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Hewitt Interviews Yon, Fresh from Afghanistan
HH: How bad in Afghanistan is it? And what did you see when you were there? MY: A lot of violence. I was in numerous places. One place was called Lashkar Ga, a place where they had never had suicide attacks before. And actually suicide attacks are new to Afghanistan. Even the Afghanis are scratching their heads on that one. There were two suicide attacks in a six day period when I was there, and they happened very close to where I was. I was there with a friend who's been doing business in Afghanistan for about ten years. And one of his employees was injured during the second bomb. And then on another day, one of his employees was murdered while I was there. I mean, it's just game on. There's a lot of heavy fighting going on. Our Canadian friends are in the thick of it. The British are in the thick of it. The Australians are. The Dutch are putting in more troops. There's a lot of poppy growing, and...tremendous amount. And I'm told by a State Department employee the biggest crop ever. And a lot of that money...that's starting to flood our streets. I've been looking at medical studies here in the United States and Britain, and heroin addiction is up. And that's coming directly from Afghanistan. About 90% of the world's heroin comes from Afghanistan, so it's like the perfect evil. They're making money off of getting our kids addicted. I mean, 8th graders are getting addicted. They're the highest growing group of people in the addiction category. HH: The AP is reporting today that U.S.-led coalition aircraft killed up to 80 suspected Taliban militants in a night air strike in Southern Afganistan today. Obviously, the war goes on. Did you make it through Kabul? Were conditions in Kabul organized? MY: Oh, Kabul's relatively safe. I only saw one incident in Kabul, and when I landed at the airport, there was an explosion, maybe a rocket or a mortar, something hit the airfield, but that was it. Kabul's...you know, you can go around there. I went to restaurants, that kind of thing. [...] HH: Have you been in touch with the men with whom you served up in Mosul, Michael Yon, since you got back? MY: Oh, I talked with about a half dozen of them today. So yeah. HH: And everyone recovering well? Those of who were wounded? MY: Yeah, Col. Kurilla, who was shot three times in front of me, and I actually saw the X-ray, his femur was snapped in half by one bullet. He made a total recovery in 8 months, and now he's taking over 2nd Ranger Battalion up in Fort Lewis. It's an amazing recovery. One of my spies told me that his physical therapist, that it was the most amazing recoveries he's ever seen. Posted by: KBK 2006-05-24 |
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