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Job Search in Kabul
"Karzai is asking typical Afghan expats like me to take part in the country’s reconstruction."
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By Roya Aziz
So what’s it like looking for a job in Kabul these days? New foreign investment and local entrepreneurship are fueling an economic boom, and many Afghan women are now back at work after years of forced unemployment under Taliban rule. Youth Radio’s Roya Aziz, an Afghan expat, recently returned to Kabul to scope out the job scene for herself.
When the president calls on you, you answer … only the president in this case is Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. Karzai is asking typical Afghan expats like me to take part in the country’s reconstruction. I’ve been to Kabul a couple times in the last year. And with graduation looming, I can’t help but check out my job prospects when I’m there.
There are several large marketplaces in Kabul so the bazaar stalls seem like a place to start asking around about jobs. There’s only one problem…traditionally most of the shopkeepers are men and young boys. No jobs for me here.
So I hit the streets, peeking through windows in the downtown-shopping district. I find a young girl working behind the counter in a trendy cell phone store.
Ghazal is a 17-year-old high school student. She said she works in her father’s store for spending money.
GHAZAL (on tape)
It’s for me - I can solve my problems. Also, I’m in school right now.
ROYA
Ghazal’s store is really busy, but she doesn’t really sell me on this line of work. I don’t want a retail job, anyway. I buy a phone card and leave.
All over the city, I notice there are dozens of English language and computer learning centers. Sounds like a perfect place for me to find a teaching job.
All the teachers at Mayhan Center are young and they’d be fun to work with. Shakira is a 20-year-old expat who returned to Kabul from Pakistan. She’s done with high school and the teaching job is her main source of income. But don’t be fooled – like a lot of Afghan girls her age who aren’t married, her Dad still supports her. And she can do what she wants with her salary.
SHAKIRA (on tape)
Okay, I spend it on my clothes. Because I like new clothes.
ROYA
Shakira’s students say if you speak English and know your way around a computer, jobs are easy to find. Most expats and local Afghans with these skills compete for jobs in non-governmental organizations and other international aid groups.
But I’d like to stick with journalism. Under the Taliban, there was no free press, but that’s changed.
Frozan Khalilyar works at Radio Afghanistan – the government station where women are now allowed to work. Frozan is a news anchor – a job I could see myself doing.
Sure, I could work as a reporter based in Kabul for an American outlet, but I’m more interested in working in local media like Frozan.
FROZAN (on tape)
We think we can have a good future in journalism. We go to work with the hope the government will increase our salaries and help us get housing. But right now, that’s not even in sight.
ROYA
I know Karzai is asking us to apply our skills, but I’m not so hot on working for a government press. Kabul University’s dean of journalism Muhammad Ahang tells me not to worry. There are plenty of independent options.
MUHAMMAD (on tape)
We have opportunity for the work for journalists. Right now we have almost 270 papers published here in Kabul and other cities of Afghanistan.
ROYA
But do journalism jobs pay the bills?
MUHAMMAD (on tape)
The salary is not enough by no means.
ROYA
Of course not. Some things are the same in all parts of the world.
For now, I’ll keep checking my inbox for Afghan job listings. But I’ll pass on the boring ones.
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