Goodbye to All That

We probably have some more good pictures from Afghanistan lying around somewhere. And once the dearth of exotic photo opportunities in Washington gets to us, we may go back and dig them all up. But this is the last one for now: A bunch of kids singing the Afghan national anthem at a vocational school graduation in Highly Kinetic Kunar Province, as shot from the stage behind the podium where they were singing, with an assistant holding a laptop with the backing music playing up to the microphone. (This part not pictured because it couldn't be done without showing the faces of the kids. We have a ton of cute/interesting pictures of young participants at various Embassy events, but we don't post them here, due to perhaps an excess of caution. Also not pictured, for different reasons, but not because it didn't happen: the sound system at the assembly hall alighting in a smoldering electrical fire.)

In any case, this was the last trip outside of Kabul your correspondent completed, and perhaps the last one until we're all going to Afghanistan for climbing or skiing vacations a few years hence when it's stable and peaceful. Until then... vacation pictures starting again on the Hollatomorrow!