I’ve been irked lately by the increasing attention Afghanistan is getting as a reemerging tourist destination. Yes, some visitors are returning to Kabul. But in the south of the country, the war is still being fought, and recent travelers’ reports of cheery residents beginning to pick up the pieces are much harder to find. So I was pleased to find a dissenting perspective in David Common’s recent dispatch from Kandahar, where NATO troops are still involved in heavy fighting and the Taliban sometimes seems to be gaining ground.

"Cameraman Marc Robichaud and I dashed in to Kandahar City the other day,” Common writes. “I say dashed because that’s exactly what you have to do. The city is a very dangerous place for westerners so when we go, it’s a short visit. No time to visit the dry cleaners, if you catch my drift.”

The two journalists were in the city to visit Mirwais hospital, where they found “patients in the hallways, overcrowding, and general despair.” But the hospital had improved drastically from when Common first visited five years ago: “It’s miles from perfect but it is an improvement. That can’t be said a lot these days in southern Afghanistan and probably should be when it can.”

The dispatch includes photos and video, and an interesting description of life at Kandahar Airfield, the main base in the area, where amenities like a Burger King and a duty-free store make for a strange contrast with the hospital scene. Of course I look forward to hearing someday that Kandahar is a perfectly safe place to visit, and that tourists are flocking there. In the meantime, it’s worth remembering that not everyone in the country is out buying strappy high-heeled sandals just yet.

Related on World Hum:
* Travels in Afghanistan: ‘This is no Ordinary Vacation’
* Recalling Afghanistan and a Father’s Wanderlust
* Lonely Planet Publishes Guidebook to...Afghanistan?

Photo by mknobil via Flickr, (Creative Commons).