roads

The assumption seems to be that it won't rain. There are a lot of improvised electrical connections (see below) exposed to the elements, and big mounds of cement powder beside the ubiquitous roadside construction sites. In some cases it seems that rain did hit unexpectedly, turning the mounds rock solid and adding to traffic woes. Though there's work being done all day all over town, it seems that they're mostly digging trenches for the wide, deep, open gutters or doing construction on private property. Outside of the main thoroughfares, there are not so much roads in the positive sense as unbuilt spaces between gutters. 10 years and who knows how many billions of dollars of development aid have come here, and the roads in front of the aid organizations' headquarters in the capital still haven't been paved.

I've never experienced traffic like in Kabul. I've been in traffic about as slow and frustrating, but never where we were constantly backing up for incoming traffic coming down a single lane (nothing is marked as one way that I have seen, and I'm not sure it would matter if it were) or pulling to the side right just about to tip over the edge of the open gutter so they could squeeze past us with a scrape. 

Unfortunately I didn't have my phone out when former presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah walked by with his entourage, picking his way through the idling Toyotas. I've noticed that Toyota is far and away the top brand here, whether for sedans, SUVs or pickups. I've noticed just a few Nissans, Mercedes, and one VW Beetle. I had kinda been expecting to see Fords and Chevys everywhere.

Most expats avoid the marked "local taxis" for fear of kidnapping, instead using call-for-pickup driving services that charge a flat rate of $5 or 250 afghani per neighborhood traversed. They accept US dollars just about everywhere expensive, and you actually get a better exchange rate (50:1) paying for your clothes and meals in dollars than you do from roadside or office money changers (48:1).