Sunday Morning Cartoons From Afghanistan!
Sunday is most definitely not a day of rest in Afghanistan, but I know all my readers in the US and elsewhere like to sit back with some coffee and enjoy a good cartoon on a Sunday morning.
To that end I’ve collected a couple of cartoons that ran in local newspapers (and a magazine) here. The first one appears in Killid Weekly, a news magazine that comes out on Saturdays, the beginning of the work week here.
- “I do all the work, he gets all the credit”
The above cartoon refers to how foreign companies, hired by the UN or military to complete a big project, hire Afghans and make them do all the work while the foreigners make all the money. There is truth to this, but I’ve also seen plenty of instances where the Americans/Brits/Aussies/whoever do all the work and the Afghans sit around and drink chai. I’ve also seen examples of a company landing a big, fat contract (I’m talking millions) and nobody–local or foreign–does any work at all. So let’s just say that the way these contracts are handed out and monitored is, um, problematic. (I do love the man-boobs on “Mr. Jhon,” though.)
Another ‘toon after the jump…
- “If the first brick is lain incorrectly, the entire building will be crooked”
This cartoon refers to Afghan President Karzai using builders and engineers from Pakistan and Iran (notice a theme today?) That’s Karzai in the little hat, sitting atop the staircase to nowhere. The cement and bricks (pictured right) are coming from Pakistan and the planners (on the left) are coming from Iran. Also, the power lines are running in from
Tajikistan in the north, where Afghanistan spends $198 million a year keeping what few lightbulbs this country has, turned on.
The saying in the thought-bubble (I’ve translated it in the caption) is a traditional Afghan proverb. In this case, it is referring to the Karzai government being less than stable and essentially built on a poor foundation
Look closely at the bottom of the frame and you’ll be able to see the weather report for Afghanistan today. If you read Dhari, that is.
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