A series of peace activities were scheduled in Kabul in response to the International Day of Peace. Even the Taliban acknowledged the day and promised a cease fire in respect to the day's intentions to bring a hault to violence. UN vehicles proudly drove the streets of Kabul with blue and white doves symbolizing the event and loads of preparation went into preparation for the event. I'm sure the money could not have been spent in any other well deserving capacity. Nevertheless, a series of events ensued including a kite flying event at the UN's compound on Jalabad Road. Oh how proud Khaled Hosseini would be in that the title of his well-known book, the Kite Runner, did indeed live up to its expectations. Of course there was no kite fights or cutting involved.It did leave us with a good feeling after the event, maybe just in that it lifted the monotony of our daily lives on the compound. As I walked back to my office a very large explosion could be heard. Usually this is followed by a SMS text informing you that it was only a test--what exactly they were testing I was always curious of. Sometimes at 11pm I would hear machine gun fire and explosions and these sounds would always fall into the background with the reassurance of receiving that beloved SMS telling you it was only a test.
But that day it was not a test. Rather it was a suicide attack on a NATO convoy led by the Italians. I believe 9 total were killed. One, as we later learned, was the brother of a dear colleague of mine. He was on holiday from Pakistan visiting his family in Kabul.
We initally learned the news over lunch. The head of engineering and a security officer I was with began received text messages informing them to do a head count on staff--to track any UN victims. I was always amazed by the poise of the security officer. He very calmly finished his sandwich, stood up and steadily excused himself telling us he was going to go freak out.
I returned to the office and my manager was nowhere to be found--not surprising--so we had to account for all on our own. All were there except for one colleague who we knew was to be going to the Indian Embassy that day to get a visa. That being the location near to where the bombing took place. I called her number to check if she was okay--no answer. I tried to reassure myself that she was okay--that she did not answer because they had cut the telephone lines. IED (Improvised Exploding Devices) are often set off by mobile phones. If there is an attack, a nearby military convoy or threat of explosion the lines are cut to prevent detonation.
We all sat in our office tensely for what seemed forever and we then heard the click clack of our colleagues heels. She had missed the blast entirely and we carried on with our day as we always did. Put that event on the back burner. No time to think about it as another event would come. This was our reality.
As an addendum, this did not happen on the scheduled International Day of Peace--but did occur during Peace Week. The Taliban held true to their promise and no such event occurred on 9/21/2009.
