Dispatch 5: Kabul, Thursday 28 June 2007

Like macabre sports scores, the television news last night reported the Western forces have killed 203 civilians in Afghanistan this year while the Taliban have killed 178.


It's a good day – we have both warm water and electricity in the morning for the first time since I arrived. One of the attractions of this particular hotel was that it is serviced by a large diesel generator, but it broke down almost immediately after we arrived. In the past weeks we have received unreliable electricity from the municipal service for a few hours at mid-day, when we are usually out, and in the evening from 7:30 to midnight. This schedule, plus the fact that even during these times the electricity will often shut off without warning has made it difficult to charge the batteries for my computer and cameras.

Reliable electricity is a privilege enjoyed by very few people in Afghanistan. Most neighbourhoods in Kabul receive electricity for only a few hours a day, while much of the country has no electricity whatsoever. On a positive note, we did see transmission towers being constructed during our trip north of the city last weekend.

Dispatch 4: Kabul, Sunday 24 June 2007

Hamayon and I went to Kabul University today hoping to find women there willing to talk to us on camera. We were unable to even meet any women on the street yesterday when we filmed in the market of the Old City. It is unfortunate our research partner Angela could not be here with us; she would have much better luck communicating with women. The gender segregation is hard to imagine. Even when visiting private homes, we have not met the women and girls of the family. They remain unseen in the kitchen preparing the food and cleaning, while the men socialise and the boys deliver the food.


A number of young women did agree to talk to us at Kabul University today. Like our first day at the university, we found a broad range of views among the students – a contrast with yesterday in the market where, with one exception, the men we interviewed are vehemently opposed to the Western occupation.

The small number of people we will be able to interview while we are here for a few weeks is hardly a scientific sampling. The small number of people we will be able to talk to is unlikely to be gender balanced, and particularly not gender balanced across divisions of class and education, but we do hope that we can at least open discussion of some of the issues on the minds of people in Afghanistan when we return to Canada.

Dispatch 3: Thursday 21 June 2007

Thursday 21 June 2007

Thursday is the end of the workweek. This week ended with the BBC announcing the Taliban has stated they will adopt the tactic of Al-Qaeda style suicide bombs to target ISAF in Kabul. Whether this is a propaganda statement by either side or is a genuine promise that will materialise remains to be seen. We have always been taking the precaution of not traveling during the morning and evening rush hours and avoiding obvious targets as much as possible, so this news will not affect our plans.


Hamid my friend and colleague at York emailed to inform me that Friday has always been the day of rest in Afghanistan as it is in most of the Muslim world rather than imposed by a Taliban edict. Hamid's email is a reminder I should triple check my sources even on the simplest facts.

There are so many myths about the Taliban both in the West and here that it is difficult to find the grains of truth that lie behind these myths.

Dispatch 2: Kabul, Sunday 17 June 2007

Again as we ate breakfast a bomb went off. Today it was downtown – too far away for us to hear, but one of Hamayon's cousins called to tell him. The target was a police academy bus. News reports stated that a remote controlled bomb in the bus killed thirty to thirty-five police cadets, but the word on the street was that there may have been as many as sixty killed – it is hard to know who to believe.

I immediately thought of a friendly young American man I spent several hours chatting with while stuck in line in the Dubai airport waiting for the plane to Kabul. This young American told me he was a graduate student in 2001 when he decided to enlist in the military out of a sense of patriotism after 9/11. Without elaborating the details, he stated that during a tour of duty in Afghanistan he soon realised he had made a big mistake. At the first opportunity he took his discharge and returned to graduate school, but an offer of employment from a friend who worked for the military contractor Dynacorp was too good to refuse. He found himself back in Afghanistan, but this time training police cadets. I asked him if he had any police training himself and he admitted he had none. But being young, single and smart he could make great money in Afghanistan. Such are the opportunities for mercenaries in Afghanistan.

Dispatch 1: Kabul, Thursday 14 June 2007

After departing Toronto on Monday evening, I arrived in Kabul Wednesday morning having only caught a few brief naps on planes and during a layover in Dubai. I had to laugh as I departed the plane that was full of a mix of Afghanis, American military contractors and a few journalists – as an indication of how misinformed the Western media can be, I watched two television journalists fearfully don their Kevlar flak jackets and battle helmets before departing from the plane as everyone else watched them with rather bemused wonderment. I suspect these journalists are likely to end up cowering inside a NATO base where they can be spoon-fed military briefings and will never speak to an Afghani person on the street.

My project partner Hamayon met me at the airport and we took a short ride to our hotel situated in what he describes as the poor part of Kabul where most foreigners do not venture. As much as I had prepared myself for the devastation of Kabul and I have experienced being in war devastated cities elsewhere, it was still an emotional shock to see a city in this state.

Kabul has periodically experienced artillery and rocket attacks as well as street-to-street warfare for three decades. The ICRC estimates that 80 percent of the city was destroyed by the mid 1990s and little has been rebuilt since the NATO invasion. In this part of town, damaged buildings provide the architectural backdrop for a very few fully intact buildings such as our hotel – bullet-holes and dust provide the decorative elements.

Dispatches: Introduction

What is Canada Doing in Afghanistan?

Afghanistan-Canada Research Group (ACRG)

Researchers Angela Joya, Hamayon Rastgar and Mike Skinner formed the Afghanistan-Canada Research Group to investigate Canada's role in Afghanistan. Along with film-maker Alex Lisman, we are documenting what Canada is doing in Afghanistan. Little information leaves Afghanistan without first passing through the filters of the NATO military commanders and media editors. We recognise a desperate need to make direct contact with Afghani activists, workers, students, and war refugees. So we are going to Afghanistan to listen to as many Afghani people as we can and bring their stories back to Canada. Before the next Canadian election, it is important that the people of Canada and Quebec hear directly from Afghanis about how they are affected by Canada's mission in Afghanistan.

We urgently need immediate funding. Our previous appeals for funding received generous responses from a number of organisations as far away as Vancouver, but we have failed to raise enough funds to sustain the project.

As you can imagine, travel to Afghanistan is very expensive and we cannot accomplish this project without substantial help.

Since our last appeal for funds, we have altered our plan. Hamayon will depart on 15 May for a three month tour of Afghanistan, including a month to visit with his family. Hamayon's research will take him to Kabul, Mazar, Ghazni, Herat, and Kandahar where he will arrange introductions for the other researchers and begin filming. Mike will join Hamayon in June for one month. Angela and Alex will go to Afghanistan in the fall to follow-up Hamayon and Mike's work, begin Angela's research and continue filming.

We need answers from Afghanis themselves about how they are affected by the Canadian mission in Afghanistan. The Canadian mission in Afghanistan is supposed to balance the 3Ds of development, diplomacy and defence. We want to know how this mission actually affects Afghanis. Angela will ask Afghani women how they are affected by Canadian development aid. Hamayon will ask Afghani activists, workers, students, and state officials how they are affected by Canadian diplomacy. Mike will ask Afghani war refugees how they are affected by Canadian military operations.

We will be available for speaking engagements throughout Canada, as early as August, and will make rough cut videos available as soon as possible.

We are asking for help from organisations like yours to fund this important investigation of Canada's mission in Afghanistan. We need more funds as soon as possible, to purchase plane tickets and pay for travel arrangements.

Mike Skinner

Afghan MP Malalai Joya - Canada's role in Afghanistan

Afghan Member of Parliament Malalai Joya speaks about how Canada and the world can support Afghanistan and warns against following the questionable policy and military path of the U.S. government.


Interview recorded September 2006.