Where to begin…I am packed, checked out, weapon is clean, bullets turned in, waiting on a flight to Kuwait to go through Warrior Transition Training. One adventure gives way to another. A few days ago I was in Kabul. I hiked the ancient city wall, ate some very good food, met with contractors, saw the shops on Chicken Road and basically had a fantastic time. Life here has moved so fast I have a difficult time knowing where to start.
I began my last trip to Kabul to introduce my relief to our Strategic Reserves, fuel storage facilities. I’ve seen them so I set my relief on his way and proceeded to go out to lunch with one of our contractors. We ate at Rumi, a traditional Afghan restaurant. The food was amazing. I have loved the food here. Like all the other restaurants here in Kabul the outside is unassuming, just a wall with a tall steel gate. It could be a home or a junk yard. Once you clear the security the place is quite lovely. It has the obligatory garden dining as well as very nice indoor areas decorated with paintings of Whirling Dervishes.
Later that day, when the others had returned form their site visits we went out to eat at the same restaurant for dinner. We had the same food again and I enjoyed it just as much. After dinner we went to a Lebanese place for beer and hookahs and eventually ended up at a French Restaurant for drinks. All of these places have outdoor dining in beautiful gardens. It’s a side of Kabul very few in the military know about, let alone visit.
On Sunday I left the others and hooked up with a different contractor, an Afghan American I had ridden up to Hairaton with several months ago. He has been promising me a hike along the old Kabul City Wall for months. With four days left we finally made it. The wall is something like 1,100 years old. The base is made of stones with the rampart constructed of mud brick and mortar. It is amazing to look at the surviving sections of bud brick, still intact after 1,100 years of rain and snow! Some sections are still plastered, the bricks and plaster feeling like stone. This impressive civic works project follows the ridge line over a mountain that divides moderns Kabul. I felt lucky to have had this opportunity. Few foreigners have been able to take this walk over the past 30 years due to the wars.
Lunch on Sunday was at a small French café near Chicken Road. The food was wonderful, fresh bread and homemade jam, the first decent coffee I’ve had in Afghanistan (I’ve been drinking tea when off Bagram). The compound contains an art gallery and as you enter the garden various carpets and kilims hang from the wall. Chicken Road used to be the hippie area of Kabul in the 60’s and 70’s. Now it is the antique area. I wish I’d have found out about it earlier. If I make it back here as a tourist in a few years it will be a necessary stop.
It’s been wonderful seeing Kabul in this manner. I visited a fantastic book shop with many English tit
les and even walked through a shopping mall. At the mall I had to check my weapon at the door. It was a bit disconcerting to be sure. Drop the mag, hand it over, receive a claim check. When I left I handed over my ticket and received my M9, then had to sign a receipt ledger. The mall was very modern. It has several floors of shops and the upper floors contain a hotel. If dropped off inside this place you would never guess you were in the heart of Kabul, war torn Kabul. This place is not at all what people are seeing on the news. It’s a shame. If these views were more prevalent in the West people might have more faith in the potential of Afghanistan.
I began my last trip to Kabul to introduce my relief to our Strategic Reserves, fuel storage facilities. I’ve seen them so I set my relief on his way and proceeded to go out to lunch with one of our contractors. We ate at Rumi, a traditional Afghan restaurant. The food was amazing. I have loved the food here. Like all the other restaurants here in Kabul the outside is unassuming, just a wall with a tall steel gate. It could be a home or a junk yard. Once you clear the security the place is quite lovely. It has the obligatory garden dining as well as very nice indoor areas decorated with paintings of Whirling Dervishes.
Later that day, when the others had returned form their site visits we went out to eat at the same restaurant for dinner. We had the same food again and I enjoyed it just as much. After dinner we went to a Lebanese place for beer and hookahs and eventually ended up at a French Restaurant for drinks. All of these places have outdoor dining in beautiful gardens. It’s a side of Kabul very few in the military know about, let alone visit.
On Sunday I left the others and hooked up with a different contractor, an Afghan American I had ridden up to Hairaton with several months ago. He has been promising me a hike along the old Kabul City Wall for months. With four days left we finally made it. The wall is something like 1,100 years old. The base is made of stones with the rampart constructed of mud brick and mortar. It is amazing to look at the surviving sections of bud brick, still intact after 1,100 years of rain and snow! Some sections are still plastered, the bricks and plaster feeling like stone. This impressive civic works project follows the ridge line over a mountain that divides moderns Kabul. I felt lucky to have had this opportunity. Few foreigners have been able to take this walk over the past 30 years due to the wars.
Lunch on Sunday was at a small French café near Chicken Road. The food was wonderful, fresh bread and homemade jam, the first decent coffee I’ve had in Afghanistan (I’ve been drinking tea when off Bagram). The compound contains an art gallery and as you enter the garden various carpets and kilims hang from the wall. Chicken Road used to be the hippie area of Kabul in the 60’s and 70’s. Now it is the antique area. I wish I’d have found out about it earlier. If I make it back here as a tourist in a few years it will be a necessary stop.
It’s been wonderful seeing Kabul in this manner. I visited a fantastic book shop with many English tit
les and even walked through a shopping mall. At the mall I had to check my weapon at the door. It was a bit disconcerting to be sure. Drop the mag, hand it over, receive a claim check. When I left I handed over my ticket and received my M9, then had to sign a receipt ledger. The mall was very modern. It has several floors of shops and the upper floors contain a hotel. If dropped off inside this place you would never guess you were in the heart of Kabul, war torn Kabul. This place is not at all what people are seeing on the news. It’s a shame. If these views were more prevalent in the West people might have more faith in the potential of Afghanistan. 
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