kabul

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – For those, like myself, who’ve never before been to Afghanistan, the sprawling Bagram Air Field is known for two things: transit and torture.
Naturally I saw no evidence of torture during my brief in-processing, after which I went on to Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost Province, near the Pakistan border. [...]

KABUL – A friend of mine who’s been to Afghanistan warned me several times against flying on Ariana, the national airline. Apparently she’s traveled with a flight crew that was noticeably drunk. My flight from Istanbul was far less eventful. Though it seems my fellow passengers didn’t believe in queuing in single file, preferring to [...]

ISTANBUL – It’s 10 p.m. in the lowest level of the Istanbul airport. In 20 minutes I’ll be allowed to board my plane to Kabul, bringing me to the capitol city of Afghanistan at the crack of dawn. Before I made my way down to the gate, an International Herald-Tribune headline caught my eye, for [...]