U.S. Advisor, Parliamentary Member Anjeer Ramazan, and Gen Nooristani

We spent nearly three hours with Gen Nooristani. Gen Nooristani is the head of the Afghan National Army Legal Department. It was a very enlightening cross cultural exchange. It is great being foreign.

Base Exchange - bare shelves

Our little BX was stocked with a limited, but good variety and quantity of goods when I arrived two months ago. Sometimes I would wish I had bought an item after it disappeared from the shelves, but this was rare. Over the past two weeks the shelves are showing large gaps and the items are not being replaced. It makes me appreciate the way it was before. Generally, other Camps, coalition forces, and U.S. agencies would come shop at our BX because we were better stocked. Now the shelves are bare.

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Farewell

This is a scene from the farewell of a fellow Air Force deployee. A small ceremony was held in front of the legal office for the presentation of medals and mementos. The Army personnel deploy generally on one year tours. We Air Force usually rotate back after six months. It's kind of a sad moment, but all of us are grateful for the duty those leaving have performed and thankful for their friendship. We are happy that they are able to return to their loved ones and their home bases. Their leaving is a reminder that we too will soon depart.

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Old Mother Hubbard

Old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboard, but when she got there, the cupboard was bare--and so the little children had none. Wow! I wish I would have bought those corn chips when the shelf was full.

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Mirwais' Afghan Meal

This is the desert for Mirwais' Afghan meal--pomegranates. He says that the best pomegranates come from Kandahar. They are huge. He would squeeze the pomegranate to crush the fruit inside and then make a small incision so that you can drink the juice. Otherwise, they would cut the pomegranate in quarters (like in the lower right of the photo). I was picking the seeds out one-by-one when I noticed Mirwais biting into the quartered fruit and getting a mouthful of seeds at once. I tried this method and it was much more flavorful and successful.

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Afghan Meal

Here was the spread after we had devoured most of it. The nan bread was nearly a foot long and perforated so that it could be torn into strips. You can see on the plates at the top of the photo. The mantu are spicy dumplings with ground meat and chick peas. The kebab was barbecued goat meat. Some of the pomegranates were the size of sofballs. All-in-all, a great experience.

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Mirwais Raham

Mirwais owns several Afghan rug and carpet stores in Kabul and on coalition bases. I asked him if he had Persian rugs and he said "I only sell rugs that help my people--Afghans. Why would I want to help the Iranians?"

Over the past two months, Mirwais has become my friend. I go over to his shop for a cup of "chai" or tea. If you have three cups of tea--you are family. We called Ermie the other day about a Bokhara carpet and Mirwais told her that I was his "brother" and that he would sell us the carpet for a very fair price. It was heartwarming to have Mirwais call me his brother. Anyway, I had been asking Mirwais to bring some Afghan food for us. He said he couldn't do it Saturday (Shanbe), but he would do it Sunday (Yak Shanbe).

I didn't think that he would remember, but when I went to his shop on base at 1215 on Yak Shanbe--everyone in the shop was eating kebab, rice, nan, chicken, mantu, and vegetables. Several attorneys in the office wanted nan and pomegranates. Mirwais even remembered to bring the extra bread and pomegranates. I offered to pay Mirwais for the food but he refused. Afghan hospitality!

The food was delicious. Mirwais' wife had cooked it for us. She said that restaraunt food wasn't as good, so she would do it. She is nine months pregnant and due to deliver any day.

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