Chapter 15 - A visit to Dangam District Center

Dangam District is situated in the eastern end of Kunar Province. It borders Marawara district to the west, Asad Abad to the northwest, Asmar to the north, Nari district to the northeast and Pakistan to the east and south. Dangam has gorgeous mountains. Fed from melting glaciers and snow of the Hindu Kush, the river Kunar makes Dangam valleys amazingly green.

It was January 2013 when I accompanied my team for a day-long visit to the Dangam District Center. It took us about an hour and a half from COP Monti to reach Dangam. The District Center was just across the river. However, we were directed not to use the bridge to cross the river. So, we left our trucks on the side of the road and started to walk to cross the river. The riverbed was about 40 meters lower than the road. It was cold and there was not much water in the river. It was flowing like three or four streams. After five meters descending, we came across a water channel which was made to run a traditional grinding mill (Gharat or Zharandha). The water conduit was about 4-5 feet wide and about 2.5 feet deep.

The stream was full, and water was running fast to push the mill's wheel to run the grinder's shaft. We had no option but to jump over the stream to keep our pace to go further down to reach the riverbed. I was also carrying a backpack with a weight enough to make me unhappy. Following young soldiers, I also jumped over the stream. I landed on the other corner of the stream but failed to keep my balance due to significant weight in my backpack and fell in the stream. On the other side of the stream there was about 25-meter steep draw. Thanks to my backpack and its weight which pulled me back.

Although I fell in the stream, I saved myself from a fall in the riverbed which was full of boulders. I was completely submerged in the water and was lying flat in the bottom of the stream. I do not know how I got up, but it took me about five minutes to catch my breath. There was no time to stop, we were on the lower ground and were expecting enemy snipers hiding behind the trees and rocks on the mountains above. No one said anything and we kept on descending. I crossed the river while running at the maximum possible speed, leaving behind a streak of water dripping from my clothes. It was cold and I was soaked in the water from head to toe and deep to my skin. After crossing the river, we started climbing to reach the District Center on the other side of the river.

At the District Center gate, we were welcomed by the District Commander of police (DCOP). He gave me a hug and asked me what happened, even though it was evident from my wet clothing and shivering. After listening to a brief narrative of my disaster he led us to his office. On the way I was greeted by a dozen police officers one by one. Apparently, everybody was feeling sorry for me, but they were also smiling. One soldier while joking said that I should have taken off my clothes before crossing the River Kunar. Others joked that I should have come in summer to enjoy a swim in the river.

Now I became so self-conscious that I wanted to hide. My assignment that day was to support a security element, sitting on a tower of the building and listening to the intercepted conversations. As other linguists had not arrived yet, an advisory team Captain asked me for help to talk to DCOP until the arrival of his linguist. In his office DCOP offered me a couch to sit on. I reminded him about my soaked clothes, but he insisted that I should sit on the couch. It took the other linguist about 15 minutes to replace me. I left the DCOP office leaving behind a big water mark on his office couch and there was no way for me to cover it up.

I found my team on the roof of the DCOP office. Sitting in the sun for the remaining day helped dry my clothes. Police officers showed their hospitality and kept on supplying hot tea during my day-long stay on the roof of their office. And certainly, on our walk back to the road we adopted a better route to avoid any inconvenience of jumping over water streams.