- KABUL -- Westerners buy caviar
and cigars from the supermarket while Afghans struggle to buy bread.
-
- Western women suntan in Chanel swimsuits while their
Afghan counterparts are too afraid to take off the burqa, the all-enveloping
head-to-toe veil.
-
- Alcohol is banned under the country's new constitution,
but parties where swimming pools overflow with beer cans and wine bottles
are in full swing.
-
- In the years before the Taliban, Kabul was known for
its cosmopolitan nightlife. Now, a heady mix of too much money and a bit
of boredom has created a sin city where thousands of foreign aid workers,
security contractors and consultants - and even a few liberal-minded Afghans
- are willing to pay any price for champagne, gourmet foods and even ecstasy
pills as a way to release the tensions of living in a conflict zone.
-
- But their good times may be coming to an end.
-
- Mullahs and conservative politicians across Kabul are
denouncing the widespread Western fondness for alcohol and loose living
and trying to make it an election issue for President Hamid Karzai in the
campaign for the Oct. 9 vote.
-
- One presidential candidate, Latif Pedram (who was a poet
in France before returning from exile) recently told a rally that Mr. Karzai
is turning a blind eye to the partying and prostitution, and called for
his resignation.
-
- Hundreds of prostitutes brought from China are believed
to be plying their trade at Chinese restaurants that double as brothels
in the affluent neighbourhoods of Wazir Akbar Khan and Shahr-e-Now.
-
- At one popular venue, diners are escorted to the main
eating area while, behind the bar, a curtain barely hides Afghan men sitting
with Chinese women wearing tight dresses slit to the thigh - scandalous
in a country where women must wear shapeless garments.
-
- Such activities are offensive to a Muslim culture, especially
one not used to the freedom of European societies, said the imam of the
Pul-e-Kishti central mosque, Obaidullah Rahman, who preaches on Fridays
against decadence.
-
- "We have a constitution made up by Afghans from
all sections of society," he said. "People will rise and grab
Karzai's neck and say that alcohol and prostitution is against the constitution.
The people will rise against him."
-
- Kabul's expatriate community has created a niche market
for at least a dozen bars, restaurants and clubs catering to foreigners.
It is not unusual to meet people who earn $4,000 a month, tax free. Some
foreigners, such as private security contractors, draw as much as $20,000
a month, and they are happy to pay $25 for the pitcher of margaritas served
at one steak house.
-
- Dominic Medley, co-author of Kabul: The Bradt Mini Guide,
said there is little to do after a day's work in an aid organization, or
even in the military, but relax and party.
-
- "Kabul parties are like student union parties, a
mix of nationalities and music tastes, and they are done purely to burn
off steam because there is nothing else to do," he said, noting that
some evenings there are three parties a night for foreigners.
-
- "But the Afghans are partying as well," he
added. "I've been to wedding parties for returning Afghans with mixed
[sexes] and alcohol. Maybe alcohol is more accessible than it used to be
because of the foreign influence."
-
- The high living is reminiscent of the liberal days of
Kabul, when the old aristocracy and wealthy merchants had built-in bars
in their living rooms and backyard pools.
-
- Those Afghans fled abroad 20 years ago, but their homes
are rented to foreign organizations who make full use of the amenities.
-
- Fazal Ahmad Mahnawi, deputy chief of the supreme court,
is concerned that the lifestyle of Westerners is affecting young Afghans,
many of whom have worked with aid groups.
-
- "It has a negative impact on our youth," he
said. "If you are in a place and everyone is drinking and you are
in a country where everyone else is deprived, you will use alcohol to the
extreme. It is causing fights, thefts, car accidents and destroying relations
in families."
-
- He added: "This kind of freedom in developed countries
is not something the people of our country can digest easily."
-
- President Karzai, himself a devout Muslim, recently approved
a resolution from religious leaders, emphasizing the alcohol ban.
-
- But the message appears to be lost on the Westerners
chauffeured to restaurants and bars in air-conditioned vehicles. A recent
issue of an expatriate magazine featured an advertisement for a German
restaurant in the capital where "after an exciting day in Kabul"
one could relax in a "traditional German beer garden."
-
- The magazine came out the same week that the British
and American embassies issued a warning that terrorists were in the final
stages of planning a possible attack on a place frequented by foreigners.
But fears of a terrorist attack are simply a part of life in Kabul, and
that hasn't slowed the number of parties, one regular on the scene said.
-
- "As long as there aren't any unnecessary risks,
why not go? I need to unwind," said a woman public-health worker who
asked not to be identified.
-
- Mr. Medley argues that there are far more important election
issues anyway.
-
- "It is very easy negative campaigning," he
said of the critics of decadence. "There are far more important issues,
like security and jobs. What warlord is going to go on about disarmament?"
he added, referring to a struggling $165-million program to disarm private
militias.
-
- "None of the major parties looking for power will
mention that because it is not in their interest."
-
- © Copyright 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
- http://globeandmail.com/servlet/story/
- RTGAM.20040716.wxafghan0716/BNStory/Front/
|
