The Fourth Republic Blog: GOING TO AFGHANISTAN

Saturday, July 18, 2009

GOING TO AFGHANISTAN

For those who follow my blog regularly, and have not heard,

I have accepted a job in Afghanistan. I will be be working

as a Sous Chef feeding American

and NATO Forces,

attached to "USFOR"

(US Forces, Afghanistan).
I leave in August. If I have a chance while I'm over there,

I will post pictures, and write stories about the good

things that the USA and NATO Forces are doing.

You know, the things that the media usually do not report about.

For those who would like to follow information on US Forces

Afghanistan, click the picture below to follow a link to Facebook,

so you can join the group and get regular updates.

To Visit Afghanistan Online, click the link here. This is great sourse to learn about the History, Geography, News, travel, and many other items about Afghanistan. Once it was the poorest nation in the world, but now as things are looking up, the new Government is trying to encourage investment into the Country.

(Emblem of Afghanistan)

For those who either hate Geography, or are not sure where Afghanistan is, look at the map below. It is land locked East of Iran, North of India and Pakistan, South of Russia, and West of China.

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان

(Persian: Jomhūrī-ye Eslāmī-ye Afġānistān)

د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت

(Pashto: De Afγānistān Islāmi J̌amhuriyat)

Kabul (Pictured above).

Population
2009 estimate
33,609,937

Government
Islamic republic
-
President
Hamid Karzai
-
Vice President
Ahmad Zia Massoud
-
Vice President
Karim Khalili
-
Official languages
Dari (Persian),

GDP (PPP)
2008 estimate
-
Total
$21.340 billion

Topography

The Hindu Kush Mountain Range (Pictured Below) is the Western most sub-range of the Himalayain Mountains. The highest point in Hindukush mountain region is the Tirich Mir (25,289 ft).

Afghanistan has a harsh climate of the continental type and the severity of winter is accentuated by the altitude of much of the country. Summers everywhere are warm, except in the highest areas. The high mountains to the south shield Afghanistan from the summer rains brought to India and parts of Pakistan by the southwest monsoon. The lower parts of the country have a semi-arid or desert climate. In Sestina along the Iranian border hot, dry, dusty winds are among the most unpleasant features of the summer weather. Summers are sunny and generally hot, except in the higher mountains. Sunshine amounts range from six to seven hours a day in winter to as much as twelve to thirteen in summer.
Because of the large range of temperature conditions found in Afghanistan, there is both a danger of heat exhaustion or even heatstroke in the lower regions in summer and of exposure, wind chill, and frostbite in the mountains in winter.

As far as the War in Afghanistan which started on October 7, 2001 in response to the attacks on the World Trade Center, the United States and its allies have a strong presence in the Country, and are recieving reenforcements from Iraq, now that the surge which was launched in 2007 has led to a stable success.