Up in the Mustafa Hotel

The Mustafa’s Thursday night kabob parties on the rooftop patio are famous, but unruly bar patrons are given short shrift: at least once this past year Wais encouraged their departure with a few shots into the night sky. Clearly, the Mustafa is not an establishment to skip out of without paying your bill.

With other hotels and guest houses springing up around the city, the United Nations and many major aid groups operating in Kabul are now discouraging their staffs from patronizing the Mustafa. Some of the “internationals” have even opened up quarters of their own to house their staff workers. Wais is unconcerned. “The UN is really kind of snotty,” he said dismissively. “I really don’t care much for them anymore.”

He paused to observe a group of rotund American guests, automatic pistols on their hips, troop by his office door bearing bundles of antique muskets, handguns, and swords purchased in the nearby stores. “In the beginning, I was the UN’s best friend,” he said. “Now they don’t want to come here anymore.”

It’s true that the Mustafa is not exactly a five-star luxury resort. Each room is lined with steel bars, making it a sort of shark’s cage that the concierge assures guests is “for security.” The room keys fit padlocks that can be used either on the outside or the inside of the doors. The white-washed walls of the lobby and hallways are decorated with hand-painted scenes from some of Wais’s favourite movies, including Scarface, Taxi Driver and A Clockwork Orange. But the Mustafa is clean, reasonably priced, comfortable, and, above all, safe: an informal arrangement with the Afghan police keeps at least a pair of uniformed officers on duty near the hotel’s unassuming front doors.

Like many Afghans, though, Wais seems a little uncertain about the future. He clearly loves his hotel and revels in the company of the special-forces soldiers and other shadowy clientele that have helped turn Kabul into an island of stability in a country otherwise beset by uncertainty. But he also looks forward to a time when the troubles are over, the foreign troops can leave, and business returns to what passes for “normal” in Kabul. The truth is, the strain of running a small business in Kabul, no matter how colourful, is beginning to wear on him. “It’s tough, really tough,” he said wearily. “Every day the power’s going out. Every day is a struggle.”