Off to Garmsir

I've been stuck here for two days and I'm bored out of my skull. There is absolutely nothing to do. I can't even go for a run because I left my shoes in Budapest. The internet is patchy. But, as they say, "sleep till you're hungry, eat till you're sleepy". Supposedly I have a flight this evening down to Garmsir but, as they say, the only flight you can be certain of here is the one you have already got off.

Anyway, Garmsir should be interesting: there is a whole battalion of Marines down there, the boys who went in last July to kick out the Taleban. I have heard of little heavy fighting, it's mostly mortaring and IEDs, I think, but will soon see. There is also the small matter of a few Afghan civilian deaths caused in the last few days and a number of corresponding demonstrations. As Reuters put it, the political temperature is high. The idea is to see the shura meetings, the small patrol bases and above all how good/bad the local Afghan security forces are - remember, that's Nato's exit strategy.

Not sure when I can write next, till then here is a picture of some Marine's doing their spring cleaning, and another of my small recluse next to the media tent for the last two days.