KABUL - It used to take Esmazari 15 minutes to cross town in his faded
mustard-colored Corolla. But the police shutdown of nearly half of Kabul's
major roadways, in response to a spate of suicide bombings that ripped across
the capital city in recent months, means that today Esmazari's taxi spends a
full hour to make the same trip.
"My business has plummeted because of all these blocked roads," says the taxi
driver, who like many Afghans goes by only one name. "The situation is very
bad. The whole city center is clogged and full of checkpoints."
The state of high alert following a summer of rising insurgent
activity is wearing on Kabul citizens, say observers and residents. Many blame
the increased checkpoints and closed roads for slumping business, yet at the
same time some residents say that the heightened security does not make them
feel safe.
Authorities cordoned off the area around the Indian Embassy in central Kabul
after a massive car bomb destroyed a chunk of its facade last month. Both the
embassy and the Ministry of Interior lie on this road - one of Kabul's main
arteries - and the cordon has been extended to make the whole road off-limits
to most vehicles.
Similar checkpoints block other key roads in the city center, such as the area
near the foreign ministry and the embassy neighborhood.
"After the police blocked the roads, we lost all of our business," says Ghulam
Rasoul Shawary, who owns a stationary store near the Indian Embassy. "We've
complained many times to the government and asked them to allow potential
customers through [the checkpoints], but they don't care. The government
doesn't care about this nation."
Government officials point out that only central Kabul and areas of political
and strategic importance are protected by checkpoints, and the markets and
other areas surrounding the city center remain as bustling as ever.
According to some of the shopkeepers in the affected areas, however, the
government's efforts are misdirected. "What kind of strategy is this?" Shawary
asks. "If terrorists bomb everywhere in the city, does that mean the government
will close all of the roads, so that we can't go anywhere?"
Syed Nazeer, another merchant whose business is in a tailspin after the
heightened security, adds, "The government is only blocking roads to protect
themselves, not the people."
Despite the security precautions, many residents still do not feel safe. "I
feel that I could die at any moment if I'm at the wrong place at the wrong
time," says Shawary.
While there has been no comprehensive polling on the question since an October
2007 Environics poll that found that 51% of Afghans feel safer than they did
four years before, analysts say that a series of high-profile attacks this year
have dented optimism.
In January, gunmen stormed the luxury hotel Serena in downtown Kabul, shocking
the city's foreign community.
In April, snipers nearly assassinated President Hamid Karzai during a military
ceremony, prompting many observers to wonder how the insurgents managed to
infiltrate such tight security. After the attack on the Indian Embassy in July,
the largest such bombing the capital has seen in years, Afghan security forces
went on high alert.
Hamed Asir, assistant director of the National Union of Journalists, says that
the high-profile attacks have served to put fear in the back of everyone's
minds. "Kabul is becoming a garrison city as it prepares for each attack."
However, Halim Kousary of the Afghanistan Center for Conflict and Peace Studies
suggests that the increased security is actually working, despite residents'
perceptions and the losses to businesses.
"There were far more suicide attacks in Kabul in 2007 than in 2008. This year
the number has fallen dramatically, and the police presence might be a factor
in this," he says.
Some NATO officials argue that the perception of security is different from
actual security. "The majority of the violence is occurring in specific
districts of the country," says one senior NATO official. "When Afghans read
about violent incidents elsewhere, they tend to feel insecure about their own
situation, even if they are not in danger."
Others, however, say that while the security presence in Kabul is making
suicide attacks more difficult, insurgents are quickly adapting. Data released
by the Pentagon reveal that roadside bomb incidents involving coalition troops
hit a four-year high during the April-June period.
The data does not include attacks against Afghan security forces, which have
also suffered heavy losses from such bombs.
Moreover, according to data from the Vigilant Strategic Services of
Afghanistan, a security consultancy agency, attacks in Kabul have jumped 35% in
2008 compared to the first half of 2007.
"We have nowhere to run if things get worse," the merchant Nazeer says. "But
staying here is getting increasingly difficult."
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