Of Helmand

Your correspondent spent a few days in lovely Helmand province, in the Southwestern part of Afghanistan, and home to Marjah and other famously rough parts of town. It was an interesting and highly educational experience. But since Helmand is what our military colleagues call a "kinetic" area (i.e., actual fighting happens there a lot), we did not get to see much other than Camp Leatherneck and the Lashkar Gah PRT - both relatively safe compounds amidst all the fuss. Above, a scene at Camp Bastion, a British base adjacent to our Camp Leatherneck, in the line to get on the flight back to Kabul.