Without their expertise, vital needs assessment surveys, program design, implementation and monitoring cannot take place. At the time of writing, Kabul is eerily calm, but there is a sense of foreboding, of anticipation of something unspecified but ominous. Kabulis are nervous and quiet. Unused to the conservative orthodoxy of the Taliban, yet unsure what to do, they simply wait. Now that they occupy the city, bombardment has more or less stopped, at least for the time being.
Aerial attacks are much rarer than before.
But that could change at any moment the front line is not far from the city. Criminal activity has reduced, as the Taliban have established patrols throughout the city, and the threat of punishment is explicit. But all of these improvements have occurred at a high cost. The human rights of Kabulis, never accorded great respect, continue to be violated. Originally a small band of warriors from the majority Pashtoon tribe, their numbers swelled as they met with increasing success.