Their hospitality was indescribable and I must agree with them that it does seem their cook could well be the best Pizza-chef in Kabul. We all spoke at length about Afghanistan, its future, its hopes and regrets and also, of its past. I have heard this from several people now, of how in the 60's, Kabul was the favorite holiday destination for people around the region, especially Pakistanis. Those were the days when women wore mini-skirts, when people sang and danced, when cinema halls were packed and the moderate Afghanistan was thriving.
Then came the Soviets, the Mujahideen and the last blow- the Taliban. Afghanistan, and cosmopolitan Kabul, went back a century and a half, and the time machine's jouey back to the present, seems a much slower one. Nooria and Assad spoke proudly of the Pashtun traditions, and Nooria, in a simple track suit, with her short, curly hair nodding emphatically to stress her point, told me that she was a Pashtun and that things like the infamous burqa, "is NOT our Afghan tradition!"
Assad was fiercely critical of the Karzai govement and its failed promises, which the world is slowly starting to acknowledge as well.
Similarly, at the Indian Ambassador's house the other night, I met Suleiman, who at 20-something, is the Vice-President of the Investment Support Agency. He studied in England, is married and has retued to put his education and experience to good use. One of the most delightful meetings I have had so far, was Farhad and my visit to Khalid Pashtoon, an MP from Kandahar, the most notorious and violent of the Afghan provinces, where just today, there was another suicide attack.
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