Amid fighting, the harvest goes on

It is always time to harvest something in Afghanistan — this month it is pomegranates. The trees, grown in dense, muddy orchards, produce an unbelievable amount of fruit.

In Bayanzay, a village of 50 people in mountainous Zabul Province, boys climb the trees and toss ripe pomegranates down to their older brothers lying in the grass. The men then box the fruit up for sale in Qalat, the capital of Zabul, and in Kabul.

"Qalat is much closer, but we can get a better price in Kabul," said an orchard owner through an interpreter hired by the U.S. military. The man pulled out a pocket calculator and confirmed that he could make twice as much money hauling the fruit to Kabul.

Some of the fruit splits open on the trees, and some of it is sliced open by bullets passing through the orchard during almost weekly firefights between the nearby U.S. base Combat Outpost Mizan and roving Taliban fighters. The opened fruit must be eaten quickly before it spoils, so everyone feasts on the fleshy seeds. Ants scurry madly across the desert floor, hoisting chunks of bright red fruit above them.

A few days ago I ran out of water high in the mountains, but was able to rehydrate myself with five pomegranates that left my shirt spattered with bright red juice. The complex, tart flavor of the local fruit is a welcome respite from the bland military rations soldiers must live with on most days.

(Photo by Ben Brody for GlobalPost)

(Photo by Ben Brody for GlobalPost)

(Photo by Ben Brody for GlobalPost)