The weekend starts on Thursday night, as Friday is the day for attending mosque in the Muslim world. Driving though the dusty streets to reach a barricaded restaurant for a rare night out of the compound, all is covered in an otherworldly hazy glow.

Police man checkpoints in the streets, their uniforms looking sharper than the old Soviet hand-me-downs I saw them wearing in 2002. Their weapons are more modern. More of the streets are paved.

There is more order in Kabul than in the first days after the fall of the Taliban. Busy streets and crowded sidewalks, all in spite of the attacks of just a few days ago.

Yet much of this progress is heavily subsidized by the West, and if an Afghan state is to emerge from these troubled times, the current regime will need to crack down on corruption and ensure that economic growth reaches the people, not just the few. A challenge in any society, a necessity for the survival of this Afghan state.