Prior to initiating his ongoing altercation with the United States, UBL resided here in Jalalabad, three of his known residences are located within four miles of my FOB; one of which is within easy walking distance. While living here, he did a bit of engineering work here and there (Engineering and construction being his family trade). One of his projects included a major repair of the Irrigation Headway in Ka-ma district which is a few kilometers North of J-alalabad where the Kunar river joins with the the Kabul river. The Ka-ma Irrigation Headway feeds water to about 8,000 hectares (80 square kilometers) of arable land. UBL's repair was not so good and has now crumbled to almost nothing. Since that time, numerous Humanitarian and/or Aid Organizations have tried to patch up his mess; all have failed in dramatic fashion.
The is a picture of the existing half-@ssed repair job; funded and executed by an unknown NGO (who ever it was, wont own up to it...). When I first laid eyes on the work, I couldn't believe what I was looking at. The whole structure is made of gabion baskets!
Gabion baskets are basically steel mesh baskets which are filled with rocks. They are typically used for retaining walls, and are used extensively across Afghanistan. They are also extensively miss-used across Afghanistan. In this case, the water control gates for the Irrigation Headway have been wired strait into the baskets. The structure failed with the first flood of the year as the gabion baskets could not even begin to handle the pressure leveraged by this particular river. The baskets collapsed onto and ruined the control gates.
This is our repair underway, it will be reinforced concrete and in a much better location...and it will last a great deal longer than five months. In your face UBL!