This is another helicopter view of Southern Afghanistan. I snapped this out the window on my way from Kandahar to FOB Frontenac. We crossed over a couple of large mountainous ridges and there, in the middle of a totally arid plain, was a sparkling stretch of blue water. I thought it was a lake and was quite interested to see just how much good the water was doing for the swath of agriculture along the banks on either side of the outlet river. I tried to look up the name of the lake online and I believe that it is called the Dala Reservoir and that they use the dam at the mouth of the river - the Kajaki Dam for hydroelectric power. Apparently, only about 10% of Afghan households have electricity. Once, when I was on a convoy, I got the chance to pass through a local village and I saw the occasional solar panel next to a mud hut with a woven reed roof piled with broken stuff to weigh it down and keep the wind from blowing it off. I found it an odd juxtaposition and wondered what they ran with the power from the solar panel...TV perhaps...
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