Expat life in Kabul coming to an end

The tennis club is deserted, the poolside French restaurant is closed and picnic trips are canceled.

The US-led war in Afghanistan brought a flood of international aid workers, diplomats and security contractors to Kabul, creating a frenetic social scene that is now a distant memory.

A series of Taliban attacks on expat hangouts shattered any illusions that foreign civilians were safe in the city.

As the United States and its allies officially end their 13-year war on Dec 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.

"I am married to an Afghan and I will stay, but we are very worried. We used to be so busy.

"All the aid groups and embassies had a list of places that their staff could go. Now everywhere is off-limits," she said.

All-night parties with plenty of alcohol and a lot of young, single people were always incongruous in the capital of conservative Muslim Afghanistan, but now Kabul's "Kabubble" - as it was known - has truly burst.

Old haunts shut

"Any social life is inside people's houses or compounds," said Francesca Recchia, the author of the essay collection, Little Book of Kabul.

"Of course, many internationals are restricted where they can visit, but some of us try to lead normal lives with Afghan friends.

"There are simply a lot less expats than the crazy days of 2008 or 2010, and those who are here you don't see out and about. There is a lot of fear."

The tipping point for many came last January when a Taliban attack on the popular Taverna du Liban restaurant killed 21 people, including 13 foreigners.

Five minutes' drive away, the steel doors of the Gandamack Lodge have been locked since April.

It was perhaps the best known restaurant and hotel in Kabul, until it was closed down by the government for being a "nest for intelligence agencies".

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 center of the social whirl, but now the umpire chairs have rotted to bits, and the disintegrating net is repaired with patches of ribbon.

(China Daily 12/23/2014 page10)