In Kabul, the biggest fear is crime
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KABUL–Strolling past the carpet and jewellery stores along Chicken St., the fighting and bombings in Kandahar seem like a distant problem.
Indeed, ask a few shopkeepers who work this favoured haunt of visitors what worries them most, the Taliban and insurgents aren't mentioned.
Instead, their talk turns to everyday problems that could just as easily be heard on Yonge St. – crime and worries about the economy...
This is a city of sharp contrasts, where money pouring in from the international community has given birth to some good restaurants and one swank hotel, the Serena.
But it's like a gated community, with foreign dignitaries and diplomats emerging from their enclaves in armoured SUVs, carving through the chaotic traffic with machine-gun-toting guards hanging out the back.
But they rush past scenes of desperate poverty, small storefronts where residents try to eke out a living, past beggars on the street, many missing a limb, a testament to this country's legacy of land mines. Women in burqas holding small children stop visitors and implore, "Please sir, food for baby."
"Economic problems make that (crime) problem. People are poor," Noori tells a visitor.
But while crime and economy are their everyday concerns, shopkeepers also have a view on the insurgency in southern Afghanistan. And President Hamid Karzai's proposed solution – negotiations with the Taliban – is a response endorsed by some on the street.
"It is good. Peace is good. If government want to speak with the Taliban, we prefer that over the fighting," Noori said.
Across the street, at Enfield and Tower Guns House, Abdul Hadi and his son Hamid Fahim watch the pedestrian traffic outside their dusty shop window and express support for negotiating with insurgents.
"If they speak with the Taliban, the country not have any problem," said Fahim, 19.
But he expresses caution about the Taliban's one chief demand – the withdrawal of all foreign troops [emphasis added].
"I will not trust Taliban. If (foreign troops) are not here, everyone will have troubles," Fahim said...
Kabul has not been immune to terror attacks. But it has seen nothing on the scale of suicide bombings or roadside blasts that have terrorized Kandahar. But even here, diplomats and aid organization workers are restricted in their movements, fearing attack or kidnap attempts.
Wander a little farther and a visitor finds dissent in the carpet store operated by Muktar Subir, 19.
"That's not a good idea," he says of Karzai's overture for talks. "I don't like the Taliban."
Subir says he became friends with two Canadian soldiers during the time they were based in Kabul. Foreign troops have helped Afghanistan, he says. He doesn't want to see them gone, especially under pressure from the Taliban [emphasis added].
But ask Ahmed Samir about the talks with the Taliban and he shrugs. Not a care for today, said Samir, a clothing store owner who stands behind his counter framed by the bright colours of shirts for women and children.
"Business is not good," he tells a visitor.
On this day, he's more interested in making a sale than talking about insurgents.
