The Car Seller of Kabul

The drive to Qasabah on the outskirts of Kabul is painstakingly slow. The shock absorbers of the cars shriek as drivers carefully maneuver through foot-deep potholes. The contours of the snowcapped summits of the Hindu Kush mountains slowly fray out against the darkening sky, with the hundreds of lamps and advertisement signs of Qasabah forming a dimly lit labyrinth of lights at the foot of the mountain. Qasabah is Kabul’s biggest car bazaar and is home to Wahid Jamshady’s dealership. “It was good that the Americans came to Afghanistan,“ he says, echoing views commonly expressed among the business class in Kabul and the northern part of the country — areas which have benefited more from the occupation led by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces than the south. “The economy grew and we have had all these development projects.” Seated behind his desk looking out onto rows of polished SUVs and sleek sedans, Jamshady has the aura of a man who has achieved his life goals.