(5)Random scenes from Panjwai, two
A girl stands in the road near an Afghan Uniform Police checkpoint in the Zangabad area of Panjwai district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Photo by Bill Ardolino for The Long War Journal.
Private First Class Dustin Byrd and "Sassy" the bomb-sniffing dog walk by a poppy field. Photo by Bill Ardolino for The Long War Journal.
A crewman stands in the back of a Chinook helicopter flying over the district. Photo by Bill Ardolino for The Long War Journal.
Farmers on their way to work. Photo by Bill Ardolino for The Long War Journal.
Soldiers with 4-9 Infantry patrol from an Afghan Local Police checkpoint in Zangabad. Photo by Bill Ardolino for The Long War Journal.
Kids play around a PK general-purpose machine gun at an Afghan Local Police checkpoint. Photo by Bill Ardolino for The Long War Journal.
READER COMMENTS: "Random scenes from Panjwai, two"
Posted by Rosario at May 11, 2013 3:08 PM ET:
Bill,
Thanks for the nice pictures, the kids are cute. But nothing "chaps my hide" like seeing our soldiers risking life and limb so the Afghans can grow their dope.
Posted by gb at May 13, 2013 7:53 PM ET:
Bill,
Thanks for the fine photography. Every time I see little kids in these pics I can't help but think they have such a bleak future ahead of them, especially the little girl. Being there on the ground, do you or any readers of LWJ get the sense that condition for women are changing at all for the better?
Posted by Bill Ardolino at May 14, 2013 10:18 AM ET:
gb - Overall, and in many portions of Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban? Sure. But in rural southern Afghanistan? Not terribly better, as far as I'm aware.
Posted by Nic at May 14, 2013 1:25 PM ET:
@Bill: Like Rosario, seeing that dope growing in a country where we spent a fortune to improve agriculture really "grinds my gears". There have been articles about efforts to get the farmers to switch to growing saffron. NBC says "In the Western province of Herat, 90 percent of the former poppy farmers have switched to growing the pungent and yellow spice, according to the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics." How true are some of these stats? What is the real story?
Posted by Johnsay at May 16, 2013 6:46 AM ET:
Great pictures.
I don't think it's possible to convince the Afghans to give up the poppy crop.
A more practical solution might be for the alliance to buy the entire crop. At one blow this would remove it from diversion to the illegal drug trade and and the support that provides to the Taliban.