Day 44 - ANATEC and Palaces

We drove down to ANATEC today for a meeting. ANATEC is the Afghan National Army Training and Education Command. It is at the southwest edge Kabul, and we conveniently are on the north edge of Kabul. I had never been south of the mountains that split Kabul in half from east to west. One of them is called TV Hill since it has most of the telecommunications antennas and facilities located on top of it. The basic route is due south, through the green zone, and then right through the middle of downtown, past the two big mosques (one has a light brown dome, the other a turquoise dome), and then southwest to the edge of town. The worst drive I've been on so far. The final several miles are riddled with the worst potholes I've experienced. The central part of the road is being repaved, so all traffic is limited to the access roads on the sides. In a space that we would put a two lane road with no shoulders, the inventive and aggressive Afghans manage to fit five cars wide, bouncing through two foot deep potholes, traveling faster than would seem possible. Tons of fun.

We left mid-morning, so heading down, traffic was quite moderate. Unfortunately, after our meetings, the return trip started at 4pm, so we came through downtown Kabul during the peak of rush hour. Brutal! At least it was interesting people watching while we crept along through the crowds and traffic. Needless to say, there are no freeways.

The purpose of our meeting was to discuss the entrance qualification testing for prospective NMAA cadets as well coordinating some of the cadet summer training at KMTC. In the past, all the interested high school students that aspired to attend NMAA would travel to Kabul to take a placement exam here. They all did this at their own expense. This really tended to limit our applicants to those geographically close males from higher income families. The government is really striving for ethnic and socio-economic diversity, and this wasn't supporting that goal. Many really qualified and intelligent kids just couldn't make the trip to Kabul to apply. Additionally, NMAA is trying hard to recruit more females. In Afghanistan, a single teenage girl can't travel alone. In order for her to get to Kabul for the entrance exam required significant time, risk, and her mother, brother, or father taking time to travel both ways with her. Clearly another approach was called for.

Currently, any eligible teenager can take the national concord. It is a test like the SAT to help rank high school students and aid in college acceptance. The NMAA entrance exam is the same test re-branded. Our going in position was to just start using the national concord as a first cut. This would allow NMAA to make attendance offers to kids of all backgrounds, regardless of geography and other factors. Well, I've discussed the wide spread corruption here before, so the leadership is reluctant to just accept the scores from the national concord. A good compromise was reached to create five regional testing centers around the country and have NMAA staff proctor entrance exams in a distributed fashion. This will help.

Of course we scheduled in time for lunch when we first arrived at Camp Dubs. The ribs there were some of the best I think I've had. Honestly. A few of the cooks are transplanted contractors, and must be from somewhere in the south. The meat just fell off the bone. I'm usually a pork rib fan because beef ribs tend to be over cooked and sometimes tough. We had beef ribs that fell off the bone and just melted in your mouth. It is the little things like this that can become the highlight of your day sometimes. I've put the chow hall at Camp Dubs right up there with the one at the Alamo on KMTC. Perhaps not worth enduring the brutal drive, but great none the less.


There are a few interesting things to see down at ANATEC as well. Darul Aman Palace, or "the king's palace" is adjacent to ANATEC. We drove by and took a few pictures, but weren't able to go in. The adjacent Tajbeg Palace, or "Queen's Palace" was accessible, and we did climb around it in a bit. This first picture is taken from the Queen's palace looking back at the King's palace and the southern part of the city.




Of course Ada came with us. This picture is of the Queen's palace in the background. Here's a bit better picture looking at the front as we were headed into Camp Dub's for lunch.


We climbed around inside the Queen's palace a bit. Here's an interior view looking up from the second floor ball room. It must have been quite opulent in its time, but of course in years of war and poverty, these are the types of buildings that fall into disrepair first.

We made it all the way into the attic of the palace (four floors up). Here's a few pictures of it, along with Ada posing for a shot.



The views from the palace windows of the southern part of the city were excellent and quite dramatic. Here's a few shots looking north. You can see TV Hill in some of them.





Our last bit of exploration was to a dilapidated Russian Officer's club that is on a much higher hill overlooking both of the palaces. The final four pictures are of the hill and Officers' Club, looking down on the two palaces. Finally, I decided to take a quick swim in the pool in the club compound.