War Is Boring’s only female correspondent Una Moore is on the ground in Kabul, interning with an aid group while blogging about civil society, women’s issues and the war’s toll on civilians.
Photo by David Axe.
by UNA MOORE
“The situation in Afghanistan.” It’s the all-purpose qualifier here in Kabul, used as much by the Afghans I work with as by my fellow foreigners. It is Central Asia’s answer to “TIA” — “This is Africa” — only without the racist baggage.
Just what is The Situation? Depending on the context, it is the genesis of corruption and the reason it’s so hard to fight, the quality of water and the totality of insecurity, the way people walk and the rate of refugee returns, the changing of the seasons and the American troop surge — and all of those rolled together. It simultaneously means nothing and encompasses everything.
It can be used to connote subversiveness: “They live together and aren’t married, which is a risk, given the situation in Afghanistan.”
Or signify danger: “Stay behind the gate while I check to see if that’s really your driver. You have to be careful, because of the situation in Afghanistan.”
Or capture the everyday chaos wrought by state weakness: “This is the situation in Afghanistan; no one has a driver’s license and there are no lines on the roads.”
Or explain oppressive social mores: “If a woman lives alone, some people will say bad things about her and she will not be safe; this is the situation in Afghanistan.”
With foreigners, it’s usually something like, “Because of the situation, we’re not allowed to walk to work anymore,” or, “We don’t have any projects in the south, because of the situation.”
Often uttered with a deep sigh after the power goes out, or after one’s car lurches violently in a cavernous pot-hole, “the situation” is a refrain for facing reality and not being overwhelmed by it, shorthand for, “It’s rough here, but what can we do but cope and go on?”
Related:
Unastan: The Roads of Kabul
Related posts:
- Unastan: Spotted in Kabul, “Talibansky” Grafitti
- Unastan: People Died Here
- Unastan: Waking to Bombs in Kabul
- Unastan: Buzkashi, Rougher than Politics
- Unastan: The Roads of Kabul
- U.N. Dispatch: 5 U.N. Employees Believed Kidnapped in Afghanistan
- U.N. Dispatch: Detained Italian Aid Workers Freed in Afghanistan
It would appear to be the qualifier, the dodge, the end all, the wall, the admonishment, the tail end of hope, the veer in the trail. Regardless, you manage to find that sliver of light in order to carry on. This is the situation in Afghanistan.
Reminds me of two things we used to say in Romania, where I served in the Peace Corps:
1. “Asta e”- It’s actually a Romanian saying that conveys the same fatalistic feeling as “the situation in Afghanistan”. Romanians use it often. Out of the mouth of a Volunteer, it meant “That’s the way this place is.” Saying it to a Romanian was abusing your “‘hood pass”, and we all know that’s rude (right, John?).
2. Our use of “Ro-” in front of words as though it were a prefix denoting f’d-up-ness. As in: ro-fabulous, ro-train, ro-man, ro-road, ro-tard, etc.
Sometimes it was funny, but now it embrasses me that it was so ubiquitous. Whenever I hear people insinuate that the American military is an under-educated group of racists, I always bring up these two verbal “innovations” that were repeated by a bunch of 23 year old Ivy Leaguers who got some of the best cultural sensitivity training that money can buy.
[...] is normal until the moment it’s not, and in that second, everything changes.” That’s what a friend told me during my first week in Afghanistan. It’s the only way to [...]