Longing to hit the road again, Hollie really wanted to cover the story of what happened to the place that was hit by the Mother of All Bombs that was dropped in 2017 when Donald Trump was in. It was the US most powerful non nuclear bomb and was said to have killed 90 Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K) fighters. Not much of a death count really if you ask me to use a bomb that cost $170,000.
We left early in the morning, Naweed, Shafiq, Hollie and I to Jalalabad taking one of the most dangerous roads in the world, at least the problem of fighting on the roads was removed and now it was a problem of just bad driving, car crashes to worry about. I done this road many of a time on the motorbike to Sairobi to eat cooked grilled fish.
It is quite an epic road to drive on in the morning with mountain pass that is scenic with sheer mountain cliff faces. Buses lay burnt and rolled over and you would see overturned trucks with its goods scattered everywhere. But it still didn’t stop people driving like maniacs. After the mountain passes it opens up a bit and heads to the lake of Sairobi. Sairobi is one first places the Taliban had rose in power in the 90’s and had moved onto Kabul to out the warlords from power. It is also the place the mujahadeen had defeated alot of Soviet helicopters with funded CIA stinger missiles.
Jalalabad is one of the most busiest cities in Afghanistan right by the Pakistani border. I call it the buckle of Pashtun belt. It is bustling with movement, lots of rickshaws and a growing export city of goods. I worked here before helping to grow the Pashtun film industry and support young people to make mainly action films. One of students made their version of Rambo 4 but still being in Afghanistan, where Rambo decided to stay in Afghanistan, become Muslim, marry an Afghan wife and fight for freedom for Nangarhar.
Our first destination was to the Ministry of Information and Culture where we given a guide. It was kinda good timing as the villagers had staged a protest a few days before complaining of problems in the area wanting compensation of the land becoming unliveable. We didn’t really want a guide but then it best especially since we had to meet up with the governor of the area and all the Taliban checkpoints that could be in the way. Also there is potential threat of IS-K.
Achin province which the bomb was dropped is mountain area and it would of been better in a ranger which once we got to the Taliban base they decided to drive us to the site so now we had over 12 soldiers who wanted to come for our protection. I decided to climb on the back of one of the rangers so I could shoot being unhindered by windows.
Actually several commanders wanted to come along so we had a fairly large convoy of Taliban foot soldiers. Probably cause they were bored but then IS-K did have territory here. A while back I spoke to one of my friends Zee who used to work with the governor in Jalalabad and he told me the Taliban and the government had an alliance against IS-K, often giving co-ordinates of where the group stationed themselves in tunnels and homes. After MOAB, the Taliban had their people to manage the area though IS-K insurgents regrouped.
When we arrived, we hiked up to the zero point where the bomb had been dropped. It was a small village we went through which a few of the houses were being rebuilt. The children watched us, mainly Hollie, they had probably never seen a foreign woman and began to follow us up the hill.
All the houses had being pulled apart from the blast up on the hill, stones upturn. The description of the blast by Taliban who had watched the bomb said the hill and valley was on fire. All combustable items caught on flames and just the building brick remained.
One man was living in the underground bunker of what was once his home. It would take some while before he could rebuild but he complained that it was difficult to sleep at night as the feeling made him sick. The villagers showed these spots that were on them and said their wives who were pregnant felt the worse from living in the area. The crops hadn’t grown properly and it has been quite hard to toil the land below in the valley.
IS-K had taken over the villager homes and had a small base on the hill. The villagers said the tunnel which they hid from bombardment was not that deep as it was made by hand. It seemed not really worth it to drop such a bomb in this area but I guess it was the first time the US got to use such a bomb and see its own effects.
The after effects seem to last for years though and you could only hope that what ever radiation that seem to be in soil not last as long a nuclear radiation.
As I rode back home, a young hairy Talib turned to me and asked me where I was from.
“Australia” I said
“Good good. I love Australia. Steve Irwin, Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter! You think I could come to Australia and wrestle a crocodile?”
I could only smile at his enthusiasm and that his impression of Australia was a burly white bloke that loved animals.
“Inshallah my friend, I hope so.”