I did a couple of short Afghanistan tours flying a Learjet for the UN and returned several times in the GIV when Evergreen had business there. I was on Bagram Airbase one time when we used the GIV to look at a penetration type approach to be used by our cargo 747's.
The UN tours were early in our involvement in Afghanistan and it was reasonably safe for expats. We could go out to eat and shop in the markets with little danger. In fact one of our pilots married a women he met there.
We lived in a house off the airport with guards and had a driver to go back and forth to the airport. The last time I talked to one of the pilots on the Afghanistan contract all the UN expats had been moved into a large dorm like compound near the airport that they never left except to go to the airport.
This is a photo of the cook and the station manager:
Before the U.S. invaded Afghanistan the station manager spent over a year in prison because he didn't have a proper beard. The cook, according to the station manager, fought against the Russians and was a very proficient killer. I'm sure both are in danger now for no reason other than they worked with a U.S. company.
My bedroom was behind the door the station manager is standing in front of. My last night in Kabul was extremely cold. I was scheduled to fly out on the UN Lear to Dubai then on Lufthansa to Portland and the Truckshop to McMinnville. I forget how many time zones I crossed but it was a bunch. Anyway I had every blanket I could find on the bed and was still cold when about midnight I heard a whoosh boom just out side the wall followed but the rapid tat tat tat of small arms fire. The sounds of a firefight moved around the compound until almost daylight. Needless to say there wasn't anyway I was going to miss the morning flight out.
ken
I tend to think (without any strong evidence, I must admit) that a country needs about 60 years to want to get rid of such a regime. Now the counter is again at zero while without foreign intervention they would already be at about 25 years now.
ReplyDeleteOn the positive side though, live has been more or less normal for women during those 25 years.
ReplyDeleteSylvain,
DeleteIt is so tribal I question if 60 years is enough for change. Which leader changes but nothing is really different.
ken
It is always difficult to get rid of installed practices.
ReplyDeleteI recently saw a film about Harvey Washington Wiley. Between his first pointing out at unacceptable practices in food industry and a working Food and Drug administration there was about 50 years.
I also read a book about the ship's waterline (aka Plimsoll line). Mr Plimsoll has fought many years against unsafe loading practices. It has taken decades to become an effective UK law and about 60 years to become an international standard.
Aviation is an exception as it has been rapidly subject to standards to allow international flights over the countries airspaces. The CINA was created in 1919 (Convention de Paris) starting from a nearly blank page and later replaced by ICAO in 1947 (Montreal convention).
Unfortunately, you are right, a dictatorship is often replaced by another one.
Thank you so much for this blog 💕
ReplyDeleteHow Much Is A Cord of Wood ?