F
G
H
A
N
I
S
T
A
N
...despite being at times scared shitless it felt great. After sitting on our butts in Quetta for 2 months, writing proposals, planning for the return, we were finally rolling down the road to Kandahar.
3 hours of driving to the border, Pakistan customs, 2 hours of harrassment, gunpoint financial solicitation and intimidation by leftover Taliban in Spin Boldak, and a lot of uncertainty ahead, but everything looked different. The road from Boldak to Kandahar runs between the Regestan Desert and the Uruzgan Mountains. On one hand huge red sand dunes, with black teeth of basalt jutting out, on the other the dusty foothills leading away, four consecutive years of drought and 18 of warfare having almost completely denuded the landscape.
Without having been specially chosen, December 22 is a special day. As we are driving down what might magnanimously be classified as a road, Hamid Karzai is giving his inaugural speech in Kabul. Dr Akhbar and Halilulah are visibly excited as they listen to it on the radio, punching their fists in the air and beaming smiles. Gavriel and I are somewhat lost due to linguistic deficiencies, but the enthusiasm radiating back in the pickup is palpable. All we can catch are the general shouts every 10 minutes or so of the Tajiks acclaiming their recently killed leader Ahmed Shah Massoud. Gav records it for posterity on his DAT.
The Taliban left Kandahar 5 days ago, and we are the first NGOs to go back. We know that there are a lot of US troops, Muj, Taliban remnants, Al Qaida, hopefully some of our national staff team. Looks like this is going to be interesting...
