Kabul on the Charles

The day Kabul fell I found myself at a Peet’s in Harvard Square.

I had an inkling the barista might be from Afghanistan, so I asked him whether he was.

He was.

I asked if he still had family there.

He did.

I said I was very very sorry and hoped they would be unharmed.He seemed oddly unaffected.

He was there at Peet’s again yesterday. I asked him how his folks were.

He said that banks and other such services were closed, but for the rest it was fine.

They were safe?

Oh yes. The security situation was much improved. There used to robberies and murders before. All stopped now.

That I found discouraging, but I didn’t tell him that.

Sadly horrible regimes often get their start and staying power precisely because of prior disorder and capricious misrule.

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