On the road again...

We arrived late last night in Kandahar. This is a large base in RC South; home to more than 14,000 coalition troops including hundreds of US Marines. While my team was tired and hit the sack, I went in search of a TV to watch the election returns.

But when I found a TV in the recreation center, it was tuned to ESPN and no one was watching it. Not a single American. I thought for sure by turning it to the election coverage it would draw a crowd. Instead, most people left. I guess they could see the writing on the wall for Senator McCain, the overwhelming favorite of the US military.

When it comes to the war in Afghanistan, RC South is where you’ll find the action. This is a very hot zone and most of it takes place along the “ring road.” Picture any US interstate highway that goes around a city; that’s the ring road. It’s a highway that makes one giant loop around Afghanistan connecting the provinces.

It is along the ring road here in RC South, between Kandahar and Kabul that the Taliban are planting the majority of roadside bombs. They are venomous in their techniques and have been very successful. As of today’s date, we have lost more than 500 Americans here, most to roadside bombs. But “loose lips sink ships” so I won’t say what we are doing to reduce that figure except that we are getting much better at playing their game.

You may say, just take another route. Well, take a good, close look at the picture above. The terrain in Afghanistan makes as much sense as a crumbled up piece of paper. It’s a landscape of never ending mountains and valleys covered in a talcum powder like dirt. As a matter of fact, if this fine dirt was a commodity, Afghanistan would be the world’s leading producer.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Heart in RC West. I hear the Italians make a great pieta.