My first car incident with UN vehicle at KBL-Jal Road

I was driving to learn the pros & cons of driving while i crashed my Suzuki Saraha with a high speed to UN vehicle, with out having diving licence. I wrote the following application to claim for my expenses on behalf of my brother while changing the driver as my younger brother had his driving licence.

Vehicle Incident Report
Name: Eimal
Address: Hootkheil, District 9, Kabul, Afghanistan.
Tel: 0772038388 or 0797273972

To: UNAMA Compound
Kabul-Jalalabad Road, Kabul, Afghanistan.


To Whom It May Concern:

I am applying to claim my expenses on my car as a result of the UNAMA‘s vehicle crash on December 22, 2009 at 03:20-25PM on Kabul-Jalalabad Road.

Background of the Incident:

I was driving on my right side road, coming from East. While a UNAMA vehicle coming on Kabul-Jalalabad Road from West, Kabul city towards UNAMA compound trying to make a U-turn left to get to other road on UNAMA side without considering our car going on the road and the other car already parked there.

Seeing UN driver’s haste, I slowed down to let the UN vehicle move but the UN driver stopped for seconds and immediately moved ahead on the road causing cars’ crash. Guards and other visitors who had watched the incident told the UN driver verbally that he could have waited for a second so, that the incident would not have happened.

After the incident, UN investigation team arrived and checked the incident, asking me to take the car out of the place so that the road will not be blocked for traffic. The team told me to bring receipts along the application for the damages to the UNAMA office for further process. So, I have attached the receipts which include parts damages like Hood, Grilles, Header/Nose panel, head light and wages of the mechanics for repairs & color. The total cost is 34,300AFS equals $705 USD. In addition, the details can be found in the receipts.

I hope the UNAMA‘s then mission in charge of the study would have prepared a biased incident report.


Sincerely,


Eimal

Afghan ID card/Tazkira

Due to the suicide assault on one of the parliamentarians home, closed to our offices that caused windows’ glasses smashed, file cabinets and wooden doors broken into parts. Everywhere was messed up with files, torn curtains and broken glasses, whereas some glasses were hanging on windows too.

On this sudden occasion the Executive Management of the office announced five days holidays which later on exceed to seven days. It was to stay out side the office till it is cleaned and repaired. To get advantage of these holidays, I got my degree registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and got Afghan Identification Card/Tazkira.

Getting an ID requires a lot of time and the process is not an easy job to follow. When I decided to get my ID, I needed to fill out form issues by the local administration authority and submitted to the Kabul Governor office for getting his assistant’s signature to proceed with the first stage. It took me an hour to get the Governor Assistant signature and upon return of the form from the Governor assistant I asked guidance for the next action. I was instructed to sign by two different sections within the Governor office, followed by, sending me to local representative leader/Malik’s signature where he would justify me as a residence of the district 9, Kabul City and then would require getting concurrence on the form from the Ministry of municipality. I went twice to the municipality of district 9 after the Malik’s harmony. Firstly, the officer within the municipality told me that he should write Malik to justify me as residence of the district and additionally, the municipality officer writing should be at the top while Malik had already written about me on the top at the back side of the form and this wasn’t looking good to the officer. He was thinking that writing at the top of the page shows superiority or was finding ways to get something. The officer was speaking in half tang and I was trying to convince him that either ways are fine as the purpose is the same “to get yours and Malik’s acceptance on the form”. After talking a lot another roommate at the same office told me that he wants you to pay him which I didn’t. So, I went back to Malik and told him that the municipality Officer wants you to write under his text on the form. During my presence with the Officer in municipality, the administrator officer with who I was standing, insisted other officers that it is not good to ask about the money in front of all when one of the officers told others (while looking to my residency in the form) that this guy’s residency shows that they don’t pass through what we are asking him. They were all friends apart from me and were laughing when they all heard this, looking to me as they knew that I won’t pay.

Subsequently, I got the officer’s signature the following day as I was late that day. I went back to the Provincial Governor office to get the form completed. The officers there were more intelligent and were pointing flaws which really were not that I was laughing with myself and sometimes I was getting surprise that whom am I caught by. There I knew that with out paying them bribe, neither I nor the Governor could solve this problem. They were finding slip up in the text and I was finding solutions but a stag came where I couldn’t find any solution and even there wasn’t any solution for the questions. Therefore, I decided to pay them some additional money and get ride off the process. I paid only 350AFs including the registration fee and got my ID. I thanked the officer as I was already too late and got outside the office looking to my ID.

A Road Trip to Afghan Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan

Last Thursday, I woke up at 4 o’clock, took shower, changed cloth, prayed and went out from home to get a taxi till the bus station or Puli Mahmood Khan. It’s a distance of 3-4 kilometer to get there. When I got out, it was too dark and small drops of snow was falling down. I stood on the road known as Kabul-Jalalabad Road to catch a Taxi (All passengers going Jalalabad or coming to Kabul passes through this road). It was too early and I could hardly see two or three vehicles after five or six minutes on the road but none of them wanted to stop by. The road was wet and slippery and I was standing aside, to protect my clothes from the mud while vehicles passing through the road but when I spent sometime and saw that none of the driver is stopping I went to the middle of the road, left some space that a vehicle can pass and started walking towards Puli Mohmood Khan. Sometimes I was waving my hand, looking to the vehicle driver when he was getting closed to me or moving through wards the vehicles, thinking that someone may feel pity watching the snow or will pretend that I am in hurry. While walking on the road, I heard Azan and realized that I have prayed to early, didn’t think of the time but was just in hurry to reach my destination on time. Suddenly, a taxi slowly passed me and the driver asked me if I am going to bazaar. Without discussion, I sat and reached Puli Mahmood Khan within 10 minutes. In normal days you can see many corollas, standing there and the drivers could catch anybody walking on the road if he is going to Jalalabad or Torkham but that morning I counted that there were only seven and the drivers were inside the vehicles. One of the corollas already had passengers while only one person was left in the front seat. I sat in that corolla (as the weather conditions were not good and I thought that there won’t be more travelers) and started the journey to Torkham Pakistan boarder. I was sitting in front with the driver while a boy and a lady with her two sons were at the back. She was here, to see her father and mother whereas she was living with her husband in Peshawar City, Pakistan and the young boy, age 26-28 who was taking her back, was her nephew.On the way, I had my own discussions with the driver while the children were talking with her mother and sometimes to their uncle. We traveled slowly for one and half hour and reached Sarobai as the vehicles lights we too dim and the driver was looking new too. Till Torkham I was listening to the radio news in different channels, having naps and sometimes talking with the driver.
After traveling for four and half hours we reached the Pakistan boarder and was a bit unhappy as I was thinking that I am late. Paid the driver and proceed to the gate. While walking on the road (the police officers do not let vehicles from that portion to the gate, people walk and enter Pakistan) I saw bunch of people standing in the middle and at the side of the road but when I got closed, I saw that the Afghan police offices do not allow people with out passport or ID cards (given by Pakistan Government or UNHCR). I entered into the rush and started struggling to get out from there but saw that there were only two places where people could pass while others were covered with razor wires and these were the people who were with out the IDs, neither had passport nor Pakistan IDs. Among the people there were females, children and elders. Additionally, I saw that lady and the boy who accompanied me in the vehicle and were there. I tried to get out from there but the police officer pushed me back and it was repeated for the second time while I was trying to go from that section. I showed my passport to the officer by telling him that my dearest this small note book which I have is my passport after looking at my passport he allowed me to go. I walked fast and didn’t watch my back, get stamped my passport with EXIT and after 5 minutes I came to a place where Pakistani police officers were checking the IDs too. It took sometime till I reached the gate where they would check IDs and let the person to get stamp their passports with ENTRY. I noticed that some folks were transferred by paying to the officers but because of too many people standing there, the officers were assigning other representatives amongst the people, who were talking |negotiating with those Afghan after receiving payments the person or representatives of the officer within the people would have winkled the officer and then he would knew that he has received something from him and would let him enter Pakistan.

In short, from the boarder till Peshawar city it took me one and half hour and from there to Islamabad it took three and half hours to reach through GT road as DAEWOO transportation only travels through GT road and were not using the motorway which will take us only two and half hours to reach Islamabad. I called the Afghan Embassy to let them know that I might be only ten minutes late due to the traffic or of the big trip that I have. First they accepted and asked me to let them known when I am closed to Islamabad but later on, when I called they ignored me and because of these ten minutes, I stayed in a hotel, did other expenses and was delayed from the schedule which I had with myself that I will show myself to a doctor, upon return from Islamabad and will buy clothes for my friends and family in Peshawar but did nothing. In Friday, the embassy officers came at 9 and started their activities after 30 minutes as I was standing in front of the embassy from 8 o’clock. After ten the embassy gave me my degree, paid the registration fee which was $5 and reached Peshawar at 1:30 since it was prayer time. Therefore, I decided to leave soon because the shops will be opening after the prayer and will be good for me if I reach home on time. On the way to home, I bought some fishes at Sarobi, to tell my family that I have brought something as I know that they were expecting more things specially as the winter has began. It was getting darker similar to when I was leaving. Left in dark and reached in dark, it was looking like when we play a movie and then backward it.

ISAF in Afghanistan to assist or torture?!

I'm sorry, if I have come up with such a hard title to this post but it's painful when you hear; the growing number of US drone attacks targeting Afghan civilians, uncontrolled inflation of demand to the primary living standard needs and even when a taxi driver humbly begs for some more Afs while you to take one to reach a destination throughout Kabul.

Watching a few military maneuver American movies, I know what a war strategy means to an American soldier, they should destroy a village if there's military command of arresting an anti-US element living inside, so this would help me find my first questions' answer if ISAF is running a massacre across my country.

When it comes to the second point, it undisclosedly remains of not a public subject. However, analyzing the relationship of US, Iran and Pakistan are unbelievably complicated and require extra time to write about, but Afghans are doubtful if ISAF is honest in claiming that closing neighboring boarders to Afghanistan is part of a security protection plan rather than achieving political goals of western powers in the region. In one way or another, those are the Afghans who suffer most in consequence, a taxi driver will better be able to explain why is the petrol price stepping up everyday as one of them told me this morning:

"Well, these foreigners are either killing us by guns or stopping our national traders to import things that we need and which we do not have inside" I closed the book I was looking at inside his taxi while he was uttering these words and looking to me in blinks, I turned back - closed my book and asked him "Kaka, why is the petrol price gets up, since it's not a restricted trading good?" he replied "This is called the turn-around of the world, our fore-father's used to tell us that people with books are not as ordinary as we, remember they are more cognisant to what happens to them and their whereabouts, now I mean that the Uzbakistan's petrol is not allowed to be imported to Afghanistann as Uzbaks' lack having extra oil to sell out and foreigners [meaning ISAF (International Security Assistance Forces)] have stopped Iranian trades, they say Iran is under a UN sanctions" here I jumped in his words and told him "Kaka, it's good that we are getting ride of these devil neighbors, see how they caused all these tortures to us "He stared at me very astonished and said, we should also be hopeful to get ride of ISAF". Afghans have no friends, except themselves and have hundreds of other nations claiming friendship like Iran, Pakistan, EU and the US. BUT THEY ARE REALLY NOT!".

Kabul City

Kabul known as the capital of Afghanistan is the only safe place to live and work. Most of the cities, districts and provinces in the country are insecure and people from different parts of the country are approaching to the heart of the motherland, having the aim that they will be safe and sound either from Taliban or from the foreign militaries. During the war against Taliban in urban areas, sometimes collision forces shot civilians and catch public residents, thinking them as secret agent of Taliban. Besides, some Afghans are deploying from other countries as well and are welling to live or work in Kabul. Although, Kabul is very small but people are still trying to create spaces for themselves and are living in mountains or hilly areas where their lives are in risk because of the missile thrown by insurgence and Government against parties during the mid night. Problems of taking water (as in mountains there is no water) or getting something as food requires them to come down and take their needs back to their houses.

Most of the products here are from other countries while only some fresh fruit like grapes, apples, melons, watermelons and some dry fruits like pistachio, almond, raisins, etc are produced in Afghanistan and can be found at low-priced while other fruits and products come from Iran, Pakistan and China. Most of the electronic items, garments, shoes are from china and crops or food related items such as vegetable oil, juice, etc are from Pakistan and Iran.

At one point the city is over crowed, especially when you are out to the market for purchasing stuff for yourself or your family. You will spend a day in only purchasing few items or traveling from one part of the city to other. On the other hand, it is full of rubbish everywhere with bad odor. Some places are really worse even. The Kabul River has become the sewage and garbage dustbin while streets are full of mud. Flies and mosquitoes have built their houses over the standing water and rubbish. International communities claiming that they are here for progress and development but it seems that there is none. If ten percent of such a small capital can not be constructed in seven years then how can its thirty four provinces be constructed in such a short time. To be brief, there is no self-consciousness. Everybody is doing what looks good to him. A boy eating banana will throw its skin on the road and nobody will tell him to put it in the dustbin as all are doing the same. A driver will drive as he desires even if he hurts others, by spoiling others or throwing water and mud on someone or by passing through a speed where it’s forbidden. Well, here is no restraint for anything and here are no rules too. Earn, eat, drive, drink and enjoy without any ambitious in your life till you are alive is the mission of all.