Couple of pictures from the Kabul zoo.  There are a lot more animals, but I'm too lazy to post them tonight.

Sports Illustrated had an article about the most dangerous golf course in the world a while back - I think it was the little course on the DMZ in Korea, but that was just a little putting green.  The golf course in Kabul has 4 actual holes that each are roughly 270-300 yards.  If you don't make a hole in one, every shot afterwards is pretty much a chip shot from the rough as you can see there's very little grass on the course.

Resort lake west of Kabul.

This building used to be the Afghan king's guest house.

One of the Afghan kings built this royal retreat in Kabul.

Bala Hussar from a distance.  An ancient Afghan fort in Kabul.  Long ago, an old British imperial garrison was slaughtered at this site.

King's tomb.  Crypt where all the Afghan kings are buried.

Beef Kabobs

I don't remember what this stuff was... but I remember the white yogurt stuff made me sick.

Afghans call this "manto"... looks like mandu.

Meatballs... beef?  Unlikely.

Some sort of potato dish.  No white stuff = No Afghan sickness.

Rice.  Pilaf style.  Afghans call it Palaw.  Greasy, raisins, carrots, onions.  Tasty

Afghan Coca Cola Factory.

Afghan public transportation

Marines are retarded.

Air Force humor.

Two guys who were awarded the Medal of Honor in Vietnam.  Two of only a few who are still alive.

Guys enjoying cigars that D.M. Noble sends me.

Farah Province

Bird's eye view of a northern part of Kabul

SFC Li and SFC Min.  Chinese and Koreans are everywhere.

Sunrise over the Hindu Kush mountains.

Lamb, it's what's for dinner.

Kabul Hills.  Not where the rich and famous live though.  The 3+ million refugees live on the hills surrounding Kabul, a city designed for 700,000.  For some reason, the price of property in Kabul has taken a steep dive in recent months... perhaps the rash of suicide bombings have something to do with it.

Afghan mine clearance project.  White means "good,"  Red means "bad."

You must always wear your seatbelt.  Well, at least the Americans have to.

Blackwater turboprop fixed wing aircraft, cockpit.  The highest technology available to the US government... note the analog displays.

I've been unable to get to the internet much.  Plus, I lost my thumb drive, so I can't transfer pictures to upload.  Not that there's much of an overwhelming demand, so I guess no loss, eh?

With all the rhetoric flying about before the upcoming elections, a lot of claims are being made, particularly about the global war on terror (shortened to GWOT in the military - we love our acronyms).  Some claim that President Bush has made the US less safe with the GWOT.  Others say that he's done more than President Clinton ever did.  Without taking a side (I dislike both Republicans and Democrats equally intensely, albeit for different reasons), I just wanted to take a look at the numbers.

Here's an excerpt from an article in Foreign Policy, Sep/Oct 2006, written by Kim Cragin and Andrew Curiel, Rand Corporation:

Attacks and fatalities are on the rise not just in the Middle East, but around the world - everywhere, it seems, but where the war was first declared.  The United States may be footing many of the costs for the war on terror, but the rest of the world is paying with their lives.

	Attacks		Fatalities
	1998-2001	2002-2005	1998-2001	2002-2005
North America	62	51	2,991	3
Latin America	684	929	713	774
Western Europe	1,638	1,237	123	272
Eastern Europe	528	661	619	1,258
Africa	215	136	1,421	815
East, Central South Asia	552	2,791	1,554	3,639
SouthEast Asia	281	828	369	994
Middle East	1,376	5,517	609	10,615

Top 10 Targets of Terror
12 Sep 01 - 30 Jun 06
France	391
Northern Ireland	399
Nepal	428
Pakistan	548
Thailand	671
Afghanistan	733
Colombia	904
India	1,511
Israel/Palestine	2,091
Iraq	5,408

It appears that either these numbers reflect only civilian casualties or the 3,000+ US and Coalition military deaths while deployed are lumped up into the Middle East category. 

Thanks to Kang and D.M. Noble who sent way too many cigars.  Even after about an hour and half, most of the guys were only halfway through their cigar.

December 9, 2005 (CNN)  

While interviewing an anonymous US Special Forces soldier, a Reuters News agent asked the soldier what he felt when sniping members of Al Queda in Afghanistan.  

The soldier shrugged and replied,  "Recoil."