Chicken Street: Afghanistan before the Taliban: Clearing the Deadly Remnants of War

387 Pages·2013·9.64 MB·English

by  John Lane

John Lane spent 35 years serving worldwide with the Royal Navy in frigates, a
guided missile destroyer, and in the Commando Carrier HMS Albion. He saw
operational service in the Malayan Emergency with the 1st Loyals (North
Lancashire Regiment), in Aden, and in North Borneo during Confrontation. He
commanded naval establishments in Oman whilst on secondment to the Sultan’s
Armed Forces, and in Gibraltar, and also served on the NATO Staff in Malta and
at the British High Commission in Canada. In 1972 he was evicted by Colonel
Gaddafi from Tripoli following the departure of the British Naval Mission from
Libya, and from 1975 to 1977 he served onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. He
was awarded the OBE in 1985.
After leaving the Navy John Lane was Senior Manager for the Armed Forces
Hospitals Southern Region in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War and in 1991/92
he was head of mission for the HALO Trust in Afghanistan. He has also worked
for the Ryder Cheshire Foundation in Western Tanzania with Burundi refugees,
and with Christian Solidarity International in Eritrea and Nagorno Karabagh.
Humanitarian appointments with the International Red Cross, the European
Commission, British Executive Service Overseas and VSO have included post-
earthquake Armenia, Croatia during the Balkans War, post-genocide Goma,
Hargeisa in Somaliland, Belize, Northern Bangladesh, Peru, Tanzania, Ethiopia,
and what was then North West Frontier Province, Pakistan following the SE Asia
Earthquake. John Lane now tends an allotment on the banks of the River Wandle
in London and has a chacra smallholding near Iquitos on the banks of the River
Amazon.

Co-published in 2013 by:
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Designed and typeset by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire
Cover designed by Euan Carter, Leicester (www.euancarter.com)
Printed by Henry Ling Ltd, Dorchester, Dorset
Text © John Lane 2012
Photographs & maps © John Lane unless otherwise noted
ISBN 978-1-909384-26-2
EPUB ISBN: 9781909384767
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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For those who have gone on ahead
“May their souls rest peacefully on the wings of the Afghan winds”
Contents
List of maps and photographs
Foreword
Key Events

Chapter In the Middle
1
Chapter In Continuation
2
Chapter In the Beginning
3
Chapter Interruptions to the Daily Round
4
Chapter In Circles
5
Chapter Inter Alia
6
Chapter Intermezzo
7
Chapter In and Out
8
Chapter In Sickness and in Health
9
Chapter In the North
10
Chapter In Extremis
11
Chapter In the Line of Duty
12
Chapter In Memoriam
13
Chapter In the End
14
Chapter Coda
15
Epilogue
Bibliography