In some ways, mid-winter Kabul reminds me a lot of Blade Runner. It's 9:30 pm, pitch black outside, the air is choking with dust and smog from people burning literally everything possible to stay warm. Visibility is less than a city block. You're rolling through an area with some neon lit wedding halls and suddenly there's a giant lit up billboard with 4G LTE mobile phone advertising on it next to a dozen artificial plastic fuschia/green/blue neon lit palm tree in front of a banquet hall. You drive onwards, your colleague in the passenger seat clutching their rifle between their legs, barrel resting on the floor.