Westerners worry about security in Kabul

[radwan21]

After Hotel Attack in Afghanistan's Capital, Westerners Worry and Wonder What Comes Next



The deadly Taliban attack on a luxury hotel in Kabul was barely a blip on the radar of Afghans hardened to repeated bombings, but it has rattled the nerves of expatriate Westerners.


A few foreigners have already left; others are questioning whether it's too risky to work in Afghanistan because they could be targeted by militants seeking to undermine the U.S.-backed government.

This week's attack on the Serena Hotel was the first major strike at foreign civilians in the Afghan capital, and it was followed by a Taliban threat against restaurants favored by foreigners.

The impact was immediate for businesses serving expatriates — thought to number between 2,000 and 4,000, almost all working for aid agencies or diplomatic missions.

Kabul restaurants popular with foreigners are now nearly empty at night. Police have reinforced their checkpoints around the city and are conducting more spot searches of cars.

"Almost everyone has adopted changes in their security postures," said a development worker who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with his employer's policy. "This represents a new terrain for the civilian development community."

The Taliban claimed responsibility for Monday night's assault on the Serena, in which three suicide attackers killed eight people, including an American, a Norwegian and a hotel worker from the Philippines.

While the hotel attack shook the foreign community, it was less keenly felt by the people of Kabul, where the 4 million residents have seen three decades of war and terror attacks.

Bombings have become commonplace in Kabul as the Taliban militia has ramped up its insurgency. Most target Afghan, U.S. and NATO troops, but many civilians have been caught up in the blasts. More than 6,500 people died in violence nationwide last year — the deadliest since the Taliban regime's ouster in 2001.

"Afghans do not see it as anything outside the range of violence they hear and see and experience on a daily basis," said Sippi Azarbaijani-Moghaddam, a British development consultant who has worked for over a decade in Afghanistan.

That reaction has underscored the divide between the prosperous foreign community — on whose aid much of Afghanistan still depends — and the local population, who are disillusioned with the progress achieved since the U.S.-led invasion six years ago.

"In a way there is a little bit of resentment on their side ... They say, 'We get this all the time, why are you foreigners so surprised after three or four of you die?'" Azarbaijani-Moghaddam said.

The hotel attack does affect Afghans who frequented the Serena.

"Serena Hotel was the only place where foreigners and Afghan businessmen could use as a secure base to meet, partly because it was so close to the presidential palace," said Mohammad Qasim Ahgar, an Afghan political analyst. He said the attack could deter aid and investment.

"If a delegation of the country can not come and see the situation on the ground for themselves it is very difficult for them to send that aid," Ahgar said.

Clara Hall, a Swedish graphic designer for a communications company in Kabul that works mostly with aid agencies, said the hotel attack had a greater impact back home.

"My mother was calling me and saying that she wanted me to go back home," the 31-year-old Hall said. "I like my job here, but if this happens again, I will have to think about whether to stay here."

The prospect of departing foreigners depresses Mohammad Sardar, a 45-year-old carpet seller on Chicken Street, a bazaar full of carpet and jewelry stores popular with expatriates.

"We collect carpets from faraway areas of Afghanistan for our foreign customers. If there are fewer foreigners, we will have fewer customers," he said.

While the attack on the hotel has not caused an exodus, aid workers contacted by The Associated Press confirmed at least a half dozen foreigners have left Kabul.

Azarbaijani-Moghaddam said the impact of the hotel attack could soon subside.

"If there are no more attacks in next couple of weeks and months people will forget," he said. "The reason they will forget is that there is such a high turnover of expats in the city."