A former soldier who left Fife to set up home in Afghanistan has told how expatriates living there have gone to ground following the death of Osama bin Laden.
David James, who lived in Brunton, near Cupar, is based in Kabul where he is establishing a social enterprise programme to help Afghan women.
While he said the killing by US Special Forces of the terrorist responsible for the 9/11 attacks in America and the July 7 bombings had had little impact on daily life for Afghans, for foreigners there was fear of al Qaeda sympathisers planning revenge on westerners.
He told The Courier, “Here in Kabul it is business as usual. Sure, Bin Laden is a topic of conversation, but so is the weather and the price of fuel.”
However, he said, “The expats have gone to ground, and no doubt there are some al Qaeda sympathisers planning something somewhere, but for the rest of the population it is just another day.
“There is a heightened alert state at the moment anyway as the Taliban have announced their spring offensive, but this only really affects the ex-pats because the Afghans have to earn a living whatever the threat state.”
David served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and decided he wanted to help its people.
In 2008 he moved to the Wakhan Corridor, in the far northeast by the Hindu Kush mountains.
There he set up Mountain Unity, a social enterprise project that markets the area to mountaineers and provides jobs. Last year he relocated to Kabul to expand the project.
Living among the Afghan people, he has made many friends and become acquainted with the country’s culture and politics.
He believes Bin Laden’s death will mark the beginning of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, but fears that that will hamper the country’s development.
He said, “From my point of view I think the demise of Osama bin Laden provides a sense of closure and a better context for US military disengagement from Afghanistan.
“I would predict that the US will use this event to justify the beginning of the draw down as timetabled for July 2011 and US combat troops will have all gone by 2014.
“Without US military protection the US development effort will also draw down, which will present a real conundrum for the Afghan government that gets most of its budget from the Americans.”
Image used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user babasteve.