It is difficult to convey how easy life is for those of us privileged to be in Kabul at this time. Some say it is like Saigon during the Vietnam War. There were lots of good times against a dramatic backdrop.

Like Saigon in the final days before the Viet Cong took over, you can see how the restaurants aren’t quite as busy as they were, the big projects – supported by institutions like USAID – are losing their funding, people are leaving, heading for the next big story. The large poppy palaces built in a Pakistani style that have mushroomed over the past several years have For Rent signs stuck up when once they would have had security companies and large NGOs as tenants.

House prices are down significantly from even last year. A friend is selling an old family house that has been restored. He has had to pay a $16,000.00 bribe in order to process the sale. If he doesn’t he was told he would have to wait two years before they would let the sale go through.

Security in Kabul is reasonable. Things are fine until they aren’t, but the mood is fairly gloomy, everyone is waiting. Just like the fall of Saigon in 1975 and the largest helicopter evacuation in history, everyone is waiting for that last chopper? flight out before the city goes dark.