Lebanese food off the menu in Kabul

[flipflop]

Did you expect Al Jazeera to be balanced? Lol. Anyway whatever cunt wrote that shite evidently has never been near the Taverna, no alcohol served up, ever, end of chat.

Cheers

[nowonmai]

Al Jazeera that brave purveyor of unbiased truth.

[buffybot_in_beirut]

and had the biggest, fiercest Afghan guard dog I've seen over there, it probably got blew into pink mist too.

Jeff the mastiff. Says Washington Post in another kind article. Makes me want to slap this hate-filled Al Jazeera hypocrite.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle ... story.html

[flipflop]

I did a risk assessment on the Taverna about 4 years ago. I was doing these 3-4 times a week at venues all over the city. The Lebanese owner sat us down, free coffee and cake, nice warm chat, tour of the premises, he understood what our job was and wanted us to recommend the place to our clients. I'd been back since many times, and he always came over for a chat if he was about, which he invariably was. That restaurant was his life. I'm not surprised he took these guys on and got killed, he was a sound bloke and a very decent human being. I'm hoping he got a couple into at least one of the cunts before he got it.

Cheers

[flipflop]

and had the biggest, fiercest Afghan guard dog I've seen over there, it probably got blew into pink mist too.

Jeff the mastiff. Says Washington Post in another kind article. Makes me want to slap this hate-filled Al Jazeera hypocrite.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle ... story.html

Thanks for posting that by the way

Cheers

[herodotus]

Kamal Hamade was Druze. He went down fighting, no doubt about it.

[flipflop]

A mate I grew up with is a staunch Liverpool fan, suddenly he changes his FB profile pic to the Everton crest. Why have you done that you knobhead I says to him. It's out of respect for a mate who got killed in Afghan this week he says. My mate did 12 years with the Royal Irish home battalion. His mate was a scouser who moved to NI after joining up, married a local girl, and was a diehard Evertonian, hence why he and some of his ex army mates put the club crest on their profiles.

I said fair enough, then thought, there were no other casualties then apart from the BG in the Taverna. So, I messaged my mate again and asks him, yep, same guy and the company he was working for in Kabul was the same one I did 3 yrs in Iraq with. Sometimes the worlds a village, but not in a good way.

Cheers

[nowonmai]

Kabul expat joints barely amount to a hamlet. Its like drinking in Merthyr, go there often enough and sooner or later you'll get filled in.

[flipflop]

Taliban - Mission accomplished, or locking the stable gate when the horse has already bolted four fields away

Afghan notebook: Struggling restaurants

By Kawoon Khamoosh

BBC Afghan, Kabul
Ibrahim, the chef at Kabul's popular 'Sufi' restaurant at work in the kitchen
Ibrahim, the chef at Kabul's 'Sufi' restaurant says his family is worried for him
Ibrahim is a cook with 15 years' experience of preparing foods from all over the world - be it pizza or curries - all part of Kabul's vibrant culinary offer.

He works in one of several outlets I visited, where business has declined since the Taliban attacked the popular Taverna du Liban on January 18, killing 21 people.

The father of six wakes up early every morning to ride his bicycle from the suburbs to the well known "Sufi" restaurant in downtown Kabul.

There he works all day in the hot, small kitchen until the last customer leaves, often around midnight.

But his routine has changed. He says he is more alert as he cycles to work and when he moves about in the restaurant.

Continue reading the main story
BBC Afghan notebook

This is where our reporters share stories beyond the daily conflict and politics of a country preparing for the most important poll in its recent history as foreign troops withdraw.

We'll focus on the surprising while treating the familiar from fresh angles, combined with a street-level view of a country in transition.

Most of the posts will be written, photographed or filmed by our journalists across Afghanistan.

You can use #BBCAfghanNotebook to follow our reports via Twitter.

On song, off message
"I know if the time has come to die, you will die any way and anywhere," Ibrahim says, as he checks on a pot of Qabli, an Afghan rice dish made with raisins, carrots and pistachios.

"But I do take care of myself."

Ibrahim watched the reports of the Taverna attack on television. "Nowhere is safe in Kabul," he concludes.

His family lives in Ghazni province, south of Kabul where his 18-year-old son goes to school. Ibrahim thinks they are safer there than in the capital, even though Ghazni itself is regarded as insecure.

Mr Ibrahim says that before the attack he usually called his family once a day. "On the night of the [Taverna] attack I talked with my family over the phone and since then we talk more often."

Safe rooms for guests
Things have also changed for the Sufi restaurant's manager, Mohammad Azim Popal.

He is planning to install a reinforced metal gate, strong enough to resist explosions as well as a safe room for guests and staff in case the worst happens.

An empty restaurant in Kabul threatened with closure after recent Taliban attacks
Some restaurants in Kabul have lost business after recent Taliban attacks
He says that on the day after the attack, a number of Afghan police and intelligence officials paid a visit, telling him he had to "guarantee the life of customers in such incidents."

Mr Popal told them: "If the government can't guarantee the life of people, how could he do so?"

Later in the day I arranged an interview with the manager of the Namastee restaurant, a highly secure Indian restaurant in the city.

But when I got there with my equipment, security guards stopped me at the entrance and I was told I could not film for security reasons.

The manager explained it could become an easy target for the Taliban. It is in a diplomatic area and has no name board.

Closing down
Flower Street Café does advertise its presence in one of the city's most famous streets. But when I visited I came face-to-face with piles of sand bags securing the entrance.

Here too, the manager has ordered a safe room and an emergency exit to conform with the security requirements of the UN and other international organizations.

But the owner of the Khayam restaurant is thinking of closing it down.

Karim, its manager, says he invested all of his savings of almost $50,000 (£29,950) into the place.

"My business was doing well during the past weeks and I was hopeful," he told me as we were sitting in his empty restaurant: "Now look around. Nobody comes, and I'm still paying for rent, electricity, staff and security."

He has dismissed all his waiters until the further notice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26057710

[flipflop]

Went past it today for the first time since coming back off leave, and took this. That's some presidential candidate's mush on the wriggly tin, obviously going for the recently deceased vote. Eating gaffes are going out of business next, no cunt is eating out anymore. I believe the Flower Street Cafe has/is just about to go under



Cheers

[south_sea_bubble]

10 years

https://www.passportstamps.net/p/the-ni ... d-in-kabul

[seektravelinfo]

10 years

https://www.passportstamps.net/p/the-ni ... d-in-kabul

10 years ago. Wow. The heady days of Kabul denigrated in such an ugly way. So much death. SMH.

I liked FlipFlop. We weren’t compatriots in a political sense but had some good DM conversations while he was stationed there as a private contractor. An interesting man. I miss him and wonder how he’s doing now. Hate that he and Nowonmai were banned here. Those were different days and I think we’re all wrung out now.