Was it really only this time last week that a friend  and I (who has asked that he be referred to on here as "the hot one") were sitting on the stoop at the back of my house (left); a quiet night, crescent moon and glass of red wine in hand, discussing if Afghanistan was finally going see peace.

At the jirga, the delegates had rubber stamped Karzai's plan to reconcile with the Taliban and other militants. Would they accept? Would Afghanistan's "angry brothers" lay down their arms and stop fighting in return for jobs and economic assistance? Would Afghanistan and Kabul finally have streets where people could drive without fear of an explosion? Could I buy a bicycle to ride to work? Would I be able to walk home, stopping along the way at the multitude of vegetable and fruit carts piled high with aubergines, courgettes, radishes and mangos and not worry about being a target?

The day before, after a workout at the gym, I  had taken a taxi back to the office. It was about 3pm and the girls were just getting out of school. It was a hot day, the sun was shining. Crowds of young girls in school uniforms, their white headscarfs knotted loosely under their necks and slipping off their heads, skipped down the pavement, chatting. On the road were a couple of street vendors. One with an old fashioned popcorn machine, another selling what looked like slices of a sugary omelette; a man with a cart full of ripe red tomatoes and cucumbers pushed past them. People were walking and shopping, getting their bikes fixed and chatting to each other.

The thought I might be able to participate in the daily life of Kabul was an idyllic prospect, but of course naive.

On Sunday, Karzai sacked his two top intelligence officials. The interior minister and the head of the National Directorate of Security, the spy chief. Officially both resigned to take responsibility for the attack on the peace jirga, but over the past week it has emerged that they were opposed to making peace with the Taliban.

For the intel chief, Amrullah Saleh, it seemed especially egregious as he had been part of the Northern Alliance which fought against the Taliban until they were toppled in early 2002. He has made it quite clear in a number of media interviews since his resignation that in his view, reconciling with the Taliban would erode any steps towards democracy and progress, not to mention women's rights, made so far.

My Afghan colleagues at first applauded the resignations of the two ministers. In the West, if there is such a lapse in security, then a minister would resign to take responsibility. But here in Afghanistan, people die all the time and no one ever resigns, said one colleague, a tough Pashto who is in charge of reporting on Afghanistan's southern region.  True, but it later appeared that the resignations were less about good governance and more about appeasing the Taliban.

Both Saleh and the interior minister, Hanif Atmar, were favoured by the West. Atmar lived in London before returning to Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban. Saleh was a former FBI man who was apparenly chummy with the CIA and MI6.

There is talk now that their removals/resignations/sackings were intended as an olive branch to the Taliban. But the upshot is that Afghanistan is now without its two top security officials as we go into what is supposed to be a bloody summer.

Dozens of international represenatives will be in Kabul to attend a donors conference on July 20, and elections for parliament take place on September 18.

According to the US, there's nothing to worry about. They are confident Karzai will pick competent, professional people, of which, one US official said, Afghanistan has plenty of. (Right, tell that to the NGOs). They inisist NATO has regained the momentum in the nine-year war, which has now made history as the US's longest war, while acknowledging that this week was one of the bloodiest for foreign soldiers. 18 were killed within two days.

And how has the Taliban reacted to this grand gesture by Karzai? They hung a seven-year-old boy for spying, and attacked a wedding party killing up to 60 people and injuring another 100 in Kandahar province, their spiritual homeland. When I spoke to the provincial governor's spokesman that day (I am constantly suprised by the level of English), he said the village was very anti-Taliban, but then quickly corrected himself by saying that not all Taliban were violent and that mostly the attacks was carried out by Al Qaeda and "foreigners" (ie: other Arab nations).

The bike will have to wait. So thankfully, I have found yoga in the garden!