Rachel Reid
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Ukraine: 'Moscow bombs boarding school'
This was the only five star hotel in Kabul. It drew a very high end middle class Afghan crowd and obviously all the foreigners in town. There would be some foreigners who would actually live there year round, some of the smaller embassies, for example, some of the military contractors. But for others, it was, I mean, it had an outdoor swimming pool.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine: 'Moscow bombs boarding school'
It was the epitome of everything that was wrong about the West. You know, an open-air swimming pool with one of the ministries overlooking, seeing people, women in particular, in swimming costumes. It was... kind of an outrage for a lot of Afghans locally, and yet a bit of a safe haven, a bit of a pretend other place to be for people who were living there year round without much to do, really.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine: 'Moscow bombs boarding school'
I mean, I would go and use it, but also be painfully aware of how wrong it was, really.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine: 'Moscow bombs boarding school'
It was in 2008 and 2014, very famously, two big attacks. The 2014 one, I remember really clearly, actually, because I'd been ill-advisedly made to stay there the night before by a security advisor, even though I thought it was much safer in low-profile places at the time.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine: 'Moscow bombs boarding school'
And it was attacked about an hour or two after I checked out by some very young Talibs who had managed to get past security with guns in their shoes and then killed lots of people, including a lovely Afghan journalist and his young family.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine: 'Moscow bombs boarding school'
Well, indeed, it will be really curious to see how they restyle it to become something that is something that they're very austere and fundamentalist version of Islam and they're very authoritarian rule based.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine: 'Moscow bombs boarding school'
can tolerate but they are on this bizarre tourism drive which of course you can you can see the need for it the the economy is absolutely shattered and they're on a propaganda drive they want to
Global News Podcast
Ukraine: 'Moscow bombs boarding school'
to be able to present an image of the country that is something at odds with this image they have as a pariah state with, you know, just last weekend, we had two of the most senior leaders with the ICC requesting warrants for their arrest for crimes against humanity.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine: 'Moscow bombs boarding school'
So there's something rather perverse about the idea that you might go on holiday there as if crimes against humanity are now a kind of a zoo you can go and look at to inspect and make your Facebook status updates that you've You've seen this place where women are effectively banned from the streets, from public life.