Getting drunk in Kabul bars? Pass the sick bag
by Sima Jilani, The Guardian, Aug. 31, 2010
“Kabul is the new Beirut.” This frivolous drivel fell from the mouth of a journalist in Afghanistan. She was effervescent with excitement about the prospect of Kabul’s expatriate bars being even more hip than those in Beirut. Beirut – where they dance to the beat of the bombs, where alcohol flows freely and women are freer still.
Yay! Kabul has finally left the dark ages and now offers expat bars for journalists and diplomats alike, where alcohol serves as the lubricant for self-congratulatory war stories and chest-beating. And how convenient: you don’t have to deal with any pesky local Afghans either. With the exception of Afghanistan’s upper echelon, Afghans aren’t allowed in. Under Afghan law, the sale of alcohol to Muslims is prohibited.
So come, drown yourself in forbidden libations while you deliver a machismo speech on what a cowboy you are for making it through the war. “The Renegade of Afghanistan.”