If the golf greens are black, this must be Kabul

[PfcHammer]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0602/p01s04-wosc.html

If the golf greens are black, this must be Kabul
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Haji Iqbal Rashidzada tees up for the first hole. It's a tricky shot. He stands on a bare patch of dirt on a small brick building, about a hundred feet above the green. To the left is a major hazard, a bombed-out building shot full of bullet holes. In between is about 371 yards of desert brush and thistle.

And the green, well, actually it's black: a large round patch of sand covered in oil to keep the sand from blowing away.

Challenging? You bet. But the point is, it's a golf course, in Afghanistan.

...

And for those who can afford it - mostly foreigners and affluent Afghans - it's a welcome taste of normality. The nine-hole course dates back to the more relaxed era of King Mohammad Zahir Shah. It was relocated to its current site in the 1970s, and declined as Afghanistan descended into decades of civil war. At one point the grounds served as an Afghan military base before being rigged with land mines.



If there were any questions whether our adventures in the Middle East
are RW corporate, this story should answer them. US soldiers, financed
by American taxpayers, risking their lives to clear landmines for an
elitist sports facility accessible only to those who can afford it. Nice.

[Gman]

1. Land mines?

Sounds like some of the muni's I've played.