I think over the last 12 years there’s been tremendous progress because NATO has been able to create a sense of security that there wasn’t even before the Taliban. How do you think foreign forces have been able to help in Afghanistan, and have they in some ways made the conflict worse? Back in 20, foreign journalists were a huge ex-pat community because everybody was there at the time and so there were places that foreigners go restaurants, bars, that we would hang out, but not so much anymore. But even my colleagues at the New York Times said that they don’t often go out anymore. I’m just more aware because of my own experience. You can’t just go for a walk as a foreigner unless you want to wear a burka. That’s just over seven years, who knows what will happen going forward but I really noticed that fewer people walking on the street. You’re patted down if you are a woman and go through a metal detector if you are a man. You can’t even drive up to the hotel, you have to get dropped off in the middle of the street and knock on a steel gate and then you go through the whole security screening. The Serena is very heavily fortified after several attacks on the hotel. I was staying at the Serena Hotel and I could hail a cab if I wanted to. This is a tough question because I just got back almost two weeks ago from my last trip and I was telling somebody the other day about my first trip to Kabul in 2007. What have you seen change most significantly? You visited Afghanistan in both 20, but you recently went back. In the second of three installments, this Q & A highlights Fung’s worries about Afghanistan’s future. She recently returned from a visit to Afghanistan and is committed to telling more stories about the people and their everyday battles.įung stopped by Mount Royal University earlier this month and sat down with the Calgary Journal editorial board. To this day, she insists her experience “was nothing” compared to what Afghani women experience. IFung was thrust into the international spotlight when she was abducted by armed men for 29 days in 2008.

Former CBC journalist Mellissa Fung reported in Afghanistan in 20 and was a first-hand witness to the country’s struggles.

Under an Afghan Sky by Mellissa Fung