Diary - 30 July 2004 | The Spectator

Kabul

Gandamack Lodge is Harry Flashman’s fictitious address in the original George MacDonald Fraser novel about the caddish officer, set at the time of the first Afghan war. You can now stay at Gandamack Lodge, a handsome if dilapidated villa in downtown Kabul. A lawn, wicker chairs, prints of Surrey on the walls: if it wasn’t for the electricity cuts and the coffee, which the Afghans just can’t get right, this would be a piece of England in the heart of the slum that is Kabul. Two of Osama bin Laden’s wives, number one and number two, lived here during the Taleban’s reign. In their haste to depart, as American bombs fell in October 2001, they left behind an old bra and $450 in unpaid rent. American agents knew about the villa, and were watching it at the time. It appears that Osama wasn’t being a good Muslim, which saved him. The prophet commanded that the faithful may have up to four wives provided they are fair to all of them. Apparently he preferred new models to the old number one and number two, although if he had paid the first ones more attention there would now be a hole in the ground instead of a house. The place has come back to life thanks to Peter Jouvenal, the legendary freelance cameraman who liberated Kabul in 2001 together with John Simpson, walking into the city ahead of Northern Alliance troops. Peter seems to be settling down at last with a spirited young Afghan wife, and he has enough journalist, aid worker and adventurer friends from his frontline past to give Gandamack Lodge yet another life, and make it into a commercial success.