| Sex and liquor in Afghanistan Hindustan Times
02/29/2004
By Yashwant Raj
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The buzz in the streets here is about new cellphones, internet speed, Thai food. And where are the girls? Afghans are in a hurry to make up for lost time. When the first bar opened here over a year ago, some people reacted with predictable outrage. The club called in some guns for hire and stayed in business. The Great Wall of China, a Chinese restaurant in a tony neighbourhood of Kabul, also serves alcohol now; and there are more. Most Afghans may not drink but they don't stone or whip those who do. Not any more. Adultery is still not acceptable, but sex never had it so good. An Indian who was in Kabul recently looking for business opportunities says he was shocked by the volume of sale of viagra, and its cheaper herbal cousins shipped from India in tonnes. "Most drugstores told me sex-enhancement medicines or concoctions are the hottest drug here." Whatever happened to the virile Afghan man? Does he need help? Afghans are still a little cagey about discussing sex, not at least with some one using an interpreter. But relationships? Now that's something that gets them yakking. Qudratullah Qais, an English teacher, says, "I have had a string of girlfriends." Is that a boast? He picks up his phone (a mobile — almost everyone has one now), scrolls down his phone book to a number and dials. “Speak to a friend,” he hisses into the phone. Qudrat met her at the institute where he teaches; she is a student there. In fact, he insists, she took the first step. A remarkable thing in male-dominated Afghanistan. But the country — at least its capital — is changing remarkably fast. Whoever, for instance, had heard of traffic jams in Kabul? The city is one big traffic snarl, cars packing the streets bumper to bumper. Hashimi bought a second-hand car recently to use it as a cab. His brother bought a new one a few weeks later — a Corolla. Khybar, an aid agency worker, has two mobiles: one he holds in his hand, and the other is strategically strapped to his belt for the world to see. Why two? “Oh well, one is Afghan Wireless and the other Roshan (Afghanistan has only two cellphone companies),” he says. For $700 a month that he is paid, he has to be on call every moment. He doesn't mind that; $ 700 is good money in Afghanistan. Before he landed this job, Khybar was studying medicine at Kabul University. Does he want to go back? “Life is good now, though a bit tough.” Sabeer Latifi has been working without a break for three years now. He owned two small guest houses in 2001. Today, he runs two of Kabul's best hotels. The family doesn’t get to see him much, but he plans to make up to them with a trip to India. For himself, he has fixed up a series of business meetings. That's the new Afghan's new Afghanistan: chasing money, girls and dreams.
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