Today we flew to Panjshir, just north of Kabul, maybe 30 minutes by the helicopter you see here. It's a Mi-8, a Russian model. I liked it. It seemed dubious for about twenty seconds whether it would actually get off the ground, but once it did, it was a very smooth ride, much less choppy than a Blackhawk. It takes off unlike other helicopters I've been on. It doesn't ascend vertically into the sky; it scoots off horizontally building up speed for 6-8 seconds and gradually ascends, more like a plane.
You'll notice the porthole window behind me is open. That was in case they needed to throw me out to reduce ballast.
Actually, I'm the one who opened it; I wanted the breeze. And to throw out the person sitting just out of camera range.
We visited PRT Panjshir, whose mascot is nominally the lion but I believe is really the Expedia gnome pictured here, since he's the one welcoming you at the door.
Panjshir is by all measures the safest province in Afghanistan. It is famous as the valley where the Soviets were defeated for years by Massoud, the leader of the Tajik mujahadin, and the one part of Afghanistan the Taliban did not successfully conquer.
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