| Editor's Note: Jerry Newberry, Communications Director for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, is currently embedded with the troops in Afghanistan.
It’s not easy getting around in Kabul. The metropolis is densely populated, hot, smoggy and nothing short of filthy.
The downtown area is particularly difficult to navigate, on foot or by vehicle, as the streets and sidewalks are choked with people and vehicles of all types.
Perhaps a good way to describe it would be to take New York City, downtown Manhattan, multiply the cars, busses and pedestrian traffic tenfold, and then take away all of the traffic lights and signs.
Mayhem.
On any given day, thick crowds of people congregate outside the government buildings that house the various Afghani Ministries and the office workers, assorted bureaucrats and government minions that work there.
Saturday past was typical of most days outside the Ministry of Interior building. The long queues to enter the buildings started forming a little bit earlier since business comes to a halt at midday during the Ramadan holiday.
The early morning bustle was abruptly shattered by the sound of a deafening explosion. A suicide bomber, thwarted in his attempt to enter the Ministry of Interior, detonated the explosives strapped to his body amidst the early morning crowd.
Flying rock, choking dust and debris filled the air. Nothing remained of the crowd of humanity that had been standing there just a few seconds before -- except a smoking crater, gouts of blood, body parts and pieces of shredded clothing.
Continued... |