JULY 16, 2008 Was I scared arriving in Afghanistan this morning? Hell, yes! I had to get to the airport in Dubai at 5am and discovered that flights to "dodgy" places in the world such as Kabul and Bahgdad go from a terminal that is distinctly less fancy and is a 20 minute drive from the main terminal (I went to the wrong place...)
I sat in the terminal staring at crowds of Afghan men. These were the people who have dominated the media for the past few years - flat caps, scarves wrapped in turban style on their heads, waistcoats... And then there were "tough guys" - American and European men dressed in military fatigues. I guessed these were mainly private security contractors working in Afghanistan. There were very, very few women in this terminal...
I was full of apprehension but excited about my work in Afghanistan - I will be conducting interviews with civilians around the country to try to lobby for a better system of compensation payments for war-affected civilians. I am working with my friend Erica, who is a field-staff member for CIVIC (http://civicworldwide.org). We were both at Harvard Law together.
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