Asian/Southwest Asian/Middle Eastern countries there is an air of fatalism and a feeling that things will get done, after some time.

I’m here working to expand Pajhwok’s adoption of multimedia and online/mobile media technology in their reporting. I will also be doing training in video production as they take steps to build out a video service prior to the upcoming parliamentary elections. Its going to be an interesting ride if the first day is any evidence. There is much to be done and I’m only here for about three weeks this trip.

After work we took a short trip to a supermarket in the neighborhood, that was as well stocked as any bodega in Manhattan or Brooklyn, barely providing any acknowledgment of its true geographic locale. I’ll try to take some pictures on the next visit, it should make its own interesting post. Also of note, supermarkets are apparently good places to exchange dollars if you’re in a hurry and need to combine grocery shopping with money changing. Just one of many interesting tips to a successful life in Kabul that I’m sure to learn in the next few weeks.

Last night John Smock and I caught up with Una Moore who has been living here about as long as I have been based in India. She took us to dinner at a restaurant called simply, “Sufi.” There were many foreigners there, and English appeared to be the primary language of culinary extracurricular activities that night. I’ll have to admit that we didn’t stay long at the restaurant. Your intrepid Kabul tour guide came down with a bit of what I like to refer to as the “travel bends.” That’s a combination of lack of sleep, stress, extreme amounts of travel and drastic dietary change that mimics much worse actual travel illnesses, and is a common experience for yours truly.

Una knew just what to do, she called the trusted “kidnapper-free” taxi service “Zuhaak” and we were whisked away back to the lovely Kabul Inn. The cooks at Sufi were so efficient they’d even finished cooking our meal and wrapped it for takeaway! Dinner ended up on the floor of my hotel room, John, Una, and I chatting the night away, Una regaling us with various stories of the bizarre life of a Kabuli expat in 2010.

The night might have gone shorter had the internet not gone out and I been able to call my wife and daughter who are currently roadtripping in the United States. It appears that Kabul Inn turns off the net access after a certain hour, something I’ll have to look into, as it is totally not cool when you’re working 6 days a week, 24 hours/day! The night finally ended with some World Cup action, turning out the lights just after seeing Mexico’s first goal against France, truly it is a global world.

It’s now day two in Kabul, having started uneventfully in the hotel, but tonight I am looking forward to my first Afghan cd release party with local indie heartthrobs Kabul Dreams.