Zanzirgul

I was gonna write about the progress we (the US) have made regarding torture and detention in Afghanistan, but I haven’t finished Descent into Chaos (the most appropriately named book I have ever read) yet and would like to do so before opining. So instead I decided to write about Zanzirgul (Zanzir). 

Originally from Jalalabad, Zanzir has been a driver for my NGO since the beginning, so for over seven years. Zanzir has a house and family in Jalalabad, which he visits on the weekends. He tells me it abuts a river, has a giant yard, and that it is beautiful. While Kabul is the most happening place in Afghanistan, Afghans generally consider it an ugly city and province. The places considered pretty are Herat, Mazar and Jalalabad. I’m looking forward to visiting them and breathing clean air. 

Anyway, since I live at the office with the drivers and guards, Zanzir has turned out to be my best friend here. If I’m not walking, Zanzir is driving me. In the last couple of days, he helped me clean out a filthy ‘unused’ toilet, so I can do my business someplace comfortingly clean and private, and we went shopping for a wood burning stove for my room. Before I bought this bokhari I was pretty frigging cold, and it has turned into my new love interest, as it keeps me warm at night and regularly burns me. 

Zanzir’s life story is pretty ordinary for an Afghan his age, though he has some neat personal quirks. He is 35 years old, married to his cousin, and has three kids with her. He dreams of immigrating to Hungary, telling me that the mountains there are green without being too wild. He likes strong women and judges them based on how wide their shoulders are. While watching Indian TV shows or driving down the street, he often shoves me and says, “Look at her shoulders,” then winks and smiles. He understands that we have different tastes in women but sees no validity in my preferences. 

He has been married over 15 years and described his wife to me, while his hands outlined what appeared to be a 250 lbs football player. He tells me that growing up, his wife could always take him at wrestling. In fact, when he fell in love with another woman and asked his father if he could marry her, his father (who felt protective towards his brother’s daughter) told him that on the day he manages to beat his wife at wrestling, he could go forth and marry the other woman. Zanzir didn’t even attempt it. Mind you, in a completely different conversation, the other drivers and guards told me that Zanzir is an accomplished wrestler. 

At the age of 16, Zanzir was conscripted into what was then the Communist regime’s military. He made an impression and was sent to Czechoslovakia in 1991, to be trained as a tank driver. He came back just in time for the fall of the Communist regime and the takeover and butchery by the various Mujahideen leaders. While the Russians had been terrible, the total and comprehensive civil war that the Mujahideen engaged in drove out many Afghans. Zanzir left for India and then Pakistan. When the Taliban succeeded in driving the warlords out of Kabul and the surrounding area, they stuck Zanzir’s father in prison and killed his uncle. Zanzir doesn’t really want me to go into detail about this stuff. He doesn’t want people to feel sorry for him. Suffice it to say, he has no love for the Taliban or their ideals. Within weeks of their overthrow, he returned to Afghanistan looking for his father and uncle. 

So, lets recap. Zanzir doesn’t like the Communists or the Russians. He ran away from the Mujahideen, and his family suffered under the Taliban. What’s his view of the current government and the foreigners? He thinks the US is here because it’s a great place to keep tabs on all the scary neighbors Afghanistan has and that the current government will twist and cheat the law to keep itself in power even after its term expires. He also thinks that the US will continue to support this government no matter what level of corruption or incompetence they show; since its easier for them and suits their interests. 

At least he doesn’t think we perpetrated 9/11 ourselves or with the aid of the Israelis like some other people I spoke to (two engineers, a doctor, a general and my lawyer friend). Those fellows also spoke kindly about Ahmadinejad, sending me into an ill-advised (I was a guest at their house) rant on human rights and the idiocy of supporting a crazy person just because he stands up to Israel and the West. 

As most of my friends know, I passed the Foreign Service exam and have been stuck at the security clearance stage for some time now. But regardless of whether my government trusts me enough to be a US diplomat, I’m going to engage in some vigorous public diplomacy in my time here. It looks like they need the help, whether they realize it or not.