“Sometimes I ask myself if it was my destiny to be born in a country where I, a woman, am considered no better than an animal. Then I answer myself that it is our responsibility as women to change the situation. No one is responsible for our right...
Continue readingThings always look different from the ground. Mention Kabul and immediately people think of it being the most dangerous city in the world. Many of us lived totally normal lives without any security, which is one of the reasons I decided to write ...
Continue reading
This week Malala Yousafzai became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which she shared with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian children’s rights activist. Malala catapulted to global fame after being shot in the head by the Taliban in Paki...
Continue readingI just listened to the very excellent Michael Semple, an Afghan expert, talking on the BBC about what the future holds for Afghanistan as its new administration tries to unite the country. As he says, Afghans have a very real war to fight, and th...
Continue readingThese days there is a vibrant discussion about the usefulness of foreign aid and whether it does more harm than good. Dambisa Moyo’s book Dead Aid seemed to start the conversation and it remains very relevant in terms of Afghanistan. What was cle...
Continue readingI always admired the skill with which Afghan women navigated the bumpy, rocky streets of the capital in heels regardless of the weather, the terrain or the muddy water that filled the omnipresent potholes. As a stiletto girl myself I thought I co...
Continue reading
That’s such a tricky word, but also such an important one. My guess is that many people who went to Afghanistan either as diplomats or soldiers or aid workers or journalists, all cared about the people and making the situation better. It’s what dr...
Continue reading
I’ve been posting about the people and places that meant so much to me when I was in Afghanistan, but I also wanted to give a little insight into what took me there and who I am. Like with so much in life, it was luck and a twist of fate. A frien...
Continue readingWhat I really enjoy about this section is the ability to write little insights into a few of the people I met in Afghanistan. A friend of mine shared his knowledge of some of his country’s more notorious characters, including Akbar Agha, a former...
Continue reading
Sometimes we get bogged down in stereotypes, and I was always happy to meet Afghans who did not conform, men and women who wanted and worked for a better Afghanistan. One of those was Janan Mosazai, who I am proud to say studied in Canada before ...
Continue reading
Heidi Kingstone, Copyright © 2025, All rights reserved.
MENU
Dispatches from the Kabul Café 
Genocide – Personal Stories, Big Questions 