August 16, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
Graham Wood, a consultant to humanitarian aid groups who works in Afghanistan, paints a vivid portrait of the nation’s capital with its surprisingly easy access to iPods and other consumer goods, military tanks rolling through the streets, and even a bustling social scene for aid workers.
“There seems to be quite a party scene. I say ‘seems’ because for grumpy middle-aged men like me they are only learned about second hand,” he writes on his blog on AlertNet, a Web site operated by Reuters. “But Thursday and Friday evenings is definitely when the beautiful people come out to play, and I’m told that up to 300 aid workers are not unusual.”
Despite the occasional social event and and several “reasonable restaurants,” Mr. Wood writes that Kabul is still a dangerous city. “Foreigners generally congregate in ‘safe places’, usually approved by the U.N. security team. We are advised to avoid taxis and buses, not to walk around, to vary our routines,” he writes.
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