a good decision

Hello again. Not much has happened recently, so not much to report on.

Today is a national holiday in Afghanistan as it is "Islamic Revolution" day. A day that celebrates the Communists fall in Kabul to the advancing Mujahadeen.
There was to be a large military parade in the centre of Kabul today to celebrate this. I thought it would be an interesting event to witness and wanted to go.
However, speaking to Kabulis we can find no-one interested in escorting us. Many are not interested, many are rather ambivelant to the actual value of celebrating a day that led to the ruinous civil war and the rise of the Taleban and many simply think it is a prime Taleban target and will stay as far away as possible.
This morning we mulled this over and decided the security issues were too risky. It could be a Taleban attack, it could be the crowd getting excited about the defeat of the Russians and deciding any European would be a good target - whatever, we went to the Kabul Coffee House for a cup of coffee instead.
As we sit around chatting a phone rings, it is one of our senior Afghans asking if we are at the parade as it has been a Taleban target. At the next table another phone rings and then another. Soon the whole place is buzzing with rumour.
We decide it would be a good idea to get straight back to the house and remain there for the rest of the day. As it turns out, we walk back through the streets of Kabul, all this area is quiet and just another day. When we get back we hungrily work our way through BBC, Al-Jazeera and CNN news. No-one has too many details but it appears 1 dead and 11 wounded is the tally. In terms of injuries and death, not bad. In terms of credibility the Government of President Karzai has been dealt another very deadly blow. The Taleban are able to attack him in his stronghold in Kabul surrounded by his own military and police.
The foreign forces have been told they have to leave Kabul by August this year, and the Afghan Army and Police force will take over the security of the capital. They have a lot to learn in a few, short months.
Finally, your Kabul correspondent is leaving Kabul for the last time on Thursday to fly to India for a well earned break and then home. This may be the last missive for now, so thanks for reading, thanks for the comments, they are important to me. Thanks for being there. I hope I have entertained and educated a little and you feel you know this far off place, that appears in all the bad news sections, just a little better than you did. It has many bad points, many good points, the attitudes I will never really understand (or accept), but we all deserve a good chance in life and so many here are dealt a pretty poor hand.
Landmines are bad, make no mistake about that. They silently sit under the ground waiting for anyone, no distinction between age, race, creed. Then they kill or maim. They are now banned in many countries and Inshallah countries like Afghanistan can hope that one day they will be rid of this menace. A day when adults and children will be able to walk on the very earth beneath their feet, safe in the knowledge they will not be another victim.