Any attempt to describe the circumstances that envelope this country without making a political comment is futile. This is a country that has been brutalized from forces from inside and from outside of it's borders. The election, for the most part, is an attempt to show that world that Afghanistan has the ability to decide it's own destiny. However, like many countries (and one could make the argument towards all countries), the want of power and the path to achieving it is paved with corruption, influence, and deceit. The list of election problems here seems endless: ballo [View Full Entry]

---

---

It's a life of excitement here in Kabul during the National Election. The UN had decided to 'shut-down' things until any (shall we say?) activities have calmed down and the streets are safe enough to drive our armoured Toyoto Landcruiser to the airport. Thus, I sit in my hotel room, staring at the antenna spikes of TV Hill and counting the hours until I can go downstairs and have some dinner. Monday was the last day of campaigning, although the ballots were not to be cast until Thursday. I expect this is designed to ensure plenty of time be available for [View Full Entry]

---

---

It is difficult to say that there is a typical day of flying here in Afghanistan. But it is not as though it is absolute chaos, either. On Thursday, Luc and I were to fly to four places: first Bamyan, then Herat, then Kanadahar, and back to Kabul. However, things being the way there are here, our routing was destined to change. Remember, we fly passengers for the UN. The first stop was to be a quick little hop over the mountains into thin valley oasis of Bamyan. Eight passengers...forty five minute flight. Instead (due to a departure delay and other [View Full Entry]

---

---

We have two aircraft here. One flies six days a week, the other waits for a charter (or to rescue another aircraft). However, even if there was a need, we do not have the means to send our second aircraft up over the mountains of Afghanistan. It's broken. Two of the airports we travel to make for difficult operations. Faizabad is paved (?) with a metal sheeting...developed by the Russian military for quick set-up, temporary runways...that resembles a corrugated tin roof. (Imagine driving on a washboard road at 150 miles per hour.) It's loud and bumpy, but it works. The other [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yesterday was a long day for us. We started before 9:00 and it didn't end until after 6:00. That's a normal North American day, but here the heat slowly presses it way into your skin to attach itself to your bones. Our routing took us to Kunduz, to Faizabad, back to Kabul, to Mazar-e-Sharif, and finally home to Kabul. A simple couple of loops that would be no problem...barely an effort...around Alberta. But by the time we reached the 39 degree black-top of Mazar, I was close to done in. Like the cold that makes you feel you will never get [View Full Entry]

---

---

The flights over were not much fun. Two 7 hours 'red-eyes' from Calgary to London (Heathrow) and then to Dubai. The layover in London was long enough for me to spend a tourist day from Hyde Park, past Buckingham Palace, through Victoria Station, along the Thames to the London Eye (their gargantuous ferris wheel), up to Trafalgar Square, into the National Art Museum, and down into the Tube back to Heathrow. If you haven't been lately, there is a thread of terrorist-driven paranoia that surrounds their famous landmarks and locations. The Houses of Parliament (Big Ben) have thick metal ca [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello...Welcome to my blog about my next few weeks of living and flying in Afghanistan. For those that don't know, I am working for a company (Regional 1 Airlines) that has been contracted by the the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) which is providing logistical support for the UN World Food Programme. We, as well as other operators, fly a scheduled route from Kabul to a variety of cities, towns, and villages throughout Afghanistan. Currently, we are flying to: - Kandahar - Herat - Bamyan - Mazar-e-Sharif - Konduz - Faizabad - Jalalabad, and - Kabul (of course). [View Full Entry]

---

---