Here are a few more pictures of the Helmund province area that borders the red desert. You can see how much more green there is than in my previous pictures.
The desert drops abruptly onto the flat outwash plains.
This is hard to see due to the poor picture quality but there is a faint track through the middle of this picture that is one of the many smuggling routes through the desert. One of the reasons this area has so much enemy activity - the drugs go out and the money and weapons come in.
This lower corner of Afghanistan is one of the main food production areas. It is irrigated from the rivers flowing from the central highlands.
Here you get a better idea of the irrigated area. You are looking north and the city of Khandahar is off the wing tip north of the large hills.
On the photo that describes "flat outwash plains" would you explain more what we are looking at? The red area...is this just dirt? And does it drop, like cliff-like, from the agricultural areas? And what IS this? Like total desert? A dry water course? I am VERY inexperienced in looking from the air. More words please.
ReplyDeleteSure - what you are looking at is a branch of the Helmand river where it flows against the edge of the Red desert. The picture above it shows the same area while the two bottom pictures show another branch of the river flowing through an irrigated section. When I say outwash plain I am talking about the whole relatively level area of Helmand province of which the bottom picture is the best representation of. From what I can tell (as I am coming into land and taking off) the red desert is pretty much barren rock with scrub brush and small trees scattered around. It is not bedrock but more like that UNESCO site we went to in Egypt. From the air you can clearly see the sand dunes that have solidified over time. And it does drop cliff-like but down to the agriculture area. On a clear day we can see it looming above us in the distance. From what I can tell there are many places where the final drop to the river is 50-60' but most of the area continues to rise several hundred feet above the plain we are on. I would love to get a picture to capture it so I will keep trying :). I hope this helps answer your questions.
DeleteThat desert track seems easy to keep track of traffic with drones. Not so?? So, is the area around Kandahar the main food producer of Afghanistan? Which would translate into the main source of opium? Love your picts. Understand totally the bureaucratic mind. The desperate need of authority to justify their position (~:}. Cheers!! ART
ReplyDeleteIt basically comes down to a matter of resources. It is easy to track objects across the desert but it is one thing to see them and another to intercept and do something about it. There are so many tracks that it is hard to set up check points and stopping individual vehicles is not very efficient. You have small successes but the overall impact is negligible. You are correct about Kandahar being the main food producing region and they do produce a lot of poppies. How it compares to the area up north in opium production I'm not sure.
Delete