Embassy visit

With two days off this week, there’s been lots of time at the house. We put together the next exam, I napped a bit, watched Revenge of the Sith and later flipped between Total Recall and In Good Company. It’s been a bit boring. Maybe I’ve said it before, but I’m torn between wanting to see as much as possible—take advantage of my time here—and keeping a low profile to stay out of harm’s way. I haven’t heard of anything happening here at all since I’ve been here, so my sense of security is growing. But there is lots of press about anticipated violence in the springtime once the Taliban thaw out. So I think I’m feeling pretty comfortable about making this a one-shot deal. Hopefully the Fed thing is going to work out back in NYC.

I’d been in touch with the Consular person at the Embassy from when I registered with them and she invited Mary and I to the embassy compound for a happy hour on Thursday night (last night). We decided to make a night of it and go out to dinner beforehand. Indian food (my favorite) was suggested so we went to a place called Darbar and it was excellent (saag paneer, lamb rogan josh, and a totally kick ass chicken tikka masala). But we were seated near the door, so it was often cold. While we were eating, Hila (Haroun’s cousin) came in. Hila is also part of a project that is run out of the Kabul University Library, so we see her there occasionally. In fact, on the date of our last exam we were scheduled to take the exam in the space her program occupies. It got a little hairy for a few minutes before we were sent downstairs. Anyway, she was set to meet some people for dinner completely independently from us and joined us to wait for them.

When they arrived, I got up to meet them and one said to me, “Ah, yes, from Al Jazeera!” And I didn’t know what to say, but his friend was whispering in his ear “No, that’s not him.” But apparently there is some correspondent for Al Jazeera that I look like. There was room for everyone, so they sat down with us. Turns out this Swiss fellow who mistook me for someone else works for the World Food Program here and it was interesting to hear what he had to say about the UN system. That basically it is hamstrung by the staff union, so policy people try to implement reforms, but they’re quashed by the staff union. “I worked for the Red Cross before, and I thought that was a lot of bureaucracy,” said the Swiss, “but…” And this is coming not from some US-CEO-market-based-reforms-advocate, but from a Swiss! Anyway, they were nice people and it was good to meet them, though I didn’t catch what the other two fellows were doing there in Kabul. Hila helped us out and talked with Wais on my cell phone to explain to him to pick us up and that we were going to the US embassy.

We had to stop well short of the embassy entrance—the road is extremely wide and there are checkpoints to go through. Well Wais stopped short of the check points and dropped us off to walk to the embassy compound. We walked on the sidewalk off to the side and didn’t have anyone ask us for identification or anything. I think if you look western you get by not having to show ID. I later learned we passed a NATO building or barracks on the way there—it was after dark, so we weren’t able to see much. So we’re walking along on the right hand side and then the embassy compound emerged on our left—20-or-30-foot walls with razor wire at the top. We followed along this wall, all the while getting guidance via cell phone from Jessica, the consular person, from inside. She eventually emerged from around a corner where the entrance was. We had to exchange our passports for necklace ID’s and do a metal detector before going inside. I thought all embassy security was done by Marines, but the security we passed through were gurkhas and then private security (Global). Jessica explained the Marines are responsible for guarding the actual embassy building itself—this was just the compound entrance.

I remembered an experience at the embassy in Venezuela when someone pulled out a camera and one of our fellow students virtually screamed, “Nooooooo!” Mary reminded me about this “no photos” policy so I didn’t even bother bringing my camera—sorry folks! Anyway, we walked along a gravel road on the inside of the wall we’d just followed to get to the entrance until it led to an opening on the right. You could hear popular American music coming from somewhere and soon we saw the open area with a large fire pit in the center and a bar on the far side. I wasn’t prepared for an outdoor affair! I’d worn my shoes, not my boots, and I didn’t put on the extra layer over my sport jacket. So we couldn’t stray too far from the fire. There were maybe 20 to 30 people there while we were there—a mix of state dept and military, it seemed to me. Jessica was good about introducing us around a bit. I met a guy in the economic cone who had 16 years as a Foreign Service officer. His wife and kids stay in the DC area while he’s stationed in Kabul for a year. I met a gal with Treasury whose work sounded really interesting—I’ve tried to get my resume to their Office of International Affairs before—she mentioned issues with funding in HR and asked that I send my resume to her. I met a military guy who is working in information dissemination—getting stories out to the Afghani press. Finally, I met a fellow who works in logistics on contracts with USAID who immediately reminded me of my friend Robby from home who has just finished his Peace Corps assignment (and even extended a year, if I’m not mistaken) in Zambia. This guy was talking about what a great career “fire” is in the Bureau of Land Management or Dept of Agriculture—sounded right up Robby’s alley, so I’m trying to get them in touch.

Near the end of the night, I walked over to say goodbye to Jessica and she introduced me to the fellow she was talking to—the US ambassador to Afghanistan! He’s done some impressive work, but sounds like is being asked to move on now. He seemed every bit the part with a long coat on, an old fashioned hat, and a pipe (which he was actually smoking).

Our visit to the embassy kind of highlighted how detached the people “inside the wire” are from the local populace. I feel like I don’t get out—State dept staff aren’t allowed to leave the compound except for official business. (So we’ll be given an explanation on how we can host Afghan nationals for travel to the US this Sunday over dinner. At Shandiz, the Iranian place, so I’ll try to get photos this time.) The music being played was likely the same as what’s popular in the states right now, the alcohol selection…I don’t know, when you create a piece of your country in the host country, it seems some important element of understanding the local environment suffers. But, then again, maybe that’s not the mission of diplomacy—especially US diplomacy!