Greetings 
,
Lately I've had a sort've off-beat notion bouncing around in my head, triggered by recent reading of the early CIA/Special Forces operations in Afghanistan. In what I was reading, there was emphasis on the large scale use of horses by combat units of the Northern Alliance and consequent shortages thereof, given the fighting.
Anyway, the idea that's been itching me is of a group of people assembled and dispatched by the US government to Kazakhstan to facilitate the movement of a large number of horses to northern Afghanistan and help resupply the NA forces. From preliminary research, it seems that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were friendly enough withthe US for such an operation to be feasable politically (the famous K2 base was in the latter, IIRC). Possibly there would be several stops to add to the herd along the way and certianly there would be much opportunity for intrigue, action and local color.
I have little knowledge of horses or the region, so I was hoping for some feedback from anyone who might have more. It seems like an interesting idea, off-beat enough to be unique but also possessing enough hooks to current events and traditional genres (it's essentially a travelling Western, set in a different place) to make connections to readers.
Any thoughts/comments?
Thanks,
,Lately I've had a sort've off-beat notion bouncing around in my head, triggered by recent reading of the early CIA/Special Forces operations in Afghanistan. In what I was reading, there was emphasis on the large scale use of horses by combat units of the Northern Alliance and consequent shortages thereof, given the fighting.
Anyway, the idea that's been itching me is of a group of people assembled and dispatched by the US government to Kazakhstan to facilitate the movement of a large number of horses to northern Afghanistan and help resupply the NA forces. From preliminary research, it seems that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were friendly enough withthe US for such an operation to be feasable politically (the famous K2 base was in the latter, IIRC). Possibly there would be several stops to add to the herd along the way and certianly there would be much opportunity for intrigue, action and local color.
I have little knowledge of horses or the region, so I was hoping for some feedback from anyone who might have more. It seems like an interesting idea, off-beat enough to be unique but also possessing enough hooks to current events and traditional genres (it's essentially a travelling Western, set in a different place) to make connections to readers.
Any thoughts/comments?
Thanks
,