Proof of P.J.

I got into Kabul yesterday afternoon to a warm welcome from my j-school buddy Martin Patience. Martin is Scottish and works for BBC here in Kabul doing radio and TV. He’s a very talented young journalist and exceptionally generous, offering me a place to stay at the BBC house for the two days that I’m here.

BBC house is a lovely little villa in a bustling neighborhood in Kabul. There’s a wood-fired stove in the living room and as I’m writing this, an Afghan housekeeper sets a proper tea service before me so I can enjoy a morning chai.

Last night we went to dinner at an amazing restaurant tucked away off a wide boulevard in Kabul. A guard, armed with an AK-47 stood watch out front, while we enjoyed a traditional Afghan meal inside. Everybody at the table was a foreign correspondent except for a young woman named Eva who is a German academic doing research here for her PhD.

As we ate, a couple of musicians sat in the corner playing some local folk tunes on instruments that I can’t name.

When the meal was over, the waiter brought out hukas and we smoked and talked about this country and the U.S. adventure herein. Everybody toasted my good fortune at landing a story in WaPo and they shared their own wonderful tales of covering conflict and humanity abroad.

After returning home, Martin and I raided the BBC beer cellar, which also doubles as a safe room during rocket attacks.

I woke this morning—in an actual bed for the first time in a month—and the house was going nuts. President Bush made a surprise visit to Kabul this morning and Martin was already on the phone with London giving an interview for the talking heads there.

I’m staying out of the way and working on pitches for some other stories that I reported during my embed.

Tonight we’re going to hit some local drinking spots, which should be quite an adventure. I think I smell another Modern Drunkard feature.

Hi all.

Sorry I went blackout for the last week or so. I’ve been working on a story, and as Gabe wrote, I was worried I would scoop myself. The story was published today on page B1 of The Washington Post. It’s an exclusive, I was the only media present. I have already recieved a lot of feedback about it, and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts as well. I’m about to end my embed and head to Kabul to party with Martin Patience of the BBC, who I went to j-school with.

I’ll post more from there.

Here’s a link. Enjoy.

Hello readers,

This is your friendly neighborhood backup blogerator. Just wanted everyone to know that our feerless reporter is hot on the trail of a big time story. With his minimal internet connection, he doesn’t have the capacity to fill us in, plus he doesn’t want to scoop himself, but when the story goes live, you’ll all be the first to hear.

gk