The American Embassy in Kabul is more like walking into the twilight zone than anywhere I have ever been… and I’ve been to some pretty strange places. The streets of Kabul are dirty and chaotic. Once you gain access to the barricaded street the Embassy sits on there is the heavily controlled access point. Although I am in the military, because I was in civilian clothes, I wasn’t allowed to carry my Beretta into the Embassy. We found this out after setting off the metal detector and annoying the civilian guards. It seemed odd from the get go seeing civilians controlling access rather than Marines. So, once we make it through the comedy section at the gate we walk out into a science fiction movie set. The Embassy building is mustard colored. Elsewhere on the grounds are housing for staff, a swimming pool, tennis courts, lots of lawn (a rarity in Afghanistan), and flower beds full pf Pansies… how very appropriate for State Dept personnel. Everything is scrupulously clean and manicured. It’s a veritable Stepford community!
It would be no less dramatic to step through the looking glass. I understand the Embassy is meant to be a small slice of Americana but it comes across more as a caricature of Americana. The movie Demolition Man springs to mind.
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