Frontline Afghanistan: How A Slow Security Check Saved Me From the Kabul Bomb Blast by Seconds

The following is an account of the suicide bomb attack which took place on 16 September. The author has asked to remain anonymous.

I was getting impatient in my rush to get to the office that morning, having not managed to get the car I needed on the earlier time slot. Instead, I had to wait for the one for 8 am.

The checks to get out of our heavily fortified compound were being slower than usual - since two cars were departing at the same time they wanted us to all be checked together. I was in the lead car sitting in the front seat and getting impatient, waiting for the second car.

At last we were out heading towards the office past the US embassy and the road leading to Masood square. As we turned on the roundabout to join the road towards Masood square I spotted a cloud that looked like a bomb blast from Hiroshima – a mushroom shaped cloud.

With our sound proof cars (the windows can deflect a gun shot) we could hear nothing of the commotion on the road of the sirens; people screaming and cars trying to back down the road away from the blast.

We discovered later that we were 500 metres away from the blast, which was caused by a suicide bomber in a vehicle ramming into a NATO convoy. Funny how a few minutes late made a difference for us ... otherwise we would have been at the scene of the blast.

The moment I pointed at the cloud, the drive turned off the round about ... his survival instinct kicking in. We took another road, which is known as the Las Vegas strip of Kabul because of the gaudy, colourful wedding halls which stand side side by side. Weddings are celebrated in style here, and this street provides a moment when, for just a few hours, the misery of insecurity and uncertainty about the future of this war-torn country are forgotten.

As we drove down Las Vegas strip our drivers' wife called to check he was ok. Afghans worry daily about their husbands at work, the children on their way to school ... after all there's always a chance you could get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.