# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread September 2014



## GAP (1 Sep 2014)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread September 2014 *               

*News only - commentary elsewhere, please.
Thanks for helping this "news only" thread system work!*


----------



## GAP (1 Sep 2014)

*Articles found Sept 1, 2014*

Closing Time At Afghanistan’s Kandahar Airfield
As American troops come home, Western fast food shops and local businesses are leaving too.
By Ben Brody | September 1, 2014 
 http://www.mintpressnews.com/closing-time-afghanistans-kandahar-airfield/196079/Article Link

As the US troop presence dwindles here, The House of Knowledge is closing.

Sajad Ahmad set up the shop on a retail strip at Kandahar Airfield hoping it might help to enlighten the soldiers by offering them books about Afghanistan history and culture. At the height of the US presence, Kandahar hosted 30,000 soldiers.

“Business was not good,” Ahmad said.

The House of Knowledge had become a fixture on what soldiers called “The Boardwalk,” the social center of the base featuring a Burger King, TGI Friday’s, Tim Horton’s donuts and other Western shops. As the US dramatically reduces its troop presence here, some shopkeepers say they are going to stay and adapt to their new clientele, Afghan soldiers and civilians. But many stores are closing for good.

House of Knowledge owner Ahmad is a slight, serious man from Kandahar who rarely smiles. He reveals his deep intellect and sensitivity grudgingly, as he has found few people here who share his passion for books and learning.

“I opened House of Knowledge in 2009 to sell books that would help the Americans understand Afghanistan, because understanding will bring peace,” said Ahmad at his shop.

“I had to get rid of most of my books and sell DVDs and headphones instead,” he continued.

Many of the restaurants and electronics shops on the boardwalk are owned and run by people from all over Asia, including the Philippines, Bangladesh and Pakistan, but a few Afghan-run shops sell local souvenirs and jewelry.

The Tim Horton’s left with the bulk of Canadian forces in 2011, and TGI Friday’s has just been bulldozed into rubble. Even the Green Beans Coffee Shop, a ubiquitous mainstay of US bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, is gone. So are the battle-hardened faces fresh from fighting in Helmand, who just a few years ago gawked in disbelief at the rear-echelon troops gulping down smoothies and pizza without a care in the world.

Now nearly all of the soldiers at Kandahar have ceased combat operations, and the air among soldiers is relaxed. Not as much with the shopkeepers.
More on link


----------



## McG (9 Oct 2014)

> 7 Canadian Forces officers still on duty in Afghanistan
> Ottawa Citizen
> Matthew Fisher
> 26 Sep 2014
> ...


----------



## The Bread Guy (31 Jan 2015)

pasbanfsd001 said:
			
		

> Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity ....


Not to mention your ban - buh-bye!

*Milnet.ca staff*


----------

