Post-Taliban Kabul Blossoms for the Rich

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(snip)
Sajjad (he says he has no last name) lives in a neighborhood called Shirpur, a significant symbol of what has changed since U.S. and British bombs drove the Taliban from the city on the night of Nov. 12-13, 2001.

Part of it has been demolished and its inhabitants evicted to make way for a ``new Afghanistan'' of palatial homes - scores of four- and five-story mansions boasting gold-painted marble columns and floor-to-ceiling windows flanking grand wooden doors.

The owners of these mansions ``are commanders, ministers. It makes me angry. These people use everything that isn't theirs and they ruin the houses of the poor people to build their homes,'' said Mohammed. ``The Taliban were no good, they were just stupid people. But in this new life there is no job, nothing.''

(snip)
``Money comes to help the poor people but the commanders and the government people take it,'' he said. With the Taliban gone ``we thought our future will be better, but every day we are poorer.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6208460,00.html

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1. And when we leave these will all be blown up

Somehow I doubt the violence overtaking the region is going to miss this enclave.