I just don't get it ...

Yesterday, my first day back to Camp Eggers from my trip down south, started off with a bang. Literally. After spending most of the previous day sitting in airports, first in Kandahar with my fingers crossed hoping I would get on the plane to Kabul, and then at Kabul International Airport, hoping for a ride to Camp Eggers, I was glad to have finally made it back “home” so to speak. Back to my room, my co-workers and my desk. Leaving one rocket attack behind, I was welcomed home in the morning with an explosion that shook the windows and rattled the room.

It’s a little disconcerting to know how easily you can become accustomed to this type of incident … at first I lay there wondering if it was just a loud truck, perhaps from the ongoing construction or some sort of improvised explosive device. I lay there in the dark, half-asleep until I heard people excitedly talking in the hallway. Then came the sounds of gun fire and I knew it definitely wasn’t construction. I knew an accountability check would happen, to make sure everyone was safe and accounted for, so I kept my phone nearby as I got ready for work.

It turns out that several insurgents, using suicide vests and a car bomb, attacked hotels in central Kabul, killing 17 people and wounding more than 30 others. Why people do these types of things to other people is beyond me. Even if they completely disagree with U.S. and other foreign forces in their country, there has to be a better way to resolve issues than to destroy your capital city and kill innocent people.

What do they possibly hope to accomplish? Do they think the world will simply pack up and leave? All these insurgents are doing is slowing the inevitable progress and development of their country, and why they want to keep their people and their country from growing into their own secure and thriving nation escapes me completely. Hopefully, in time, the training and support the world is providing will take root and the Afghans will refuse to tolerate this type of behavior. Until then it is up to us all to keep trying and them to take advantage of the help that is here.