Caucasians who work in Afghanistan say P…
Caucasians who work in Afghanistan say Phillip Smucker of the Asia Times is getting a little hyperbolic about the threat to white people there, where there is risk but many do work outside bases. Same goes for the Taliban, who Smucker says are “swarming in the valleys, hills and mountains of Pashtunistan this summer.”
Here’s a choice bit of Smucker:
First, the “bad guys”, along with Osama bin Laden’s trusted corps of advisors, are swarming in the valleys, hills and mountains of Pashtunistan this summer. A risk-averse, air-power-friendly US military has effectively surrendered the countryside over the past three years along the porous border. Calling this a “stalemate” is to smear lipstick on a pig.
If you doubt that, and you are a Caucasian, you might try taking a stroll outside the three-meter, sand-filled walls of any American base in eastern or southern Afghanistan. You’ll be abducted by armed men and whisked off to Pakistan in no time.
Yes, true, but there are a LOT of Caucasians spending a lot of time outside any HESCO barriers—even in places like Khost, Nangarhar, Kunar, and Kandahar. There is risk, to be sure, but that is just a ridiculous exaggeration. Smucker mis-serves his readers by being so Sebastian Junger about it.
Bryan Lammens and 
razib are discussing.
razib 7:46 pm on June 5, 2009 Permalink
this has to be how people dress. there are plenty of afghans who could pass easily as european. in fact western photographers love to find afghans with blue eyes and take pictures of them.
Bryan Lammens 8:46 pm on June 14, 2009 Permalink
I have to agree with Razib, I live in South London in a neighborhood with a large community of mostly afghans, iranians somali’s and algerian. its funny the first time I saw a chinese looking, an indian looking an a caucasian looking guys talking to each other in the same language, and I was so curious and intriguided that I asked them, ‘sorry mates, are you all from the same country?, Yes, afghanistan, was their answered. They are great people, and I have learned a lot talking with ‘em!
I also told ‘em! A lot about Belgium, my country.