CNN.com - Irish pub kickstarts Kabul nightlife - Apr. 17, 2003 Irish pub kickstarts Kabul nightlife
Thursday, April 17, 2003 Posted: 2:30 AM EDT (0630 GMT)
Kabul's new Irish Club -- the country's only bar -- is a booming business.
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Our families know what we do, but we tell other people we just work in a restaurant or a guesthouse selling food and soft drinks
-- 'Paddy', Afghan member of bar staff
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- In Taliban times, it would have been unimaginable: a fully stocked Irish pub serving whiskey and cold beer in the heart of Afghanistan's ultra-Islamic capital.
In the post-Taliban era, Kabul's new Irish Club -- the country's only bar -- is still unthinkable, at least for Afghans. But it's a huge success with the many foreigners who are desperate for a little bit of nightlife.
"Walk in that front door and you'll find a very different world in here," says Allan Ferguson, a 57-year-old Australian businessman sitting on a barstool as Irish folk tunes blare from speakers overhead.
"You could be anywhere -- Ireland, Australia, America. But walk outside, and you'll be back in Afghanistan."
The Irish Club opened on a secluded side street in central Kabul last month on -- what else -- St. Patrick's Day.
Thursday, April 17, 2003 Posted: 2:30 AM EDT (0630 GMT)
Kabul's new Irish Club -- the country's only bar -- is a booming business.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Story Tools
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our families know what we do, but we tell other people we just work in a restaurant or a guesthouse selling food and soft drinks
-- 'Paddy', Afghan member of bar staff
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- In Taliban times, it would have been unimaginable: a fully stocked Irish pub serving whiskey and cold beer in the heart of Afghanistan's ultra-Islamic capital.
In the post-Taliban era, Kabul's new Irish Club -- the country's only bar -- is still unthinkable, at least for Afghans. But it's a huge success with the many foreigners who are desperate for a little bit of nightlife.
"Walk in that front door and you'll find a very different world in here," says Allan Ferguson, a 57-year-old Australian businessman sitting on a barstool as Irish folk tunes blare from speakers overhead.
"You could be anywhere -- Ireland, Australia, America. But walk outside, and you'll be back in Afghanistan."
The Irish Club opened on a secluded side street in central Kabul last month on -- what else -- St. Patrick's Day.
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