A Cold Journey Through the Afghanistan High Country to a Castle for Christmas

Nobody asked Santa for a castle for Christmas, but the tire tracks in the snow on the road leading there were a gift in themselves.

Col. Dan Hokanson, Tim King and Major Arnold Strong, all of Oregon, after a rigorous hike to the top of Ghar Mountain, about a week ago. Photo: Oregon National Guard

(KHYAR KHOT, Afghanistan) - I thought I knew what cold weather was, but Afghanistan has been teaching me a few lessons about what a white winter really is, and for the past three days my boots have been soaked completely through. That's what happens when you have to put tire chains on a military vehicle in fourteen inches of fresh powder.

I spent my Christmas day in near white-out conditions traveling in a convoy of Humvees and Afghan National Army Ford Rangers across this nation's mountain passes, maneuvering between a Forward Operating Base called Gozny and another FOB called Sharona. These are lonely places where small groups of Americans work with Afghan Army troops in an ongoing training mission.

The Americans are typically Army and Navy but Air Force and Marine Corps troops are also part of the mission. These are the Embedded Training Teams of our military and their lives are difficult and cold at this time of year.

Travel time between Gozny and Sharona in these difficult conditions is about five hours. We were confident in the mission as the Humvees are outstanding off road, but all machines have their limits and it seemed like we were working hard to test the abilities of these 12,000 lb vehicles.

Today's Humvees in the war theaters of Afghanistan and Iraq are "up-armored." This means they are much safer than a standard version; with huge heavy armor plates added to the doors and integral parts of the body. They are stout and the extra weight brings a host of additional problems.

I was riding in the back right seat of a vehicle driven by a Lieutenant Colonel from Wisconsin named John Shroeder. The gunner in the upper turret has the hardest job without a doubt. Matt Cain is a police officer from Green Bay who, like Shroeder, serves in his state's National Guard. Along with the other gunners, Cain was dressed in his words, "Like I am going on an ice fishing trip." I asked him if he had the urge to complain and he simply explained that there is no time or point to that. Hour after hour he braved the "face wash" as he called it to stay alert and ready to open fire on enemy combatants.

As it turned out, we passed through one town that had a number of active Taliban. They chose not to engage our convoy and that is good, because as tough as the Americans may be, it is the ANA troops that put the fear of God into them. Americans are reasonable, ANA soldiers will run them down and they hate the Taliban as many of their families have felt their wrath.

We reached one point where we nearly turned back to Gozny. The Humvee is tough off road, and we had chained up the tires, but then the worst thing happened; we lost the road. After traveling hours on snow tracks left by earlier vehicles, our driver who was leading the convoy of eight vehicles, suddenly brought the Humvee to a halt. The tracks had disappeared and the effort to push lost sensibility.

Our Blue Force Tracker which reads satellites and actually shows our vehicles' position on the road was off by many yards and it wasn't enough to go by. Navy Lieutenant Commander Seward Meintsma who was riding "shotgun" called to the Colonel a few vehicles back to ask what we should do.

It looked grim, and then suddenly we saw something ahead. An Afghan national was walking toward us, leading a group of cars and pickups on foot. They told us they had been traveling like that for hours.

The group suggested we turn around, stating that the visibility ahead was less than five meters. They didn't realize how meaningful it was to us that they had established new tire tracks in the snow. The tracks marked the roadway and it didn't require five meters to follow them.

After two more hours, we reached our destination at Sharona and hauled our cold and tired bodies into a warm chow hall to enjoy the best Christmas meal anyone could hope for at a remote combat base in Afghanistan staffed by 16 Americans.

Later than evening, we had a Christmas service in the base's communications room, and in spite of everything, the spirit of Christmas was in the air.

The next morning we headed for our new destination; what the troops call the K and K castle. Upon arriving at this place, I was immediately curious.

Afghanistan is covered in walled cities and they all have a medeival appearance. K and K is actually called the Khyar Khot Forward Operating Base. This place has towers at all four corners and it is used today as a joint base between the Americans and ANA forces.

K and K Castle tower (Photo by: Tim King)

I asked about the history of the place and what I learned was both fascinating and chilling. Khyar Khot was originally constructed by the British during their invasion of Afghanistan in the 1870's. Over the years it fell into disrepair until the Russians reoccupied it after they invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

The Soviets used the castle as a fire base in their war against the Mujahadeen who eventually wrestled control of their country back from the communists. I was told that the castle was a center of torture and it was also used as a prison for Russia's enemies.

Soviet soldiers would go over the walls here and kidnap local women who would then be brought back, raped and then released. After the Soviets were defeated, the Taliban moved in and set up shop. Again, the base was used as a place to torture people.

It is reported that many died at K and K castle, their stories lost amid the tragedy of Afghanistan's recent history. Locals are said to avoid the place, they believe it is haunted by the spirits of the unfortunate people who died here.

Christmas for me this year was a strange mix of near misses and destinations reached. The castle is awesome in spite of its history, and the Americans here seem to breathe new life into its walls. Christmas in an Islamic country is a strange notion in itself, but it didn't deter Americans from celebrating with services, presents, stockings, and even a late night viewing of James Stewart's "It's a Wonderful Life."

If nothing else, it demonstrates the ability of people to change and improve a place and to maintain their own culture while showing respect for others. All in all, it wasn't a bad Christmas, though most certainly the strangest one I have ever lived through.

Tim King in Iraq

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Tim is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a 'Good Neighbor Award' for his reporting, by the The Red Cross.

Tim's years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu

In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005. Serving readers with news from all over the globe, Tim's life is literally encircled by the endless news flow published by Salem-News.com, where more than 100 writers contribute stories from 23+ countries and regions.

Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide; and maintains that the label 'terrorist' is ill placed in many cases; specifically with the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where it was used as an excuse to slaughter people by the tens of thousands; and in Gaza, where a trapped population lives at the mercy of Israel's destructive military war crime grinder. At the center of all of this, Tim pays extremely close attention to the safety and welfare of journalists worldwide. You can write to Tim at this address: tim@salem-news.com. Visit Tim's Facebook page (facebook.com/TimKing.Reporter)