Kabul

FOB Shank is located South of Kabul, about 15 minutes flight by helicopter. As a member of a Blackhawk crew, I am not able to see any part of Afghanistan from the ground, except for being within a FOB, but we do get to see it from a different perspective. I was surprised when flying over Kabul the first time because it is a much bigger city than anything I saw in Southern Afghanistan, even bigger than Kandahar. In the South, most of the population lives in small villages in houses made out of mud. Kabul boasts a population of over one million and looks like a modern city, at least from the air.

As you can see from the photo, the city stretches into the distance. There is a soccer field and maybe even a park in the center of the photo. There was a soccer game going on as we flew by.

















The buildings here seem to be built using concrete and brick as opposed to the mud and straw used in the South.

Houses are built using every last inch of land with quite a few homes being built into the hills that surround the city. There were even a few houses on the ridges of the hills themselves. Communications towers are plentiful in this area of the country as well.

There are a couple of large buildings that look like hotels on the south side of Kabul. The roofs of both are partially missing. I don't know if they were bombed or have been damaged by some natural disaster or have just fallen into disrepair. It seems like a shame that such nice buildings are now abandoned and falling apart.