Those who had learnt the English language by joining courses run by the United Nations Development Programme during the Taliban regime had never thought there would be a windfall of dollars from them immediately after the fall of the militia.
They have started working as interpreters and the remuneration is fixed by the media wing of the ministry of foreign affairs.
Last month, a few youth had ventured to take up the profession for 100 dollars a day. But as more and more journalists and officials from various countries reached Kabul, the number of interpreters grew but also led to fall in their pay.

“Now an interpreter charges 50 dollars a day, which is albeit much higher that the average daily salary of an Indian journalist. Wish I knew Pashtu language”. There are around 500 journalists roaming the streets of Kabul, many of them from the west and several from countries like Japan. But there are none from Afghanistan's neighbour, Pakistan.

An old Beatle car, once the hearthrob of Europe, is serving her master faithfully at the Indian embassy though the staffers at the mission had fled the country several times forgetting her safety.

Bureau Report