What's a Better Place to Live, Kabul or Peshawar?

[khushal]

In Peshawar, I was nervous especially traveling at night. My Pashto Accent easily puts me from FATA or Afghanistan and people are wary of people from there.

I felt pretty safe in Kabul even at night. My accent is local so people aren't wary. The checkpoints are there to prevent vehicular suicide bombings of important targets. The police are very polite and helpful.

[Samandri]

First check the hospitals in Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Mazar, and Herat cities of Afghanistan and then think whether its wise to live in those cities.

[Firdousi]

First check the hospitals in Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Mazar, and Herat cities of Afghanistan and then think whether its wise to live in those cities.

Our hospitals are average and in general worse than Pakistan´s. Thats why wealthy Afghans move to India in order to get treated. But we have something that beats Pakistan: better educational system. One of the first measures taken by the Afghan government when the Taliban were toppled was to rebuild the educational system.

Despite being a war-torn country Afghanistan has managed to create a strong educational system at least in urban areas. Most of kids in Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Kandahar or Mazar attend schools, with good teachers (many of them women), and so on. 13 million kids are attending school right now that means almost half of the country is studying. Afghanistan literacy rate has raised just in few years from 31% (2011) to 39% (2015). It was 15% in 2001. Not bad for a war ravaged land. Many Afghans can even speak fluently Western languages such as French and English. Our president speaks fluently 5 languages. Our CEO speaks 3 languages. Even an old mujahid like Sayyaf speaks five languages. Most of politicians and presidents in the Western world cant speak more than their native language.

I am quite confident about Afghanistan´s educational system. Its improving so fast. We might become an educational hub in the coming two to three decades. Very few people in the region value education as much as Afghans. With education everything will improve.

[Firdousi]

There are some fields that Afghanistan has a lot of potential and will enhance our cities and make them as good as other regional countries. We are also involved in several projects that will make cities better places.

Afghanistan might become in the coming decades a transit hub. Our country is located in the middle of Asia, right between Iran/ME, CAR´s/Russia, China and India/Pakistan. More trade will lead to more wealth. At this point we all know that along trade routes do not travel just goods but also ideas.

Secondly, Afghanistan´s energy sector will boom in the coming years. Several dams being built along Pakistan and Iranian borders will help us not just to give better electricity to our cities but even to export them to neighboring countries.

Third, refugees. All these refugees coming back from Iran, Pakistan, UAE and the West, will try their best to make our cities better. After all they all are coming from places were cities are cleaner and better planned than ours so they wont just sit idly but try to live in place as good as those they used to live in.

Fourth, regional projects such as TAPI or CASA, will definitely improve life quality in cities by providing energy and electricity.

Five: urban planning. I lived in UAE for several years so I know how important is urban planification is for a city. Dubai was entirely built by Anglos so its a functional city. Sharjah the neighboring city was built by Egyptians and its a mess with the worst traffic i have ever experienced in my life. I have noticed that in Afghanistan many huge buildings were built in almost every corner with no planning nor respect for harmony. This must be fixed.

Six: new cities. Several urban projects such as Ayn Mina in Kandahar or Kabul´s New City project will definitely help our cities. Just check this video out and see how Kabul might look in the coming years. Its a video from few years ago but in case the government decides to go for it it will make Kabul a beautiful place:

Parcel 1, Phase 1 of Kabul New City-CRIDA - YouTube

Seven: love for gardens (baghs). Gardens are part of our culture. No nation loves more baghs than Afghans.

And last but not least, better governance. We have already witnessed that under Ghani´s government warlordism has been badly decimated. Better educated people are running things now. Just compare current minister of water and energy, Ali Ahmad Osmani, a well known engineer with the last minister under Karzai: Ismael Khan.

All these factors will bring a lot of wealth to Afghanistan. We will be able to handle and manage our resources way better. Unfortunately corruption is endemic but I am confident lot of our resources will be used to improve roads, schools, hospitals, and so on. All our cities are better now than 15 years ago. At this rate our cities will keep improving while other regional countries are not working on their cities at all.

But Afghansitan should not emulate the West. Western urban planning destroys our own cultural harmony. Just check this article out and you will see:

How Western Urban Planning Fueled War in the Middle East | The American Conservative

[Traveller]

Our hospitals are average and in general worse than Pakistan´s. Thats why wealthy Afghans move to India in order to get treated. But we have something that beats Pakistan: better educational system. One of the first measures taken by the Afghan government when the Taliban were toppled was to rebuild the educational system.

Despite being a war-torn country Afghanistan has managed to create a strong educational system at least in urban areas. Most of kids in Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Kandahar or Mazar attend schools, with good teachers (many of them women), and so on. 13 million kids are attending school right now that means almost half of the country is studying. Afghanistan literacy rate has raised just in few years from 31% (2011) to 39% (2015). It was 15% in 2001. Not bad for a war ravaged land. Many Afghans can even speak fluently Western languages such as French and English. Our president speaks fluently 5 languages. Our CEO speaks 3 languages. Even an old mujahid like Sayyaf speaks five languages. Most of politicians and presidents in the Western world cant speak more than their native language.

I am quite confident about Afghanistan´s educational system. Its improving so fast. We might become an educational hub in the coming two to three decades. Very few people in the region value education as much as Afghans. With education everything will improve.

I’ve heard stories of Pakistani pashtun school teachers(especially English teachers) moving to Kabul because the schools there pay higher salaries. If the Afghan government puts that much investment into education then I’m sure Afghanistan has the potential for a bright future once the fighting ends.

[Firdousi]

I’ve heard stories of Pakistani pashtun school teachers(especially English teachers) moving to Kabul because the schools there pay higher salaries. If the Afghan government puts that much investment into education then I’m sure Afghanistan has the potential for a bright future once the fighting ends.

I read once in Kabul a graffiti on a wall. It said something like this in Farsi: "Afghanistan is a flower that will blossom in peace". Afghanistan has made remarkable progress despite being sandwiched between hostile untrustworthy snake neighbors, ethnic and sectarian polarization, corruption, foreign occupation, bad governance, illiteracy, people moving massively into urban areas, civil war, and so on. Just imagine what we can achieve when fighting ends.

We do not realize it, but Afghanistan has been already rebuilt. I know for us Afghans living in the West this is a bit hard to comprehend but behind all the bad news and problems that Afghanistan faces on a daily basis, people are living their life. They get married, they start businesses, they hang out with their friends, they divorce, they visit their elders and neighbors, they have phones, tv´s, internet. They travel to Iran, Pakistan, China or UAE, they have media, gyms, roads, new hospitals, schools and so on.

We need to understand Afghanistan in its own context. When I was a kid, the road between Herat and the Iranian border (110km) in Islam Qala/Doogharoon was awful. Most of it was not even paved. It took us hours to reach the border. Nowadays that road is paved. It takes you one hour from Herat to the border. There are even transport companies operating between Mashad and Herat. The railway between both places is about to be completed. Same thing for Kabul-Jalalabad road, or the Salang Pass. When I was a kid and my parents wanted to talk with my relatives, they had to go the mukhabarat in order to talk to them. Nowadays we talk on whatsapp or skype. Afghan internet connection is way better than Iran´s and i believe Pakistan´s. Afghanistan is the only country in the region with a free media. I mean people can go to the tv and openly talk against the government and even the warlords. In very few Islamic countries the media can operate in this way. And so on.

We need to acknowledge the huge achievements Afghanistan has made. I know for us in the West it seems petty and there is a long way to go. Still Afghanistan is in the right path toward development if war ends. Right now most of our energy is focused on ending the war. Once it ends we divert it on more positive things.

[jama0112]

Our hospitals are average and in general worse than Pakistan´s. Thats why wealthy Afghans move to India in order to get treated. But we have something that beats Pakistan: better educational system. One of the first measures taken by the Afghan government when the Taliban were toppled was to rebuild the educational system.

Despite being a war-torn country Afghanistan has managed to create a strong educational system at least in urban areas. Most of kids in Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Kandahar or Mazar attend schools, with good teachers (many of them women), and so on. 13 million kids are attending school right now that means almost half of the country is studying. Afghanistan literacy rate has raised just in few years from 31% (2011) to 39% (2015). It was 15% in 2001. Not bad for a war ravaged land. Many Afghans can even speak fluently Western languages such as French and English. Our president speaks fluently 5 languages. Our CEO speaks 3 languages. Even an old mujahid like Sayyaf speaks five languages. Most of politicians and presidents in the Western world cant speak more than their native language.

I am quite confident about Afghanistan´s educational system. Its improving so fast. We might become an educational hub in the coming two to three decades. Very few people in the region value education as much as Afghans. With education everything will improve.

I'm happy t hear that all hopeisn't lost in Afghanistan, but why do we need to learn french as well? It isn't a language used aroud the whole world, while it's used in countries such as Morrocco or Vietnam?

[khushal]

I’ve heard stories of Pakistani pashtun school teachers(especially English teachers) moving to Kabul because the schools there pay higher salaries. If the Afghan government puts that much investment into education then I’m sure Afghanistan has the potential for a bright future once the fighting ends.

Thats because of inflation in Kabul. The US has pumped so much USD cash into Kabul, that everything is over inflated. There are many Pakistani and Indian engineers that come to Kabul because of higher salaries but the management ie gov is corrupt so they use poor quality materials on infrastructure and steal the money filling up their pockets. Most roads last 2 years and then start to break down because they didnt use proper materials. The raods that were built by Turkey are the only roads that have lasted, all the other ones are torn apart.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/after-billions-in-us-investment-afghan-roads-are-falling-apart/2014/01/30/9bd07764-7986-11e3-b1c5-739e63e9c9a7_story.html?utm_term=.156cfcaa4f3a

Also the educational system is a fraud. Most schools have ghost students. They get money from Western gov and Aid agencies per student so they inflate the number of students to get more Aid and they mostly steal the money, they dont spend it on the education system.
Ghost schools and goats: 16 years of U.S. taxpayer waste in Afghanistan - Chicago Tribune

They call Madoff the biggest ponzi scheme in history. they are wrong. The biggest ponzi scheme in history is the US occupation of Afghanistan. They have stolen more US treasury money here than they spent on the reconstruction of Europe after WW2.

[khushal]

The Kabul of old before the war was mostly western looking/dressed people as opposed to today where the Afghans actually look like Afghans with the exceptions. I haven’t been to Kabul in a while but when I was there last I was pleasantly surprised at the decent infrastructure, people were pretty nice, food was great, and I felt safe. I have never been to Peshawar and have no desire to ever go there. For all the Loy Afghanistan stuff, the idea of going to Peshawar to me is like going to Delhi.

Afghans actually get better treatment in Delhi than in Peshawar. Most Afghans that I know who travel to India give positive feedback of their treatment. In peshawar, if youre Afghan, youre basically a target of nonstop harassment.

[jama0112]

Afghans actually get better treatment in Delhi than in Peshawar. Most Afghans that I know who travel to India give positive feedback of their treatment. In peshawar, if youre Afghan, youre basically a target of nonstop harassment.

Really? Is it because "afghans and indians against pakis" issue or something else? I mean, isn't Peshawar majority pahstun?

[khushal]

Really? Is it because "afghans and indians against pakis" issue or something else? I mean, isn't Peshawar majority pahstun?

Paki Pashtuns are too much into Paki Zindabad.

[Elias]

I’ve heard stories of Pakistani pashtun school teachers(especially English teachers) moving to Kabul because the schools there pay higher salaries. If the Afghan government puts that much investment into education then I’m sure Afghanistan has the potential for a bright future once the fighting ends.

That is true for private schools in Kabul but the ones owned by gov don't pay the teachers good.

[maneatinglizard]

Afghans actually get better treatment in Delhi than in Peshawar. Most Afghans that I know who travel to India give positive feedback of their treatment. In peshawar, if youre Afghan, youre basically a target of nonstop harassment.

Indians love Afghans for some reason. The Indian government is also sucking up to Afghanistan because it wants to use us against Pakistan.