With U.S. Leaving, War-Zone Living Carries a Higher Price

[Mikethehack]

By DION NISSENBAUM

KABUL—As the U.S.-led military commitment winds down, one business is booming in Afghanistan: the construction of heavily fortified compounds where foreigners can take shelter.

Across Afghanistan, investors are gambling tens of millions of dollars on an industry that is based on a feared rise in insurgent attacks in the post-American era.
"As the Americans leave it enhances our value," said Saeed Chaudhry, the Pakistani manager of The Baron, a private compound with hotel rooms, offices, conference rooms and bomb shelters near the Kabul airport that charges up to $350 a night. "People will need security more than ever before."

For much of the 10-year Afghan war, private contractors and aid groups have worked out of rented Afghan homes and other lightly protected spaces.

But, over the past couple of years, insurgent attacks on these sites have persuaded foreigners—including the United Nations and some contractors—to curb their travel and seek shelter at compounds like The Baron, which resemble military camps.

Underlying the security risks, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle plowed into a group of international forces at a market in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people, including three Americans, according to Afghan and Western officials.

The blast is the latest in a string of insurgent attacks since winter snows started melting and fighters began returning to Afghanistan from Pakistan in increasing numbers.

As they launch their new spring offensive, the Taliban-led insurgents have focused on two tactics: directly targeting Afghan police and soldiers, and using infiltrators within the Afghan security forces to kill Western military forces.

The attack came on the same day that Marine Gen. James Mattis, the head of U.S. Central Command, met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss the conflict.

Investors in Afghanistan are betting that more people will take shelter at so-called life-support compounds as the U.S. military ends its combat role, as soon as next year. A downside, however, is that they also risk becoming bigger targets.

That risk became clear in February when demonstrators stormed through Kabul streets to protest U.S. soldiers' burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base. One of the early targets of the outrage was Green Village, a compound that is home to nearly 2,000 foreign contractors.

As private security guards kept watch and contractors raced to fortify bunkers inside, hundreds of demonstrators unsuccessfully tried to storm Green Village.

The booming industry also has irked some longtime Kabul residents who view compound life as divorced from the poverty, violence and hardships of daily life outside the blast walls.

Still, investors in Afghanistan are betting that the shift to life-support compounds will accelerate as the U.S. military ends its combat role, possibly as soon as next year, and insurgent attacks increase.

"People are gambling on foreigners trying to stay in safer places," said one Afghan-born investor in these projects. "When the soldiers leave, people will need safer places to stay."

The life-support industry's growth in Afghanistan comes as the influx of foreign money that had propped up the Afghan economy is shrinking fast. The U.S. government has already cut its civilian aid nearly in half—to about $2 billion in fiscal 2012 from $4 billion in fiscal 2010.

In the short term, however, businessmen investing in these ventures say there is still plenty of money to be made. "Afghanistan is still the land of opportunity for a lot of people," the Afghan-born investor said.

The sprouting compounds are no drab affairs. They are equipped with everything from virtual golf courses and day spas to horseback-riding grounds and bars that try to operate under the radar of Afghan authorities that look askance at the sale of alcohol.

The 376-room Baron, which looks more like a small college campus than war-zone housing, is one of the newest. Hidden behind towering concrete blast walls and protected by private security guards, The Baron is equipped with a full bar, squash courts that double as a fortified bunker, Kabul's largest outdoor pool, saunas, private office space and a daily buffet prepared by trained South Asian chefs.

"Our philosophy was to provide secure accommodations combined with the facilities of a five-star hotel," said Mr. Chaudhry, who once made a good living in Dubai selling luxury yachts and speedboats.

Baron residents never have to leave the compound. They are able to live and work in the business complex, have morning coffee in wicker furniture set on sprawling lawns, stop in for a massage at the spa, buy Afghan rugs at inflated prices, work out at the gym, shop at the small grocery store, eat in the dining hall, and play pool in the bar before turning in for the night.

"You really do kind of forget you're living in Afghanistan sometimes," said a resident of Green Village, the country's largest life-support compound, which offers $400 rides to the nearby airport in armored SUVs.

Kabul isn't the only place to see an expansion of compound construction. Amtex Global Services runs a 132-room compound outside Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan that even has its own review on Trip Advisor, a leading travel website.

"Fantastic, safe environment in a very hostile area," Karen S. wrote in a review of the compound. "Being able to walk from the shop to the gym or restaurant was great as was the grass areas where we could sit or drink coffee."

Nearby, U.S. contractor Chemonics used to pay as much as $135,000-a-month to the 22-year-old nephew of the powerful Nangarhar province governor to house its staff at the compound he operates outside the Kandahar military base, according to the compound's managers.The newest life-support compound in the pipeline is rising in one of the country's most stable cities: Mazar-e-Sharif, in the north.

Afghan entrepreneur Ahmad Rafiq Zare said he and his partners were building a 150-room compound that will include a Turkish-style steam bath, horseback riding grounds, bowling and "basically all the facilities you can find in a modern city."

Although the compound is still under construction, Mr. Zare said he is already fielding requests for space from the American Embassy, Turkish contractors and German companies.

"We all know that there isn't good security all across the country, even in secure areas like Kabul," he said. "There is demand."
—Ziaulhaq Sultani contributed to this article.

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