It’s Hot – And It’s Barely Summer!

We topped out at 118 in the sun today (a mere 110 in the shade). It’s going to be a long hot summer the way things are going.

One of the things we have managed to accomplish here is get the Afghan Officers addicted to Air Conditioning.  They are adding them right and left – and not central air-type A/C – they add individual room units that cumulatively draw a huge amount of power.  Unfortunately, most of them have no concept of where the power comes from – they know that the generator does something (for when it is off, there is no power) but they cannot seem to grasp that the generator has limits to what it can produce.

I find it interesting that the climate here is very similar to Phoenix, Arizona – perhaps just a shade warmer, but pretty much the same. In Phoenix, the most common type of air conditioning is the “Swamp Cooler” – basically a fan that draws the dry air through damp filters, then blowing the now cooler, moister air into the house or office.  Here, they act like they’ve never heard of such a thing.  The air here is certainly dry enough (thank the maker – if it were any more humid it would be unbearable) and we have plenty of nonpotable water…. Hmmm, maybe a fortune to be made – or not.

The demand for air conditioning leads, in turn, to a demand for larger generators, which, in turn, leads to rewiring entire complexes to handle the increased circuit loads. This cycle is magnified many times over, for basically everything, large and small.  Today, the senior US mentor here was asked, in the form of a demand, to provide carpets (rugs) for the floor, curtains for the windows, and doilies (I’m not kidding) for the tables.  Our response was to tell them to fill out the Afghan Army/Police requisition forms and send them through their own channels. Oh, no, that cannot be done, for they will not fill the order, we are told. So why should we be expected to do what their own government will not?  I was asked to provide a hot plate for boiling water for chai – I told them that I would donate 5 dollars if everyone else would as well and someone could go to the bazaar and buy one, since I would use it too.  Oh no – we should provide it for them, for we have more money than they do.  Riiiight.

We asked the Afghan Officers last week what is going to happen when the Americans and Europeans leave this country. “We die” was the answer given.  Hard to build a country when even the senior Police and Army Officers have that attitude.