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Security
Winter also meant that security was better. Few people want to abduct or attack you at 14o below, or in snow or deep slush. For the most part the Afghans were very friendly and welcoming, but there are criminal elements as well as supporters of the Taliban and other anti-government groups. We therefore had to be alert and could not walk alone. We had to report in on VHF radios, and avoid certain areas that might still contain mines, etc. Life was therefore a little restricted, but has become much more so with the warm weather since I left. You may have read of the bomb in a Kabul internet café and the female Italian relief worker who was abducted in May but released after 25 days. However, Afghanistan is not Iraq and public opinion and the statements from the mullahs in the mosques are against kidnapping as un-Islamic, and locals, including women, have offered to replace foreign hostages.
Religion
Afghanistan is a strongly Muslim country. Although we as expatriates were comparatively free to worship together, it would not have been advisable for Afghan Christians, of which there are some, to join us. Many women still wear the burka, and the rest all wear a headscarf, even in their own back gardens. None of our female expatriate staff would go out of the office without one. Similarly, as a man, it was not normally acceptable for me to shake hands with a woman, even in our office. However, as a very religious society, there is a real interest in others' beliefs. In many ways they can understand a Christian development agency more easily than a secular one. Islam also recognises 4 holy books, firstly the Koran, but also the Torah (the books of Moses), the Psalms and the Gospel of Jesus, although few have ever seen or read the last 3 of these.
Conclusion
So all in all Afghanistan was a fascinating place to be, and despite the difficulties I was sad to leave. What next? Well it looks as though we may go to Nepal to work for the International Nepal Fellowship, - but that will be another story.
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