The Foreign Service Journal, February 2003

Evacuation in Slow Motion Kabul, June 1979 —The ambassador killed in a shoot- out at the Kabul Hotel, February 1979. Deteriorating security situation throughout Afghanistan and around Kabul. Travel outside the city increasingly limited. Nighttime curfews enforced by high-powered search- lights on mountains and soldiers posted at key intersec- tions to detain people out past curfew. Daytime sorties by Soviet MI-24 helicopter gunships and psychological intimidation by low-flying MiG-21s returning over the city to Bagram airbase north of Kabul. Tanks and armored vehicles roaming the city night and day. Time to go. Limited evacuation of dependents and non-essential personnel. Pack what you can carry onto the aircraft. At the airport, searches by pro-Soviet Afghan police of diplomats’ baggage and personal belongings in contravention of Vienna conventions. Ugly scenes before boarding the Indian Airlines 737 for New Delhi. Long stay at the airport before departing on Pan Am flight to Frankfurt. Overnight in Germany, then home to Washington. Left behind: family dog, car, clothes, kitchen and other personal belongings, children’s toys and books, and family photos; all entrusted to house servants. No welcome home from State Department or any other official representative. No counseling about how to apply for temporary allowances. Washington bureaucracy oblivious to emotional and psychological needs of evacuees, especially children. Stiff upper lip prevails when moving through layers of bureaucracy to obtain necessary temporary housing allowance. Tehran, November 1979 — U.S. diplomats taken hostage. The State Department’s response changes profoundly. As one who had worked at Embassy Tehran, I work on special hostage task force helping to inform family members about status of their loved ones. Having just passed through an evacuation process, I relate quickly and empathetically to their many questions. A slow, uphill process as official Washington begins to react to what has happened. Meanwhile, kids in a new, strange school. Their Kabul friends scattered all around the country and at other overseas missions. No continuity. Local people can’t relate to what has happened to us. Have to explain to school principals and teachers children’s experiences and needs. Some empathy forthcoming. Search for a place to live while buying new clothing, household equipment, used car. Three months later the dog arrives; six months later, the car and some household goods. Much has been lost. Submit claims to private insurance company and wait for response. Meanwhile, spend more money to replace lost items. Slowly, life begins to return to normal as circumstances of the immediate situation in northern Virginia take over. Long phone conversations with former Embassy Kabul colleagues. It’s good to be out and alive. Bruce K. Byers FSO, retired Reston, Va. Living in a Danger Zone Karachi is the epitome of a “high-threat” post. We face extreme restrictions on where we can go and when, and we have to clear almost everything with the RSO. Still, we probably have some of the best morale of any post in the world, because we take care of each other, plan activities at our residences for all consulate employees, go swimming in the consul general’s pool, and get out in town to shop, play sports, and attend par- ties both with other expats and with Pakistanis. While security consciousness has been pretty much hard- wired into us, we still manage to have a good time. Everyone who comes here on TDY goes away amazed at how fun it is around here. It takes special people to come to a place like Karachi, and I think we make the most of what we have. Amy Tachco Economic/Commercial Officer U.S. Consulate General Karachi, Pakistan Evacuation: The Role of Churches While serving at Embassy Vatican I was called upon to assist Embassy Rome with the evacuation from Tirana, Albania. Busloads of evacuees were brought from Italy’s Adriatic coast to Rome, where we set up processing at the Holiday Inn. It soon became clear that evacuees came in two categories: those we could assist with onward movement (American citizens) and those we could not assist further (legal permanent res- idents and other non-citizens). As some of these latter F O C U S 50 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 3