Iconic hotel survives Afghanistan's bitter history

By Luke Baker

KABUL (Reuters) - On the western edge of Kabul, in the saddle between two hills, stands a flaking monument to what the city once aspired to be -- a cosmopolitan destination drawing chic travellers from the world over.

For nearly 40 years the InterContinental Hotel Kabul, with commanding views over the bustling city and north towards the snow-capped Hindu Kush, has survived as a landmark of the Afghanistan that might have been. And for all that time Shir Ahmad Stanikzai has been there, watching history come and go.

From champagne-fuelled parties and bikini-clad women by the pool in the 1970s, to the Soviet invasion, the chaos of the civil war, the rise and fall of the Taliban and the arrival of U.S. troops, Stanikzai has seen it all.

"It was so beautiful once," he said with a smile, sitting in the almost-empty lobby, the furnishings little changed since the day the hotel opened in 1969, the clocks behind reception giving the time in London, Paris, New York, Tokyo and Moscow.

"There were jewellery shops with diamonds and gold, a travel agency, the Pamir restaurant on the top floor. The nightclub was always full," he said wistfully, recalling better, earlier days. "We used to have big New Year celebrations in the ballroom."

Stanikzai began working at the hotel as a waiter in 1969, when he was just 16, shortly after finishing school. He steadily worked his way up to head waiter, then restaurant manager, food and beverage manager and now assistant general manager.

The heyday, he says, was the 1970s, when wealthy Europeans would come to Afghanistan and make the InterContinental their base, taking trips to visit the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the mountains of the north or ancient cities like Jalalabad.

The pool was always crowded with men and women swimming together, shouts of "mine" could be heard from the tennis courts and most evenings brought well-dressed couples down to the Nuristan cocktail lounge for pre-dinner drinks. Indian royalty, ousted presidents and foreign ambassadors were two a penny.