Trip to Panjshir
Friday, 2nd Mar 2007 - 6:45 PM
On Sunday 25th February, less than 48 hours after getting back from Badghis, i set off on another trip out of Kabul. This time it was only a day trip though. I went to Panjshir with three guys from our technical unit with enough equipment to install a new radio station there.
Panjshir is a mountainous province, about three hours drive north from Kabul. the province was made famous by Massoud, a commander of the anti-Taliban forces and now a national hero. The radio station we were going to install was within sight of the monument built in Massoud's memory.
There was a lot of messing around before we left. We had to take furniture as well as equipment, so we went in two cars. All this stuff had to be loaded up and we didn't end up leaving in the first of the two cars till after ten o'clock. Of course, i managed to forget to bring my camera with me when i left the house that morning, so we had to call in at my place on the way out of Kabul.
I've never driven out of Kabul going north, so this was a completely new route for me. The northern road goes into the mountains (yes, Ingrid, the Hindu Kush) and they gradually get closer and closer until it feels like you're driving up a really wide valley.
Some way out, a long line of power pylons stared - these are all newly built and are going to be part of a power line that will eventually bring electricity from Tajikistan to Kabul. It's supposed to be going to be finished this year, but i can't help feeling these pylons will be very handy targets for the Taliban.
About half past twelve, we came into a town called Charikar, where we stopped for lunch. We went to a restaurant called the Panjshir Restaurant. It was a bit like a workers' cafe in London, in its decor. There were pictures and various decorations around the walls and lots of tables, all fairly close together. It was a largish place and it was almost full.
We found a table and sat down. There were three things on the menu - Kabuli Pilau (greasy rice with strips of grated carrot and raisins), Kofta (meatballs) and Kebabs. We all ordered the Kabuli Pilau, which wasn't nearly as greasy as some of them are! It came with a cup of some really nice soup with chick peas in the bottom of it, a small plate with some chickpeas in a sauce and a single meatball, bread, and some salad - sliced tomato, chopped cabbage, whole green chillis.
The pilau came with a big chunk of mutton in it. The food was really good - for Afghan food, anyway. Not too greasy, and the flavours were good. We followed it with some green tea.
From Charikar, it was nearly an hour until we entered the Panjshir valley. There was a boom gate across the road, with half a dozen police or soldiers (i can't tell which is which) standing around it. We had to stop and they took our names and the registration number of the vehicle. Someone said this security was because there were lots of commanders living up this valley. I wasn't entirely sure what that meant though...
Twenty minutes or so drive up the valley, we arrived at the PRT base, where we had to go to pick up the keys to the station building. The station itself was up a steep and dodgy track a long way up above the road. It was two "connex" type huts - which are really shipping containers, with wall linings inside and windows and a proper, house-type door. They'd been put right next to the mast, which was built a few months back.
We started at about three o'clock and the station was on-air by about six - which was pretty amazingly fast, really. Two antennas had to be put up the top of the 30ft mast and a cable run up there from inside the building. A small generator, which we'd brought with us, had to be rigged up and wired to the building electrics. The transmitter, mixer, computer, etc, had to be hooked up together. A satellite dish had to be installed, pointed to the right satellite and adjusted for best reception - and then cabled into the building.
When it was nearly finished, i had a climb up to the top of the mast myself - just for the hell of it!
We left the station on-air, rebroadcasting our satellite service - which it will do for a few days until station staff can be trained etc. Station staff and a board of management are normally organised before it gets to this stage, but this one was a bit unusual.
On the way back to Kabul, we stopped in a different town to have an evening meal. This restaurant didn't have tables - instead there were raised platforms down each side of the long room and one down the middle. There were carpets on top and a strip of vinyl running down the middle of each platform. You sat cross legged on the carpet and the food was laid out on the vinyl strip. This is a fairly common way to eat in Afghanistan.
The food was similar to the place where we had lunch, but i didn't think it was as good.
I finally got home at about quarter to eleven that night.
The Radio Station in the Panjshir Valley (note the man up the mast, adjusting the antenna.)
You can see some of my photos of Afganistan at
WillKemp-Photos.com/afghanistan