Tim Hortons exempt from Kandahar fast-food ban
In a clamp down on fun at the Kandahar air field, a number of fast food joints that supposedly distract soldiers—Burger King, Pizza Hut and Subway, among others—are being shut down on Saturday. But, puzzlingly, soldiers will still be able to get their Tim Hortons fix.
Command Sergeant Major Michael T. Hall warned troops in an undated blog post that a closure of hot spots was imminent. “This is a war zone—not an amusement park,” he wrote. In addition to distracting soldiers from their jobs, the string of fast food joints along the airfield’s boardwalk (yes, there’s a boardwalk there) encourage the shipping of “non-essential luxuries” (like Whopper patties) to Kandahar, which Hall says makes it difficult to get essentials to the troops. Apparently, Timbits don’t cause such problems.
No word yet on why Timmies was exempt from the purge, but we have a suspicion that its status as a Canadian institution classifies it as inherently boring. As such, it will be moved to the Canadian section of the base, a.k.a Snoozeville.
• NATO chief shutters Afghan base’s fast-food joints [Toronto Star]
• No fries with that: fast food axed at Afghan bases [Reuters]
• CSM Hall Blog–Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) facilities [ISAF]
This is not a new story. The shutdown was ordered by the new U.S. commander of the Kandahar airfield. He was the one who made the comments quoted by the blogger. Tim Hortons was exempted because there was some dispute whether the commander had the authority to order its closing. That is still some subject of debate, but the optics obviously looked bad. That’s why the Tims is moved to the Canadian section of the base, away from the envious eyes of the U.S. troops at the airfield.