News of Afghanistan - The Return (Edition 57)

OK, the month off was lovely, but you are back to being stuck with me. Raise your cup of Alokozay Tea to the World's Greatest Military Contractor as he recovers from a spot o' medical difficulty and read on:

L'Atmosphere vs the Afghan Tax Authorities - when French food and Afghan bureaucracy collide!

Awful news. Double Plus Ungood... she was a great person, a great journalist, and an advocate for a better Afghanistan.

Speaking of women - and speaking of volleyball, as the Inner Prop did in last week's installment. Mull over the chances of this happening under the Taliban. See also.

Bagpiper of Bagram

Photo by Sgt. Jim Wilt June 05, 2007 Sgt. John M. Savery plays a Great Highland Bagpipe in the parking lot of the joint operations center on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, May 21. He said this is a good way to relax.

Photo: Akmal Dawi/IRIN
Parents waiting in a mosque, used as a vaccination centre, to immunise their children against measles in Kabul

The above photo (and this article) stand out as a significant contrast with Pakistan and Nigeria which have seen fundamentalist imams preaching that vaccines were part of a Western/infidel/Zionist plot.

I hope the answer to this request is "yes".

A possible change of heart by the French?

Gee, I wish the editorial cartoonists at e-ariana.com would cut loose a little. Heh.

Plus Ungood.

Now this is how you resolve disputes - courts, parliaments and the press. Wolesi Jirga Speaker Younus Qanuni is all the loyal opposition that Karzai can handle. Good.

Another reminder of who the enemy is, and what they are about.