Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Afghanistan: Two days before the elections

paul (transmitted by societelibre) | 07.10.2004 12:30 | Anti-militarism | Oxford | World

As I sit typing this at 14.20 local time on Thursday 7th October there is a bomb scare 100 metres up the road. A suspected car bomb near the UN guest house.

Ducks in garden
Ducks in garden


Most international staff of IOM have left the country and all the national staff went home at lunch time today. I have Pavarotti blaring and am trying to catch up with work. It is strange. Until I am involved in a bomb blast it is not real. If the suspected car bomb goes off I will probably be blown across the room but in the quiet of the office with opera this seems very unlikely. Security is getting very tight. It is based on general rules that the security officers, mostly ex military men, follow without much logic. It has been very quiet over the last two weeks which has caused a lot of speculation by some that it will blow up soon and by others that it will stay calm.

In the last five months I have started 62 projects including bridges, libraries, water sources, poultry breeding and human rights courses. This took a lot of lying to our donor, USAID. The director of Women's Affairs is fully involved in this project means in reality the greedy cow has no interest at all except what she can get out of it, The department of Rural Development will actively monitor this project means they have no money and are begging us for payment to be involved. The contractor has interacted with the community means he has pissed off local men who are threatening to blow him up. A local commander is interested in the project means he has threatened to pull up the water pipes unless he is paid. Next I am introducing solar lamps to Afghanistan and supplying books and equipment for the setting up of provincial libraries. Change is not going to come fast here and perhaps it is better if it does not. Most sustainable change seems to be evolutionary with the assistance of activists pushing it along and waiting for the rest to catch up.

The political campaigns have been almost non existent. The presidential candidates messages have been mostly vote for me because I am of the same ethnic group as you. There have only been a few rallies and quite a lot of posters. Some candidates admit they have no idea how to campaign and those that do risk their lives.

I am likely to be in lock down (confined to my house) for the next couple of days. After this the speculation will probably be over. My ducks do not seem to care.
As I sit typing this at 14.20 local time on Thursday 7th October there is a bomb scare 100 metres up the road.

paul (transmitted by societelibre)

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. The US plan for the elections — richarddirecttv
  2. Yes Richard — Paul
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech