‘Western’ corners in parts of Kabul

A snooker club in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 15, 2023. (Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times)

THERE’s a glimmer of the old Kabul hiding in the new one – if you know where to look.

It’s there in the crowded snooker halls where young men in jeans hover around velvet tables and yell “nice shot” in English. It lives on in the dark rooms of video game dens where teenage boys lounge on couches playing Call of Duty and FIFA, posters of famous footballers plastered on the walls. It’s in coffee shops where women sip on cappuccinos, their robe-like abayas concealing skinny jeans, as a Taylor Swift tune softly radiates from the speakers.