Kajaki dam in Helmand province: one of its original two turbines is still awaiting spare parts.Photograph: Bronwen Roberts/AFP
Where Eagles Dare -- Michael Yon
The enemy is plenty smart enough to wait for the heavy cargo before detonating one of its bombs, so the PsyOps folks designed what they thought might be a prophylactic: Koranic verses written on the trailers holding the precious cargo, in hopes that the enemy would not attack the words of the Prophet. Some soldiers sneered at the idea, but I thought it was smart. Iraqis had told me that Saddam put “Allah u Akbar” on the Iraqi flag so people would stop desecrating it. And besides, the cost of the signs was almost nothing, while the mission was of great strategic importance.
The convoy would be self-sufficient for a ten-day mission. With British helicopter assets already stretched far beyond anything that could be termed acceptable, resupply would cut into operations elsewhere. In other words, they would have to get by with what they had.
Many of the villages along the route are under Taliban influence or complete Taliban control. CPT Jim Crompton, Brigade Media Ops, told me that “lots and lots of foreign fighters” had flooded into the area.
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My Comment: While the transport of the turbine was an accomplishment worth celebrating, problems to deliver electricity to the southern/eastern parts of Afghanistan are very daunting. The Captain's Journal explains why this accomplishmnet may be short lived. His post on the subject is "Defense Analysts Echo The Captain’s Journal Concerning Kajaki Dam".
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