The shooters fired several bursts deterrent to their guns when the helicopter flies over a mountainous area in southern Wardak, in eastern Afghanistan. Wardak is one of the six provinces bordering Kabul and, if possible, the most important. There goes the main road linking the south with northern Afghanistan and, therefore, is a key area for communications and commerce.
In the coming days will accompany U.S. troops are deployed in the province: the Patriot, from Louisiana. My goal is to see what the security situation in a province that is at the gates of Kabul, the capital of Wardak, Maidan Shar, is only 35 kilometers west of the Afghan capital, at a time when it is proposed start moving to the Afghan army and police accountability in certain areas of Afghanistan to take control alone without the help of international troops.
Just this Friday, the defense ministers of the 49 countries with troops in Afghanistan have given their approval to the first phase of the so-called transition plan, and on March 21, Afghan President Hamid Karzai will announce which areas of the country to pass responsibility to the Afghan security forces in the coming months.
Wardak Is one of the chosen areas? How strong is the Taliban at the gates of Kabul? What is the level of preparedness of the police and Afghan army in an area so close to the Afghan capital? Wardak has always been a complicated area. Most of its population are ethnic Pashtun the same as that of the Taliban-as well as being especially traditional, religious, conservative and little or no training.
In fact, according to a study conducted in 2009 by the Cooperation Centre for Peace and Unity (Cooperation for Peace and Unity), the restrictions imposed by the Taliban during his rule from 1996 to 2001 was scarcely noticed in Wardak, because in the province and it was customary that women do not have any involvement in public life and, therefore, not out of the house and had access to education.
Also television and music, also banned by the Taliban, were not widespread in the province. In Kabul are common jokes about those from Wardak, in the same way that Spain jokes with those of Lepe. Wardak has an area of \u200b\u200b9,934 square kilometers is, is a bit larger than the community of Madrid, and live about half a million people.
It is a primarily rural and agricultural area, and there is much cultivated wheat and fruit, especially apples consumed in the Afghan capital. Its population traditionally seeks work in Kabul. To get to Wardak, has taken me two days of travel, despite its proximity to the Afghan capital and that car would have taken just over an hour to reach Saydabab, where I am now, in southern Wardak.
Saydabad is the largest population center of the province, with more than 100,000. U.S. troops are near a military base there namesake. Going from Kabul to Saydabad road is something that U.S. forces are unlikely to arise. I had to fly from Kabul to Bagram military base, 50 kilometers north of Kabul.
From there, travel to military installations Shank in Logar province, next door to Wardak. And finally fly to Saydabad. As always, embedded with U.S. troops as called in journalistic jargon to accompany them wherever they go, "I had to sign a series of documents in which I take full responsibility if something happens to me and I promise to comply with a list of rules.
Among them, as a novelty, I can not provide specific information, only general, the aircraft that took to move from one place to another. A helicopter makes me Saydabad. From the air, the landscape has rugged, mountainous and snowy, excellent hideout for the Taliban. 
In the coming days will accompany U.S. troops are deployed in the province: the Patriot, from Louisiana. My goal is to see what the security situation in a province that is at the gates of Kabul, the capital of Wardak, Maidan Shar, is only 35 kilometers west of the Afghan capital, at a time when it is proposed start moving to the Afghan army and police accountability in certain areas of Afghanistan to take control alone without the help of international troops.
Just this Friday, the defense ministers of the 49 countries with troops in Afghanistan have given their approval to the first phase of the so-called transition plan, and on March 21, Afghan President Hamid Karzai will announce which areas of the country to pass responsibility to the Afghan security forces in the coming months.
Wardak Is one of the chosen areas? How strong is the Taliban at the gates of Kabul? What is the level of preparedness of the police and Afghan army in an area so close to the Afghan capital? Wardak has always been a complicated area. Most of its population are ethnic Pashtun the same as that of the Taliban-as well as being especially traditional, religious, conservative and little or no training.
In fact, according to a study conducted in 2009 by the Cooperation Centre for Peace and Unity (Cooperation for Peace and Unity), the restrictions imposed by the Taliban during his rule from 1996 to 2001 was scarcely noticed in Wardak, because in the province and it was customary that women do not have any involvement in public life and, therefore, not out of the house and had access to education.
Also television and music, also banned by the Taliban, were not widespread in the province. In Kabul are common jokes about those from Wardak, in the same way that Spain jokes with those of Lepe. Wardak has an area of \u200b\u200b9,934 square kilometers is, is a bit larger than the community of Madrid, and live about half a million people.
It is a primarily rural and agricultural area, and there is much cultivated wheat and fruit, especially apples consumed in the Afghan capital. Its population traditionally seeks work in Kabul. To get to Wardak, has taken me two days of travel, despite its proximity to the Afghan capital and that car would have taken just over an hour to reach Saydabab, where I am now, in southern Wardak.
Saydabad is the largest population center of the province, with more than 100,000. U.S. troops are near a military base there namesake. Going from Kabul to Saydabad road is something that U.S. forces are unlikely to arise. I had to fly from Kabul to Bagram military base, 50 kilometers north of Kabul.
From there, travel to military installations Shank in Logar province, next door to Wardak. And finally fly to Saydabad. As always, embedded with U.S. troops as called in journalistic jargon to accompany them wherever they go, "I had to sign a series of documents in which I take full responsibility if something happens to me and I promise to comply with a list of rules.
Among them, as a novelty, I can not provide specific information, only general, the aircraft that took to move from one place to another. A helicopter makes me Saydabad. From the air, the landscape has rugged, mountainous and snowy, excellent hideout for the Taliban.
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