Conversations with John Dixon

Today has been so windy in Kabul. Usually, the days are calm and invariably sunny until around 4 in the afternoon, when the wind starts blowing steadily for the next few hours. For the almost two weeks I've been here, this pattern has been pretty constant. But this afternoon is especially windy, so much so that a lot of the blue sky above the city has turned off-white from all the dust that's being thrown around.

The director of the research institute I'm staying at left on Monday, and it's a little sad. He's a former Foreign Service officer named John Dixon, an older guy (maybe 75), and a real gentleman. Now, besides me, there's a new younger director (who works here but lives across town), two Afghans who do administrative stuff during the day (Ro and Zafar), and an Afghan family who live on the property and do many things like guard, cook, garden, fix things, generally help out the hapless American (that'd be me). They are the sweetest people, and it's a real incentive to learn Dari because I want to talk even basically with them. There is also a part-time driver here named Wali, he takes me around town when he's here and not busy. If he is busy, I take a cab. Tough life, I know.

Anyway, for my first week and a half here in Kabul, me and John would have these great breakfasts out on the back patio. Hazargol (the father of the Afghan family) would put breakfast out on the patio table a little before 7am, and we would meet at 7 and eat and talk for an hour or so each day. The guy has a real wealth and depth of knowledge, he's been here in this area since the 70s. So he's been through all the upheavals--the Soviets, the mujahedeen, the Taliban, the US with the international community, and now the fledgling Afghan government. That's a lot of management turnover in less than 25 years!

We'd talk about a huge range of things--the many layers of Afghan history, the personalities of assorted Afghan warlords (some are now neighbors of mine), cultural differences between Afghanistan and the US, world politics, US politics. I find I usually have a lot to talk about with Foreign Service officers, often we'll have similar perspectives on the world. And power politics is always interesting, especially when you're talking about Afghanistan--it's been pretty dynamic here through the ages, and especially recently. With the calm morning weather, lots of tea, and fresh Afghan bread and mangos, these conversations were part of an almost meditative start to each day. Kind of like my own personal 'Tuesdays with Morrie.' And even when 7am started to feel like it came earlier and earlier, as I've gotten adjusted to the time here, they were always worth getting up for.