Surely not updating my blog! Apologies to those who keep on looking it up for updates... I haven't been very good in doing so lately. Work has been cracy, as it tends to be here in Afghanistan, with few new projects starting up, some new proposals to write, field trips to Hirat, Gardez (didn't have time to put pictures from that trip on the web yet, but will do so as soon as I get more time) and Jalalabad. Next week I am back to Hirat, thereafter again Jalalabad and then - thanks god - finally again out of the country for a conference in Oxford, few days at the end of July. I feel that I am turning a bit into a jetsetter (humanitarian jetsetter?), but whats good about it all is that my work, though way too much according to my personal preference, is fun, interesting and gives me new things to learn every day.Just for the case work doesn't keep me busy enough, recent developments in Afghanistan, particularly in terms of security ensure that I am not getting bored. Bad news dripple in on a daily basis, with the spectacular prison break in Kandahar (you must have heard of that) just one of the highlights. Afghanistan is becoming a more and more hostile environment for NGOS to work, and for millions of Afghans to live. Every month it seems more red - no go - dots fill the map of Afghanistan. Security has been tense in Kabul as well, with repeated threat warnings against so called "expat" locations.
Besides worrying worsing security, there are clear signs that this years lack of rain, combined with global food shortage and high food prices will have major impacts on Afghanistan.
I read a quote in an article yesterday, which I somehow agree too, even though it is depressing: "Afghanistan isn't a failed state, because it has never been a successful one". I sometimes stop and wonder how much we can really achieve in a country as fragile as afghanistan
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