Afghanistan Airlift Notes

Steve Innskeep's thread as the airlift continues.

20 years of US presence permanently changed Afghanistan. 

One sign: the smart phones thousands are using to communicate with the world or coordinate their escapes. In 2001 there were no cell phones, just a few sat phones carried by journos, spies or soldiers. I saw one landline. In Nov. 2001 I crossed the Amy Darya river on a ferry that made me think of the River Styx. My sat phone relied on a fragile cable. I had an extra; but I believe another journo swiped it. When my last cable broke, the nearest replacement was likely in Moscow. Somehow I fixed it. 

The one landline I saw was in an official's office in Sheberghan. I watched a man dial a number on it. The number had three digits. That's how few phones were on that particular phone exchange. The man dialed several times. Nobody answered. 

In recent days we've heard voices from different parts of Afghanistan. A network of veterans in the US helps Afghan comrades get out, making calls or sending documents from thousands of miles away. Soldiers at Kabul airport call refugees and guide them in through the streets. 

If the Taliban consolidate power, they may well restrain or censor the network, as their neighbors China and Iran have done. But unless they literally blow up the cell towers, as they once blew up ancient statues, they won't fully reproduce Afghanistan's old isolation. 

Some Afghans have blue eyes. I've heard people speculate that they may be descendants of the army of Alexander the Great, which crossed the the Amu Darya 2,400 years ago. Improbable though that old tale may be, it suggests how long Alexander's army has persisted in memory there. 

In the same way it seems likely that the American presence in Afghanistan will persist long after the last US troops leave. The Taliban inherit a different country than the one they lost in 2001. They may well try to smash that legacy. But it will be not be easy to erase.

Tom Watson tweet.