The power of clothing

The sounds of the Kabul spring have started making themselves heard: the ice cream trucks with their funny songs; the planes flying overhead; the doves (or are they pigeons?) calling from the window sil; and even the flies, who have made their come back after a dead winter. As in most places with winter, once the weather starts warming up, the clothing people wear starts changing. For a man in Afghanistan, however, that usually just involves leaving your patu (blanket-like shawl that everyone wears) at home and perhaps switching to sandals instead of wearing socks and shoes.
As you can imagine, being a man in this male-dominated society does not compare to the life of a woman, and this is particularly true when it comes to what we wear. Men in Afghanistan (like men in most of the world), generally don't worry about clothing or footwear, but the same cannot be said about the women here... especially the foreign women.
Although more than half of the women you see on the streets in Kabul are not wearing a burka, 100% of them are at least wearing a headscarf. The foreign women choose to do the same both for so-called cultural sensitivity, as well as to avoid being stared at (something we all find ourselves doing, being so used to not seeing a woman do otherwise). But only recently have I started realizing how much it affects foreign women, as I've heard friends coming back from leave say that one of the things they most enjoyed was walking around with no headscarf (the "walking around" part also being something many people are not allowed to do here). The other week I started to realize that despite not being a woman, my life was also being affected by these clothing norms.
After our weekly frisbee game (which is usually an expat affair), I mentioned to a friend that one of my Afghan drivers might be interested in joining us. I was quickly reminded, however, that frisbee was conceived as a time when the girls would not have to worry about being stared at, or feel self-conscious about what they were wearing (shorts, etc...). In other words, no Afghans allowed.
At the same time, many foreigners will get together in the evening and hang out, with alcohol playing a large role in the proceedings, thus widening the gap even further between the local and expat social scene. At the end it seems like the only Afghans allowed at many of these recreational events are those who grew up outside Afghanistan, but are they “real” Afghans? What if someone wants to have "real" Afghan friends and mix with expat friends as well? Somehow in Kabul it doesn't seem quite feasible... Who would have thought that my life here would be affected by clothing norms?

The others' life

As you probably know, there is a war of sorts going in Afghanistan. As a result, the vast majority of the foreigners here are military (over 50,000), which means that they are living quite differently that us civilians. Saturday I finally got a chance to see how this other side lives as I joined a friend on a visit to Camp Eggers (the military base in the center of Kabul). Luckily we were with someone who had all kinds of badges and an important-person vehicle, so we got in no problem. It was 7 in the evening and we made it in just before the cafeteria closed, which meant that I got to experience a meal as a serviceman. It was Southern (American) food all round, with a pathetic salad bar that had the typical plastic-looking vegetables you tend to see at cafeterias in the US. The artificial light and the general artificial feeling to the place reminded me of the Pentagon's cafeteria... probably not a coincidence. Most (if not all) of the food was of course imported and amongst the beverages available in the fridge was non-alcoholic Becks. After having finished my meal and thrown all my trash (disposable tray included) in the large bins, we took a tour of the camp. As you might imagine, it's like a small city. You can smell the Laundromat as you walk by, while the main "Warrior Gym" and a few smaller work-out rooms are at every corner in town. There is a shop where you can buy American products and, amongst other random clothing items, white tennis socks made in Kyrgyzstan. Even in the dark you can't miss the signs everywhere for the "Bomb House" and there is even a 24-hour coffee shop, US style, with lattes, etc... We walked into a large structure that looks like a small hangar and saw a stage with all kinds of instruments ready to be played, a popcorn machine, and stacks of bibles. At the "Morale, Welfare, Recreation Center" you can get on the internet or even play videogames and pool. Wherever you go, even next to the Sony Playstation, there will always be a gun rack so that you can put your weapon down (but not out of site) while you're using your controller as a weapon while playing shoot 'em up videogames.
We were lucky to catch karaoke night (although as far as I know they could have karaoke night every day) and there is really no way to explain the moves some of the females officers were pulling off while busting out a brilliant rap duo.
But the most shocking thing of all is the message you see posted on the walls. It reads (with spelling mistakes in bold):
"The enemy is actively listening, and can easily monitor any network or voice traffice that is not encrypted. Do not discuss any issues that could compromise US or coalation forces in any way, whether classified or unclassified.
A good rule of thumb: If in doubt, don't write it, verbalize it, or send it."
I will assume this blog entry does not qualify.