"A Brief history and current state of... " a Afghanistan Travel Page by Badger23

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I'm the one on the right :)

Afghanistan is a very interesting country with a colorful history and people. It seems various countries have been fighting over this land for ages. It has certainly taken its toll, but Afghanistan is very resilient and hopefully will make a peaceful comeback to the world stage.

The capital city of Kabul is a bustling metropolis housed in the mountain range known as the Hindu Kush. The city seems to be flourishing from a commerce aspect, as the popular "Chicken Street" shopping district is filled with anything you could want or need, from hand-woven rugs to state of the art computer accessories. There seems to be a big "black market" influence as well.

There is a sense of lawlessness, which can be a bit unnerving to inexperienced travelers and those not in groups of armed personnel.

The rest of the country is fairly mountainous, with small towns and villages nestled in the valleys and draws. The people were mostly very nice, swarms of small children will over-run you if you do not bring pocketfuls of pencils, candy or change. The roadways are severely lacking proper maintenance, but are traversable. Its really cool to see the nomad tribes on camels wandering around in search of green pastures for their sheep.

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Really cute kids

Orphanage

This is a small orphanage that the unit I worked for supported. The children were extremely good-natured and loved school. We were able to install some basic plumbing features and kitchen upgrades. It was a great experience to actually get out there and help people in need.