By Mark Memmott

What's it like for a Westerner to live in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the traditional seat of power and influence for the Taliban?

In the latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine, researchers Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn write about the trade-offs they have to make.

On the one hand, for instance, a trip outside the center of the city could provide wonderful, first-hand research into the way people live. But there's the downside, they write: "We might be captured, beheaded, or worse."

They are, the men add, "the only two Westerners living permanently in Kandahar without blast walls and intrusive security restrictions to protect us." And that leads to "a mix of isolation, boredom, disarmingly potent realizations, and outright depression in the face of what is happening" as violence increases.

All Things Considered co-host Michele Norris has talked with Alex Strick van Linschoten. Their conversation is set for today's broadcast. At one point, the researcher talks about how people in Kandahar -- including government officials -- routinely deal with members of the Taliban:

That willingness to deal with the fundamentalists, he adds, stems from the attitude among many in Kandahar that after soldiers from the U.S. and its allies leave the Taliban will still be there. So conversations, even with those who may want to kill you, continue:

Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts ATC.

categories: Afghanistan

2:25 - November 4, 2009

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