Indeed. The San Francisco Chronicle’s John Flinn leafed through it recently for kicks. He writes: “The accommodations section for Kabul lists guesthouses meeting the United Nation’s Minimal Operating Security Standards, and there’s a helpful list of acronyms: Car bombs are called VBIEDs, for vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices. And then there are DBIEDs—donkey bombs. That these are common enough to qualify for their own acronym is a little troubling. Rather than the typical lecture about the advantages of traveling light, the guidebook advises visitors to pack a ‘quick run (or grab) bag.’ This, it explains, ‘is to be kept with you should you have to leave in a hurry.’ All this raises the question: What in the name of Mullah Omar was Lonely Planet thinking?” LP’s short answer: Stability will come, and with it a market for the book.
Related on World Hum:
* Q&A With Paul Kvinta: Travels with Rory Stewart in Afghanistan
* Rory Stewart on Afghanistan: ‘The Problem is That We Act on the Basis of Our Own Lies’
* No. 17: ‘A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush’ by Eric Newby
