Afghan Whispers: Citizens, Herat & Economy  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Sohrab Kabuli talks about social class differences in Kabul. He says that the Afghan President says citizens are secure in Kabul. Kabuli says if citizens are people who are running NGOs or national or international institutes with high salaries, holidays in Dubai or Tajikistan and with real comfort at home President is right. But thirty percent of people in Kabul have electricity or water only for 4 hours every two days and the situation is worse for the other 70 percent. He asks if one day country will emerge from the misery or killing will restart. (Link in Persian)
Maykadeh talks about his experience in Herat. The blogger says:
Herat, the only city in Afghanistan with a decent network of paved streets. Where all those streets are lined with trees. Where the shops are clean and well stocked. It’s almost as if you’re in another country. The delegation compound there was amazing too; residence was one of those old style houses with a huge manicured central courtyard. It was almost like a holiday for us! The only highlight of coming back to Mazar was going to the Buzkashi match on Friday.
To a large extent, the city has Ismail Khan known (aka IK) to thank for its prosperity. Unlike most of the commanders ruling in the provinces, he spent money on his domains. A lot of the projects that were started under his rule have now been put on hold unfortunately. He is generally popular with the masses, which is not common for politicians/warlords here. He was seen as somewhat oppressive by the small educated classes but even they admit that he was relatively constructive.
Nikobad talks about saving & investment:
Countries which pay attention to saving & investing can emerge from reconstruction period. In Afghanistan there is no saving culture and no means to invest. If country continues like that all foreign aid will be gone in a few years. Afghanistan imports more than 2 billion dollars than country exports!(Link in Persian)