I’m driving a lav iii armoured personnel carrier, a tank on wheels the size of a small hotel room, weighing as much as ten cars and bristling with firepower. The fuel tank isn’t totally full, but gimme a break — we had to get going. My driver’s compartment, right beside the engine, is the size of a fighter jet cockpit and pitch black; my view of the outside world comes through three periscopes. Everything’s going smoothly until our convoy hits an Afghan National Police checkpoint. Not that we’re going to stop: our lead vehicle races over the speed bumps at sixty kilometres an hour. Problem is, I’ve got ten soldiers in the back, including my crew commander, and the suspension on this baby isn’t exactly cushy, so I ease up on the fuel pedal. I see the space in front of my lav widen — standard operating procedure is never to leave enough room for a suicide bomber to split the package — and instantly my commander is screaming at me through the intercom.
Except for the section commanders, who went on reconnaissance yesterday, most everyone in this twenty-vehicle caravan, myself included, is out in the real Afghanistan for the first time. Our mission is to follow the infamous Highway 1 through Kandahar City and Ambush Alley to Patrol Base Wilson, our home for the next few months, named after the fallen Master Corporal Timothy Wilson. Semis, cars, motorcycles, and donkey carts jockey with us for space on the road. I get the feeling that half the people here just upgraded their licences from horse-and-buggy class to motor vehicle. The roads are old and worn, as if they are being blown away with the wind; the landscape has gone too long without water.
Driving Directions from Kabul to Bamian• Following an elevated tarmac, drive north across the Shomali Plain, an 80-km stretch of ruins that was once Kabul’s great fruit basket, to the town of Charikar.
• Cross four bridges and turn west on a gravel road, part of the ancient Silk Route; follow it for eight hours up the Shibar Pass, which peaks at about 3,000 m above sea level.
• When you see the remains of two giant Buddha statues, you’ve reached Bamian. Say “salaam” to the local Hazara people, the rumoured descendants of Genghis Khan’s army.
Courtesy of Afghan Logistics and Tours“Noble, get in the middle of the fucking road!”
For Christ’s sake, I scream back, silently, to myself, I’m only human. This is my first time driving in this fucked-up country, and some asshole is making it a lot worse. I’m starting to feel like this whole thing is a little unfair — reminds me of my teacher at school giving me shit for needing a bathroom break. If my commander keeps stressing me out, I’m just going to stop the fucking truck and get out. But wait a second: we’re in Taliban country. This truck’s all I got; if I screw up, everyone could be dead.
“Close up the spacing for the last fucking time, and turn the goddamn AC on.”
My pupils are pinpoints from scanning the bright desert through the periscopes, and I can’t see shit inside. I reach down and flick a switch.
“Hey, you idiot, don’t open the fucking ramp — there’s people back there.”
Comments (1 comments)
Rob H: I can't even imagine. Sitting here at my desk, sipping my coffee - my hat is off to all of our armed forces. My question, though, which I hope isn't disrespectful - is just how much efficacy does a foreign army have to really establish lasting change?
The thought comes to me that like a river that eventually erodes rock to find its way to the ocean, freedom or democracy will eventually find it's way - just perhaps not on the "McDonalds-fast-good" schedule that we've come to expect.
Might we be better off allowing nature to take it's course, until their society finally becomes educated or desperate enought to collectively through off their shackles of feudalism and backwards theocracy - and concentrate on making our own society a better and more shining example of what is right about freedom and democracy?
I recall being in the Soviet Union in 1979, long before the wall came down, and getting the clear and unmistakeable impression that things were going to change, whether the Kremlin relented or not.. and sure enough, it did - without a shot being fired.
Maybe we should re-examine the example of Russia and Germany, and realize that, eventually, democracy and freedom will prevail from within - and not also forget the example of Vietnam and Korea, that, forced efforts at installing democracy before it's fully accepted will never prevail - particularly where foreign forces in fact, or at least in appearance, seek to install "friendly" governments. May 13, 2008 08:37 EST