Gratuitous Afghanistan Photo of the Day (62)

Village Elder from Qal'eh-ye Golay. Anyone who thinks poorly of an American military presence should ask this guy how they like it. We put a road at the edge of the village, and it was much better than what they had been using before. We leased ground from 5 different families, and the terms were so generous that they kept asking for extensions of the time of the leases. They had highly sought after jobs on the base. We drilled wells. The Koreans built them an enormous school. Sometimes I think they got together and just gave each other a bunch of high fives and satisfied smiles, chuckling all the while...