Christmas in Afghanistan: Safer than New York City?

Nothing beats Manhattan for the holidays. I’m already seeing signs of Christmas appear all over the city. Lights are already wrapped around trees on W. 58th Street, and gigantic fir candy cane sculptures are beginning to adorn the city’s skyscrapers. There’s no doubt that the holiday season is nothing short of magical in New York City, and if you’re looking to experience Christmas away from home, this is the place to do it … unless you’re listening to the NATO.

Mark Sedwill, NATO’s senior civilian representative, has called Kabul, Afghanistan a safe place for kids, saying they “are probably safer here than they would be in London, New York or Glasgow or many other cities,” according to The Independent.

Of course, Sedwill is already backing away from his original comment, saying, “I was trying to explain to an audience of British children how uneven violence is across Afghanistan.”

%Gallery-106020%The Independent continues:

“But, in cities like Kabul where security has improved, the total levels of violence, including criminal violence, are comparable to those which many western children would experience.

“For most Afghans, the biggest challenges are from poverty – the absence of clean water, open sewers, malnutrition, disease – and many more children are at risk from those problems than from the insurgency.”

So, is that where you’re going to go to watch the tree-lighting?

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[Via Gawker, photo by zedwards via Flickr]