Afghanistan My Last Tour

Honor guards with a picture of Mohammad Daoud Khan, Afghanistan’s first president, march in a ceremony in Kabul to give him and those who died with him a proper burial. Photo by: Omar Sobhani/Reuters Published: March 17, 2009

April 28, 1978, Afghanistan President Mohammad Daoud Khan and 17 family members were assassinated in the presidential palace by Afghan communist officers.  His body along with 17 relatives including his wife and six children were buried in an unmarked grave on the outskirts of Kabul near a firing range in Pule-e-charhki (my former ANA camp).  The site of their burial was kept a secret for 30 years until recently.  Earlier this year, a former army officer who was on duty that night of the massacre came forward with information on where the bodies were buried.  The bodies were exhumed and a state funeral was held in March.  Since then the remains have been buried on a hill overlooking the capital city.  Today’s mission was to visit some remote guard towers and while there, we had a unique opportunity to visit the new presidential grave site.

Guard shack and my ANA CSM.

My ANA SGM has been bugging me to visit the guard tower and requested some assistance in providing better living quarters to the soldiers assigned there.  So my team put together a CONOP to visit this site.  Before we could depart the camp, we wanted to ensure our AF MSgt teammate was able to get aboard the helicopter at the LZ.  He

Hey I need a ride!

is going home on leave (vacation) for two weeks to visit his family and friends.  As fate may have it, there was no room on the helo for him.  He was given a ride back over to the camp side and requested a ride from our team to transport him to Kabul International Airport (KAIA).  But first we would visit the guard towers and then take him to the airport.

It looks like it might rain.

The drive up to the guard towers was pretty scenic with the mountain backdrop and the view overlooking the capital city.  It was a bit cloudy and it looked like it might rain.  We met the guards and inspected their living quarters.  The ANA guards were living in a dilapidated wooden shack and there wasn’t enough room for all of the guards, so some of them have to sleep outside at night.  Lately, the temperatures have dipped into the high 30’s at night and the guards are complaining about keeping warm.  The windows in the shacks are broken and some of the wood has rotted allowing air to seep inside their sleeping quarters.  So now, I plan to work with the ANA SGM and use some project money to make some repairs, install a wooden floor, and extend the side of their building to accommodate the occupants.  If I wait on the Ministry of Defense or garrison to provide the needed repairs, it may never get accomplished.

President Daoud's grave site.

While on top of this mountain, my team had a unique opportunity to observe the royal burial site of President Daoud and his family members.  With no disrespect intended, I was rather surprised how basic the grave site appeared.  It looked like a hurried excavation site with white head markers implanted in the ground, some wreaths, and a few photographs of the deceased members.  Who would ever know that Afghanistan’s first president is buried here.  The site is not open to the public and the guard motioned for me to put my camera away.

German armored vehicle.

We departed the site and our next destination would be KAIA.  My teammate was anxious to get there in hopes of catching a flight to Bagram Air Field.  From here, he will fly to Kuwait and be manifested aboard another plane flying to the United States.  We dropped him off at the terminal and I noticed the Germans had one of their armored vehicles parked in the parking lot.  The Germans are one of the 43 coalition nations engaged in this fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents.

This pizza is great!

Since it was lunch time, we drove to the other side of KAIA and were hoping to dine at the Thai restaurant.  Some of my friends have eaten there and raved about the food.  Unfortunately it was still closed and we didn’t have much time to wait for it to open.  Instead, we went to an Italian Pizzeria to pacify our hunger pains.  The Italians are probably disappointed at the quality of the food, especially the watery sauce they use in their dishes.  But for the most part it tasted pretty good.  I settled for a pizza calzone, while many of my teammates feasted on pizza.

Horse cart traveling down the road.

We left KAIA and drove back through the city to camp.  On the way we passed by a horse cart holding up traffic.  We also went by the 5-star Serena Hotel that was previously attacked by insurgents with rockets. After returning to camp, we filled our armored HMMVWs up with gas and started preparing for tomorrow’s mission.

Serena Hotel attacked by insurgents.