pakistani342
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- Jan 20, 2013
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Article here, excerpts below
Kabul (AFP) - The tennis club is deserted, the pool-side French restaurant is closed and picnic trips are cancelled.
...
As the United States and its allies officially end their 13-year war on December 31, Afghanistan appears in the grip of worsening violence and the remaining foreign workers have retreated further inside fortified compounds.
"I used to employ 28 people a year ago. Now I employ only eight," an expat restaurant manager told AFP on condition of anonymity over espresso coffee and almond cake.
...
Old expat haunts like French restaurant L'Atmosphere -- once famed for its pool parties -- have closed, and picnic trips to Qargha lake outside Kabul or to the Panjshir valley are now often deemed too risky.
...
The tennis club was one centre of the social whirl, where ambassadors teamed up with NGO workers for mixed doubles in the afternoon.
Now the umpire chairs have rotted to bits, and the disintegrating net is repaired with patches of ribbon.
"No one comes any more," said the forlorn coach, who asked for his name to not be used for fear of attracting attention from the Taliban.
....
"Business is down 40 percent since January and the shop is hanging on by the skin of its teeth," said Kerry Jane Wilson, director of Zardozi, which runs an outlet in Ganjina.
Kabul (AFP) - The tennis club is deserted, the pool-side French restaurant is closed and picnic trips are cancelled.
...
As the United States and its allies officially end their 13-year war on December 31, Afghanistan appears in the grip of worsening violence and the remaining foreign workers have retreated further inside fortified compounds.
"I used to employ 28 people a year ago. Now I employ only eight," an expat restaurant manager told AFP on condition of anonymity over espresso coffee and almond cake.
...
Old expat haunts like French restaurant L'Atmosphere -- once famed for its pool parties -- have closed, and picnic trips to Qargha lake outside Kabul or to the Panjshir valley are now often deemed too risky.
...
The tennis club was one centre of the social whirl, where ambassadors teamed up with NGO workers for mixed doubles in the afternoon.
Now the umpire chairs have rotted to bits, and the disintegrating net is repaired with patches of ribbon.
"No one comes any more," said the forlorn coach, who asked for his name to not be used for fear of attracting attention from the Taliban.
....
"Business is down 40 percent since January and the shop is hanging on by the skin of its teeth," said Kerry Jane Wilson, director of Zardozi, which runs an outlet in Ganjina.
