Western army supplies turning up in Afghan bazaars
Sunday March 18, 2007 (0230 PST)
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KABUL: Packets of ready-made omlettes, catering-size bottles of American sauces, even alcohol and pork forbidden in Islam -- items somehow pilfered from foreign military bases or internationals-only stores are making an appearance in Kabul markets.
Shelves of the small shops in Bush Market, near the dirty stream that the Kabul River has become, are packed with jumbo-sized containers of products that are sometimes unfamiliar to the shopkeepers and jar with their surroundings.
Pink bottles of sun cream stand near gleaming cans of antiseptic aerosol; there are Christmas stockings, bagels, horseradish and tins and tins of Quaker Oats.
"Pork?" a shopkeeper asks a foreigner in a sly whisper, gesturing to a soggy box on the dirty pavement.
Another asks for help in identifying packets of thawing meat which turn out to be Bratwurst and veal, according to small labels written in English.
Disassembled military MREs -- Meals Ready to Eat for troops in the field -- are sorted into boxes near packets of crab sticks and huge blocks of Dutch chocolate.
In one dim store hangs an old copy of Cosmopolitan magazine, its risque cover turned to the wall; elsewhere issues of army publication Freedom Watch are tossed on the floor and military ID pouches dangle in a window.
A shopkeeper standing next to a pile of canteen-style mealtrays is asked where the items come from. "Frankly, they are stolen," he says with a shrug and a grin.
Another trader, Mohammed Najib, adds: "They are smuggled out (of the military bases) by laundry workers, kitchen workers. Or food is given away when they don't need it, like expired stuff. And stuff that is left in the garbage, the workers bring out."
Sometimes goods are "gifted" to workers after they have offloaded trucks at the military stores, another says.
"We are not stealing -- we buy it from someone," he says.
Western beauty and health products are favoured over available Chinese and Pakistani versions because they are considered better quality, Najib says. Foreigners and returned exiles are among his customers.
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Sunday March 18, 2007 (0230 PST)
Article Link
KABUL: Packets of ready-made omlettes, catering-size bottles of American sauces, even alcohol and pork forbidden in Islam -- items somehow pilfered from foreign military bases or internationals-only stores are making an appearance in Kabul markets.
Shelves of the small shops in Bush Market, near the dirty stream that the Kabul River has become, are packed with jumbo-sized containers of products that are sometimes unfamiliar to the shopkeepers and jar with their surroundings.
Pink bottles of sun cream stand near gleaming cans of antiseptic aerosol; there are Christmas stockings, bagels, horseradish and tins and tins of Quaker Oats.
"Pork?" a shopkeeper asks a foreigner in a sly whisper, gesturing to a soggy box on the dirty pavement.
Another asks for help in identifying packets of thawing meat which turn out to be Bratwurst and veal, according to small labels written in English.
Disassembled military MREs -- Meals Ready to Eat for troops in the field -- are sorted into boxes near packets of crab sticks and huge blocks of Dutch chocolate.
In one dim store hangs an old copy of Cosmopolitan magazine, its risque cover turned to the wall; elsewhere issues of army publication Freedom Watch are tossed on the floor and military ID pouches dangle in a window.
A shopkeeper standing next to a pile of canteen-style mealtrays is asked where the items come from. "Frankly, they are stolen," he says with a shrug and a grin.
Another trader, Mohammed Najib, adds: "They are smuggled out (of the military bases) by laundry workers, kitchen workers. Or food is given away when they don't need it, like expired stuff. And stuff that is left in the garbage, the workers bring out."
Sometimes goods are "gifted" to workers after they have offloaded trucks at the military stores, another says.
"We are not stealing -- we buy it from someone," he says.
Western beauty and health products are favoured over available Chinese and Pakistani versions because they are considered better quality, Najib says. Foreigners and returned exiles are among his customers.
More on link
watchs in the souks and markets. Much of the 'western' items are copied crap.
