AlertNet Blogs - Graham Wood

Will the S. Korean kidnappings affect aid workers' safety?

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:27:00 GMT

The release of the South Korean hostages in Afghanistan is clearly good news. That two have been killed is a tragedy. However, the question that has constantly been asked by the international community here in Kabul is what they were doing in the first place.

Twenty three South Koreans were kidnapped on July 19. They were travelling on a bus, together, on the main Kandahar to Kabul highway, part of Afghanistan's 'ring road', through the notoriously insecure province of Ghazni.

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An aid worker's life in Kabul

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:23:00 GMT

The questions "what's it like in Kabul; what do you do there?" fill me with dread. So much so that when I am in Europe I pretend to be an insurance salesman living in Barnsley rather than an aid worker based in Kabul.

Well. This is 'my' Kabul. At the moment, high summer, it's hot and dusty days and much cooler nights. My concrete block flat doesn't recognise the cool nights, radiating heat 24 hours a day.

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Crossed wires in postwar Afghanistan

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 09:30:00 GMT

"Do you know where I can smoke a shisha?" I asked the friendly Afghan helping me on a recent trip to Herat. He looked somewhat surprised, slightly shocked even.

A shisha is a water pipe, often containing fruit-flavoured tobacco. His apparent shock I put down to the fact that foreigners don't usually make such requests and it would have come as a surprise to him. Cultural barriers here often seem very strong and perhaps I was crossing one?

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