As if life isn’t bad enough in Afghanistan imagine having to take the bus. What is a passenger suppose to think when he looks out his window and sees this sign? Does one think, “Oh, I should have driven.” A bad idea. Private cars are ransacked on a regular basis along Afghanistan's roads. Flying might be your next choice but there are no flights where you want to go and hiring a private plane is all but impossible.
A bus is the only way. Believe me, the entire trip through the mountains riding an Afghan bus makes you reflect upon your life. You reexamine your priorities and commit yourself to change. Each time the bus looses traction along the goat path of a road you clutch your cross and strike bargain after bargain and make promise after promise with God. They say there are no atheists in foxholes. I’m writing to tell you that there are no atheists on Afghan buses.
There were times along the journey I thought were my last. I asked myself over and over why I took this assignment. I'm employed by the Confederacy of Dunces News Service (CNS) and Cloverdale Weekend Television. Both organizations want first hand reports on the war. My professionalism won’t allow reporting from the comfort of a hotel room in Kabul. I had to report from the field to give our citizens the kind of insight into world news you would expect from a Dunce.
I’ll file regular reports. I’ll report all the news no matter the cost. Our viewers will see and hear the war on terror. CNS and Coverdale Weekend Television understand their responsibilities and take them seriously.
Signing off for now along some lonely dusty bend in a mountain road on a rickety Afghan bus holding the road on two wheels.
Norla Battley
Cloverdale Weekend Television
News.
CNS. All the News that's Fit to Print
The allied forces using their drone planes to bomb and attack the insurgents in Northern Afghanistan apparently are working. The Taliban troops have moved out of northern Afghanistan and are taking alternative routes into southern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Perhaps this reporter could use done tumbleweeds to collect information about the insurgent troop movements and avoid using the bus altogether.
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