I'm definitely swimming against the tide of public perception but my experiences in Afghanistan keep reinforcing that this is an amazing country and that there is still a hope that refuses to die.
Yesterday I met Rashid Ghyasi he is a young entrepreneur and the co-owner of the Wakhan Cafe in Kabul. One of the many tucked away cafes and restaurants that provide good food, great service and a chance to check your emails. There is a growing number of young, well educated, ambitious and internet savy entrepreneurs throughout Afghanistan driving an economy that desperately deserves more international support.
I also met some of the ex-patriates who have been working for the NGO International Assistance Mission who has been operating in Afghanistan almost continuously since 1966. The workers have lived in amongst the Afghan people even during the Soviet and Taliban eras and tell amazing stories of their hospitality and generosity.
Today I met Yousaf Zaland. In 2003 he started with an $800 contract to do some painting. Seven years later he is the President of the Zurmat Group of companies that provides construction, logistics, business consulting and other services throughout Afghanistan.
I've been getting around town using the excellent Afghan Logistics and Tours mini cab service. Today I was unable to get back to the car as the roads were closed for President Karzai's motorcade. I found myself befriended by Wafiq, the sales and marketing director for Toyota in Afghanistan and we ducked into a air conditioned shopping centre to get out of the heat.
I have to say I was nervous about returning to Kabul because I, along with everyone else, gets bombarded with the media and political messages that Afghanistan has gone to hell and there's nothing we can do about it. However having been back just a few days has reconfirmed to me that there is a whole other side to Afghanistan that is never reported and is actually the route to success.
I had two depressing experiences since I've been back. The first was a conversation with an Afghan consultant working for a Washington based firm. He told me about his work in Bamiyan, which he claims has gone six years without a single shot fired. The local people there were asking him if they should start blowing things up so they could get some of the investment that Helmand is receiving.
The second was with a diplomat from one of the international coalition countries who basically confirmed that we weren't going to get any funding because we weren't in Helmand and effectively all the money is going to be spent on insurgents.
My thinking about Afghanistan is consolidating around a number of short phrases, soundbites if you like:
- No jobs. No peace.
- "It's the economy stupid."
- Buy Afghan goods.
- Focus on winning the peace not the war.
- "What did the Romans [NATO] ever do for us?"
