I know nothing of the origin of the post but, an observation, If I were comming from a training area of very few very tall mountains into an area such as Afganistan, with very tall mountains and very dark shadows (the shadow is an area of less light than the minimal you are flying in), I would be very hesitant to commit folks to flying in that environment with out lots of train-up time.
Have no idea if this was the case. Just an obsrvation.