Before and after meeting with the leaders of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry today, I did a little shopping around Kabul. In the morning I drove out to the bazaar (with a driver who spoke no English, so we communicated in broken Russian and my handful of Persian words) and bought some clothes, then this afternoon I walked around and “stimulated” the Afghan carpet industry, which involved drinking tea and having a lot of carpets pulled out and displayed, followed by discussion of their merits and haggling over price. The photos taken on my computer (with Photo Booth) do not do them justice. These two are really beautiful. (I also went this evening before a dinner meeting with two classical liberal professors with whom I’m working to tour the renovation of the old part of Kabul undertaken by Turquoise Mountain. It was impressive — not only the “Peacock House,” but the improved conditions generally in those areas that have already been renovated in the traditional style.)
