Hello Everyone,

I had to devote an entire e-mail to this really cool irrigation system that I encountered on our first mission in Kabul.

This is a tiered, man-made, irrigation system that runs for miles and serves a farming community of hundreds. It must have been an enormous undertaking, and I have trouble fathoming the ingenuity of the whole system. All constructed without any machinery. Basically, the people have used the power of a river to make water move uphill, then they channeled it into several tiers of canals that run down the side of a mountain. The pressure that builds causes the water to move into channels at the base of the mountain that take the water to rice patties as far as ten kilometers away. All the while, the water rushes very quickly and the channels are constantly worked to prevent them from becoming stagnant. At any time, just a few shovels of mud can redirect the water to other canals. It is just amazing. There must be a tremendous amount of cooperation and coordination involved in this.

This is what a canal looks like from close up. The mud walls are constantly being worked. In the three days that we operated in the area, the water was stopped in two canals in order to make them deeper and keep the water moving. They are generally about 4-5 feet deep, and 3-4 feet across. The water is usually about 6-10 inches deep.

This is the system of tiers. To the left is one canal, then a footpath, then a rock wall which supports the second canal. Above that, a third canal. At the base of the hill, the canals spread out in two directions, taking the water to the rice patties seen in the following picture.

The rice patties at sunrise. The two large buildings in the background: on the left is the queen's palace, on the right is the King's palace. Look how lush and green the rice patties are. They are filled with water, and a network of raised paths criss-crosses them for people to walk. The trees mark where the canals run. The farmers live in adobe brick houses. No running water or electricity, so they all use the canals to bathe and drink from. That is why it is imperative to keep the water moving quickly I suppose. We observed people bathing in the water and coming to it with ceramic vessels.

This a family of farmers who benefit from the irrigation system. The two men, father and son, spent the entire three days I was there tilling their fields from Dawn til dusk, while the girls collected water and played at the river's edge. These fields are tiered, so I suppose that after planting they will be flooded. Rice is eaten with every meal in Afghanistan. It is so important, that our soldiers almost rioted when rice was not served with one meal.
These farmers were the most friendly people I have met in Afghanistan. Talking to them gave me such a good feeling and reminded me of my friends in Oaxaca, Procopio and Thomas. I gave them MREs, and they were very happy. They were so surprised when I spoke Dari, and they spoke very highly of America for ending the war. These people have suffered the most from all of the destruction, but their community is under reconstruction. They are now benefitting from the peace, which gives me a good feeling. One farmer even came to us and told us where we could find a stash of RPG rounds that some bad men were looking to use against us. The people don't want any more fighting, and they are the real reason things are going well.

This is the river that powers the whole system. These men are dredging the river, they worked all day up and down the banks. The rocks are collected and quarried into gravel, which goes at a premium in Kabul, because the roads are so horrible. I wish I could show more pictures, but that would make the file too big for many to receive. I think an in-depth anthropological study of this irrigation system would really benefit archaeology, as it is totally primitive. It could lead to showing the type of political organization needed to operate such a complex canal system. Maybe it could even be used to contrast/support the idea of developing chiefdoms based on water control. I don't know, but it is really cool.
More pictures to follow, soon.
Sonny