Western Civilians in Kabul

The thousands of Western civilians who live in Kabul have felt very little of the threat posed by the insurgents.

One of thousands of walled villages in Afghanistan. Salem-News.com photo by Tim King

(PORTLAND, OR) - Interesting observations of the lives of “thousands” of unofficial (mainly US) civilians by the NYTimes correspondent in Kabul.

I assume they are mainly US contractors and “security” company gunmen, business speculators and even shadier types that hope to profit from foreign money injected into an invaded and occupied country.

Although there are also NGO employees engaged in presumably righteous activity, even most of them receive generous pay.-MM “Though the Taliban have mounted numerous attacks in Kabul, they have rarely sought to directly target the thousands of Western civilians who live in the city unattached to any embassy. ...

The thousands of Western civilians who live in Kabul have felt very little of the threat posed by the insurgents. Outside of embassies and other official missions, few expatriates have altered what is a fairly vulnerable existence, even as security in other parts of Afghanistan continues to deteriorate.

Many expatriates still live in houses guarded only by the high walls that usually surround Afghan homes. They frequent a handful of well-established restaurants, many of which serve alcohol, and loud parties at private homes are still weekly occurrences.”

Read it all at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/world/asia/Kabul-Cafe-Bombing.html?hp

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Portland Tribune photo by L.E. Baskow

Order from Powell's

Michael Munk tries to glean important but overlooked items from the world media on the issues of the day and posts them on an irregular schedule. Although items can overlap, he also maintains separate lists for activists in Portland, Oregon and the Northwest, and special lists for: Labor, Latin America, Israel, Torture Taxis, Korea, and the Czech Republic.

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