January 11 2000

New artificial turf field at Kandahar Airfield. KAF is actually the site of Kandahar International Airport, built in the 60's with the support of the US. Who would have thought I'd be here hiding behind blast walls and ducking rocket attacks in 2012? The terminal was damaged by the Russians in the eighties and further during the rule of the Taliban regime (if you can call them that, a rag tag bunch of Muslim radicals bent on domination of women and children). Anyhows, this is possibly the only green surface I have seen here except for the first weeds in spring, shortly before they are coated with a 1/4 " of dust and sand. There is little here to distract folks from the war effort,  a turf  field is an unbelievable luxury and probably less than the cost of 1 MRAP or 10 hours of F-15 flight time (the math here is ugly). The field is enjoyed by the NATO forces here, US and its European counterparts (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
      This week sees a return to drone activity into Pakistan, quiet for the last six weeks out of diplomatic respect. OK, enough of that, lets get back to hunting the Taliban hiding in the tribal areas of Pakistan (what WE do well, where they live and coordinate attacks in Afghanistan). 35 evening lows, 55 daytime high at KAF