Weather

I purchased med-evac insurance before coming to Kabul. For those unfamiliar with it, under the terms of the coverage, in case of a medical emergency the insurance provider will fly you to the nearest “western-standard” hospital. It’s terrific in countries with less-than-spectacular medical systems (medicine may have been free in the former Soviet Union, but you got what you paid for). However, this winter the Kabul airport is closed more days than not, making my high-priced evacuation plan moot.

After ten years of drought, the Kabul airport is ill-equipped to deal with the ice and snow dished out this winter (on the bright side, this may mean the drought is ending). The airport also doesn’t have radar, relying instead on the main U.S. base at Bagram. So at the mildest snow flurry it shuts down. At least they’re sensible enough to know what they can’t handle.

Meanwhile, contradictory rumors are still flying about the cause of last week's Kam Air plane crash. Pilot error? Control tower error? No one knows (or if they do, they aren't talking), but I plan to be much more careful when and how I fly. So twice a day I check the Internet for weather reports, wondering if I’ll be able to leave here on Friday.

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