[Tyncneiff]

First off let’s get one thing straight here.

Not all the violence in Afghanistan is caused by the Taliban. The reports that I am getting are saying that this attack on the medical workers was a robbery not an antigovernment elements attack. The Taliban are naturally quick to claim credit for any attacks by robbers as their own and the press is just as quick to believe these claims.

Afghanistan is pretty much a lawless place where there is extreme poverty and lots of weapons. Add in that the local population knows that the average expat is usually walking around with more cash than he will see in a year of honest labour and you get a place where there are a lot of robberies.

These aid workers drive into remote areas with no guards or weapons. In fact they are proud of the fact that they have stickers in their vehicles stating that the vehicles do not carry weapons. They think that this will save them by not provoking some starving guy with a gun who wants to rob them. I think that these no gun stickers just say “rob me, I cannot shoot back so you will not get hurt when you shoot me.”

Personally I do not drive outside my construction camp in Afghanistan without about 12 armed guards, plus the weapons that I carry myself. I simply do not fully trust anyone who can walk home from the fight.