A rather interesting article in the Independent about the Chinese 'restaurants' in Kabul. They cater more to the diplomatic and NGO corps, and in addition to serving food, the skimpily-clad Chinese ladies in the restaurants also offer themselves as prostitutes. The Afghan Interior Ministry has arrested 46 of them. Presumably they were deported, shipped north to Afghanistan's very short 76km border with China, or flown back.

There is an uproar, of course, with the blame predictably going to the West. Let us set aside queries of how prostitution can be so widespread in China, a country which is starting to have a significant male-female imbalance. Prostitution, while underground, has always existed in Afghanistan. And allow me to disabuse anyone who believes that a highly religious Islamic society Afghanistan's could not also contain the world's oldest profession. I remember while I was travelling in Iran, there was an article in the Iranian English daily about how in Iran's holiest city, Mashad, two dozen local prostitutes were arrested. One dubious fellow, I remember, in Kerman, actually offered me his sister. I demurred. When I was in Pakistan, one chuffed local gent told me about his exploits with dancing girls in, this instance, the amusingly-named city of Lahore.

But really this is an economic issue. What makes Afghanistan different from Iran or a city like Lahore, is that there are probably far fewer people that can afford such 'luxuries' (and certainly compared to Kabul before the Russian revolution), or, in the case of women, earn a living off of the profession. That there are wealthy men in Kabul is evidenced by the 'steady stream' of local clientele. It's just a shame that asking for the nearest Chinese restaurant in Afghanistan takes on an entirely dodgy new meaning.