Camp Eggers and Ghazni Jan 08

I have been assigned to the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A)

I work for the Deputy to the Commanding General for Police Development. In other words, we are tasked with facilitating, supporting and resourcing Afghan National Police training and operations. I am stationed at Camp Eggers in Kabul. The above picture was taken on the main street looking west at the mountains.

My first trip was to the ancient walled city of Ghazni, in Ghazni Province. The city is rumored to have been mentioned by the Greek historians from the beginning of recorded time.

This picture is the citadel located on the high ground of the walled city. You can see the blue dome of the mosque in the lower right corner. In the upper right corner is a gap in the wall, this is the Kabul Gate which was blown up by the British in 1839.

These are villages composed of compounds or qalats. The individual gardens and orchards are surrounded by walls and irrigation channels.

If you look to the left, there is a series of holes called Karez. Karez is the ancient underground irrigation system The holes follow underground aquifers and provide water to the villages. The Afghans have been known to hide in the Karez so that they can ambush invading armies. Genghis Khan and the Soviets, 1000 years later were faced with this tactic and both systematically destroyed much of the Karez. In order to get to Ghazni from Kabul, we had to fly through mountain passes with the peaks towering above our heads.