We’re busy here in the newsroom, getting the crews arranged for tonight’s coverage. Our national feed just announced live coverage of Mike Huckabee at The Alamo. Hmmm. Didn’t we LOSE The Alamo? And then, for some reason, I start thinking about Meatloaf’s visit.
And, to that end, here is the Washington Post’s take on his trip.
And an obligatory Chuck Norris picture.
I’m Chuck Norris. Remember me? I had a TV show!
And McCain has … Wilford Brimley.
Who’s laughing now, Mr. Texas Ranger?
Tags: Afghanistan · Uncategorized
Those beautiful children in my pictures, in the stories we showed on television remain targets in their own country. The children are targets. Several schoolchildren were just killed near Kabul for daring to try and get an education. When I think of those beautiful faces, those eyes filled with joy when they’re distracted from their daily lives…and then think of what happened, I can’t help but feel sick.
Tags: Afghanistan
Check out the news on the Afghan police who were killed. Its horrible. It also reiterates the fact that police in Afghanistan are now targets as much as the military, even more in some cases because they don’t have the weapons to fight back. When we spoke with our former police chief, Stan Knee, he said the officers were almost on the front lines because they are the ones to stop the cars and look for explosives or to question suspicious people. Having been there and having met the officers in training, it breaks your heart. They also have large families to take care of and loved ones who have already lost so much.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) – Taliban militants slashed the hands and legs of five abducted policemen in southern Afghanistan and hung their mutilated bodies from trees in a warning to villagers against working with the government, officials said Sunday.
Tags: Afghanistan
This morning I woke up at 5am as has become the norm this week to preview our series on Afghanistan. This morning I also had the pleasure to do an on-air interview with Bob Cole of KVET (Tuesday I went to the KASE studio to talk on their morning show about the trip). It was actually a lot of fun and a nice change to be able to laugh and relax while talking about news.
The feedback from these stories has been really uplifting. When you know your work is more than just “interesting” to a viewer but it also moves them — there is no greater job satisfaction. I’ve heard from many wives of soldiers and war veterans about how much they’ve enjoyed the series and how it helps them explain to their children what their daddies are doing overseas… so, thank you to everyone who has posted comments or sent me e-mails or called my desk. Know they are appreciated and taken to heart.
Don’t forget to watch tonight! At 5pm, we go to Afghanistan’s version of the Texas State Fair and interview the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. Then, at 6pm we’ll show you the streets of Kabul as they are now…and talk to soldiers about their impression of the country. I hope you enjoy!
Tags: Afghanistan
Our Thursday night piece in the series featured our former police chief, Stan Knee. We drove with him through the streets of Kabul, went with him to the police training ranges and visited Camp Gibson, the compound he now calls home. We’ll get the story posted here but if you want to check it out….just head to www.kxan.com and watch it on the video player to the right. If you don’t see his face in the box, just drag your mouse of the little boxes underneath the main one until you see Austin News in Afghanistan: former APD chief.
P.S. Please ignore the audio problems with my introduction—mistakes happen!
Tags: Afghanistan
Austin News in Afghanistan continues with the children of Kabul.
While some soldiers are fighting on the front lines, many are also rebuilding the country.
KXAN Austin News’ Jenny Hoff and photojournalist Frank Martinez joined soldiers on a recon mission to a village in the mountains of Afghanistan, through roads often threatened by bombs.
Here’s the transcript of the story that appeared on KXAN Austin News tonight at 6 p.m. You can see the video there.
(The following transcript was written by Hoff).
We took you to the Kabul military training center and showed how they are practicing shooting live cannons into the mountains. We go to those mountains where one small village is trying to get by with no amenities to speak of.
In Afghanistan, even a humanitarian mission must be treated like combat with the threat of bombs on every major road.
But, after loading up in the Humvees preparing ourselves for the possibility of an attack, the adrenaline of danger is soon replaced by a very sobering sight.
“Just beautiful,” said Lt. Col. Ed McInnis. “They remind you of children back home. They’re just dirty, they’re just poor.”
When the military does humanitarian aid missions, they come to villages. They bring food, clothing and shoes to children who have almost none of those things.
One particular village is in the mountain behind the Afghan military’s shooting range.
The first order of business is to speak with the village elders.
“We’ve been having a problem keeping the children off the ranges, which is very dangerous,” McInnis said.
McInnis said the children will walk right in the line of fire to gather shells in hopes the metal will bring in some money.
“They have the same wants and needs as any children,” McInnis said. “They want to be loved. They need to be educated. They just need the basics: food, clothes and shelter.”
There, shelter is four walls, if that. When the snow comes, families in all those villages will find old tires to burn, and the pollution that already makes Kabul unbearable will turn the air almost unbreathable.
“To see children denied because of money, it’s just heartbreaking,” McInnis said.
Heartbreaking for some, because the United States has spent six years in the country and more than $1 billion in aid.
“Nothing ever moves fast as you’d like, because it all ties back to the needless human suffering that goes on every day,” said Col. Peter Foreman.
One aspect of the human suffering in Kabul is chronic diarrhea, because the children have no clean water.
“They have a real need for a well. So, we’re going to try to build them a well,” McInnis said. “They need a school. The children have no place to go to school.”
For the soldiers who have been called from their homes, their families and their normal day jobs in the United States to spend the next year in Afghanistan, this is what keeps them going.
“To me, besides training the Afghan army, that’s our second biggest mission, is helping these guys out,” McInnis said.
McInnis said in an e-mail that they got approval to build the well and will be doing so in the next couple of weeks
Tags: Afghanistan
I am still reeling from everything we’ve seen in the last two days. Yesterday was an incredible experience when the Afghan Military invited us to their training academy and brought us to the ranges where they fire cannons. The blast was so loud I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The cannons were live fire and after they pulled the cord you could see the fireball explode in the distant mountain. The frightening part is children from a nearby village will wander onto the range to get casings to sell and put themselves in immense danger. One of the U.S. military’s missions is to go to these villages and tell the village elders about the dangers of walking into a range where they are shooting cannons!
The British general wanted me to pull the cord to one of the cannons since it was my birthday but the Afghan general had misgivings: a month ago there was an accident with one of the weapons and five Afghans got blown up. They found two without their heads. There is also a 10 percent rate of Taliban infiltration in the military and they have had suicide bombers kill people there. After hearing that I was more than content to just watch the spectacle.
We also met the perfect person to highlight in one of our stories. He was a Round Rock cop who was called out to Afghanistan and is now training the Afghan military. Let me tell you, when the guys weigh about 100 pounds each and have no education, he has a job ahead of him. Taking one look at this military, I have a feeling the U.S. won’t be out of here for many years to come if they don’t want a resurgence of the Taliban. I mean, no offense, but I could beat a lot of these guys up!
Tags: Afghanistan
After an incredibly hectic day, I was greeted at our hotel with some great news. Two threats have been made towards our hotel this week (not the great news) because of the 1st ever Islamic Police Women’s Conference being held here (great news)!
Imagine this: dozens of women pouring into to our hotel, many covered from head to toe in burqas and police badges on their sleeves. It is pretty awe-inspiring to realize that these women are risking their lives to have these jobs….literally. I mentioned the two bomb threats made to our hotel because of their mere existence…
I was also pleasantly surprised to realize that I knew people coming to the conference due to the stories we’ve been doing. My police, military, translator friends and even the Afghan general I interviewed was here. We all greeted each other like old friends as I held my breath waiting for a suicide bomber to interrupt our little reunion.
On another note, what an impressive day. We went to the women’s business center and saw women training to become entrepreneurs. We then went to a clothing factory and saw how they hand stitch all the clothes. The best part, however, was convincing our security drivers to finally take us around the city and let us get out of the car to shoot video and witness Kabul as it is.
And, what it is - is out of control. You’re walking down the streets and you’ll see a taxi with 10 or more people..the babies crammed on top wedged between those sitting down and the ceiling. Behind the taxi will be a donkey led cart with a guy selling rotten bananas. Then an amputee will come out of nowhere, sometimes dragging himself along the ground because he has no crutches or wheelchair. Plants are all dead, the river couldn’t even be called a stream and the only crop surviving the lack of water/irrigation is poppy (which is the reason Afghanistan produces 93% of the world’s heroin). Oh, and many of the people here are addicted to the drug as well because its so cheap and their lives are so miserable.
The bright side? There are also dozens of little girls with backpacks coming out of school, something unheard of not too long ago. Many women don’t cover their face anymore, even though the ones that do all wear the same color burqa for some reason (baby blue). And, believe it or not there is construction, which means as long as another country doesn’t bomb them for a few years, there may actually be businesses with roofs soon.
Another thing I’ve noticed and I’m already becoming accustomed to—there is a constant state of paranoia for everyone who lives here. Whether they be Afghans, U.S. contractors, military members: everyone watches your move and is very aware of the fact this day may be their last. Eyes are on you all the time. In fact, if you’re driving a car and the Afghan police tell you to slow down and you don’t-they shoot and kill you. It happened to a French ISAF worker today.
Being here is like being on an emotional roller coaster. As a journalist, you try to see everything objectively, as a human you can’t help but become emotionally involved. Every day feels like a week here and every night I fall into bed exhausted.
I posted another YouTube video of us at Camp Eggers.
Tags: Afghanistan
Email I sent late night October 20
Today was another intense day. We went to police training academy and watched the Afghan police force learn how to fire their weapons. We also went to the family response unit where U.S. police officers are helping curb domestic violence. As we were leaving the police station we heard two explosions go off though we haven’t gotten word if they were landmine detonations or if they were car bombings. All the security people at my hotel say they haven’t heard of any roadside bombings…today. It shook me up though and it hit home that we are really in a warzone and anything can happen at any moment.
¼br> What is interesting is right now my hotel is crawling with guys in bullet proof vests and guns. I just spoke with someone who said we are at a heightened security threat right now–and have been for the past week. I just talked to the head of security here and he said this past week there have been more eyes on our hotel because of all the government officials who come here.
I have a lot of photos, here are a few:
This is Frank, our photographer. He got some amazing video for our special.
Here I am on the oldest street in Kabul.
A family getting water from a well.
Tags: Afghanistan
Email I sent home on Saturday, October 20
On a note other than security, my first impressions of Kabul is Dante’s ninth circle of hell. It truly feels that way. The city is pretty much leveled…90 percent of the buildings are makeshift shacks along the side of the road surrounded by rubble. There are a few new buildings and a lot of construction, which the people here say is promising…but nothing seems truly promising. If I had been here 5 years ago maybe I would understand the progress but all I see right now are children sifting barefoot through trash, 4 year olds pumping water from wells..their faces caked in dirt and trucks dumping feces on the streets. If you can breathe, that’s what you smell. Luckily though the pollution is so bad, you can almost never get a big enough breath to realize what fumes are entering your body.
I’m hoping my impression will change. I’m hoping I’ll see all the beauty the contractors who have lived here for years claim is all over the city. But, for now I see utter poverty, beautiful children scrambling for food and the haggard looks of adult afghans who have seen too much and live through hell for decades.
Here is a YouTube video of our drive from the airport to our hotel. I didn’t say very much in this video because I haven’t shared a backseat with an M16 very many times and I needed to think about that.
I also got to make a quick video of us in the hotel lobby. I actually got to make two of these before I got caught filming.
Tags: Afghanistan
