I've had a few readers point out that I never gave an overview of Afghanistan, like I did with Kyrgyzstan. Shame on me! It's about 6 months late, but here it is.
Afghanistan is a country in Central Asia, not the Middle East. It has 34 Provinces (Amercans, think of them like states) and it is bordered by Pakistan to the south and east, Iran to the west, Turkministan, Uzbekesistan and Tajikistan to the north and China to the far northeast. Afghanistan's time zone is UTC +4:30; unlike the vast majority of countries, Afghanistan decided it would be different and select a timezone in incriments of 30 minutes instead of hour intervals like everyone else. After a little research I still couldn't figure out if there was a logical reason for that, but they aren't alone in their desire to be different. India, Sri Lanka, and parts of Australia and Venezuela all have +X:30 as well. And then there's Katmandu, Nepal.. They took being different to a whole new level with the UTC +5:45.
For those that don't know much about timezones UTC is the Universal Time Coordinated and the zero or 'zulu' location is in Iceland. UTC was formerly Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and people still use that but the correct scientific term is UTC. So Americans, you are all UTC - something and pretty much the rest of the world is UTC + something.
Of the 34 Provinces in Afghanistan I have spent most of my time in Parwan Province.
Parwan was founded by Alexander the Great during his conquest of Asia Minor and the Persian Empire. The province was inhabited by his Greek decendents for over 1,000 years. Around 792AD it was conquered by the Arab Muslims and it became a foothold for the religion. The region remains overwhelmingling Muslim to this day. Most people in Parwan are either Pashtun or Tajik and most farm and live off the land.
This picture, like the rest in this post were taken by whoever had a camera handy on our patrols.
There are some green and beautiful places in Afghanistan, as you see above. However you have to be that close to the river and have a well built karez system (their irrigation) to achieve that. As y'all should know by now, I would not recommend swimming in that river. The locals get their water from wells, river water is strictly for plants and external use!
When you get down to the day-to-day lives here compared to America or Europe you'll notice a few key things:
The kids love interacting with the Soldiers. Mostly because they have learned over the years that many Soldiers will go on patrol with a pocket full of candy and small toys to hand out. Regardless of the continent you're on, kids love candy.
Kids also love entertaining themselves. There aren't many toys out here (most villages don't have electricity or running water) so the kids make their own fun. The most notable form of fun: throwing rocks. Now this wouldn't be an issue, but the kids learned that Soldiers don't retaliate when they get hit with rocks, so some kids like to aim at patrols! Thankfully most parents and local adults put a stop to it when they see it.
Another similarity: a sense of community and hospitality.
This is one of my friends sitting with a member of the police. Please take a moment to notice that the locals have Mountain Dew! I don't understand why it's so hard for the government to get it for us if the locals can get some! When you stop to talk to the locals out here a large number of the maliks (village leaders) will invite you in for Chai and a meal. They also have local and national level police to help reduce crime rates and keep their villages safe.
When you boil it down you've got some people here that are nice and helpful, some that are openly loathsome and my personal favorite are the people that act friendly and helpful and then as soon as you're out the door they're scheming against you.
It's not so different from the people you meet back home, although at home the schemes normally don't involve rockets..
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