Rough Day after Memorial Day

My time in Panjshir was incredible. Not quite the same as a vacation by most people's standards, but I loved working with the group and we were well-taken care of. They were a close-knit family and a very interdependent team with all of the individuals given the chance to speak up and share their thoughts and opinions. Out of all the people there, the Provincial Reconstruction Team Commander was perhaps the most outstanding. He was kind to his soldiers and leaned heavily on his civilians for guidance. Mark did everything he could to make our stay pleasant, from checking on the sheets to pointing out the goodies to be found in the mess hall. He even was the one who wanted to take us out to see some of the sights so we could understand the area a bit better, interact with the people, and just get outside the walls of the base. As we were driving out, he shared how hard the post was for him as he works to bring change for the people and it breaks his heart when he sees one of the few kids (that are generally educated in the couple of madrassas there) make a face or throw a rock at their cars. He was so sweet, the tension actually caused him to be a bit depressed...I pray his family will be held up by their community as I know they have a lifetime of broken hearts ahead of them. On top of the Commander, there were two other Americans and one Afghan lawyer that were also killed. Tragic. These are the stories I think of when I read FDR's quote, "I have seen war, and I hate war..."

Peace...

Zabul PRT and planning process

This one was so much different it is hard to compare. Our team of three met with all the different elements of the Provincial Team minus the Police Mentoring Team and Special Forces for the first two days, put together a proposed strawman of much of the process and then spent a LONG day working through each section. Overall it went pretty well. Had a great time playing basketball to unwind each night for a couple of hours. They would power up the generator to light up the court at night. Wow, playing so much 1 on 1 or 3 on 3 has made me quite an awful 5 on 5 player. Had fun nonetheless. Got to go through the towers at sunset and look across the valley and stare at another of Alexander the Great’s castles as the sun sank transforming the sky into a palate full of oranges and pinks. Sometimes, the light here reminds me of Africa…and when I start thinking about it, I never can figure out exactly what I mean, how can light be different, but it is even though I struggle to figure out why. A few other interesting tidbits are that the military guys here all have nicknames on their uniform, so I’ve hung out with Superman, Spiderman, the Punisher, etc. I got a kick out of that. Also, the facilities here are really neat. They are old buildings which while falling apart, are still a good decade or two from disrepair. In the meantime, the Provincial Reconstruction Team gets to enjoy a unique setting that drastically improves the boring and rigid structures of the plywood B-huts set up across almost all of our other bases. While the surroundings aren’t as stunning as other places I’ve been, I really enjoy the compound. The only exception was the last night when there were a couple of explosions. The Afghan National Army compound was adjacent to the compound where I was staying and a few of their guys were seriously injured and med-evac’ed out. I understand the injuries weren’t life-threatening. I was working in the computer lab then. It happened to be in the secure, fall-back position. Needless to say, I decided perhaps I could crank out another hour or two of work! I was tickled as guys grabbed their guns and headed out, while others ran in exclaiming, “man, did you hear that?” and “I knew after that hit, there would be computers available!” I found during the facilitation process that Zabul is the second most dangerous province in Afghanistan. Here I thought I was in some Shangri-la with the neat compound where I was staying…

Peace...

Zabul-Hospital

Today, I went to the provincial hospital where they had a water ionizer (uses a solar powered electrical current to change salt water into chlorinated water). This ionizer gives a weak bleach that people can add to their water to make it safer. We also went through their vaccination center and saw the storage and ended up where they were running the strong foods program. This program is for malnourished children who because of poverty, mother’s that aren’t able to breastfeed, or diarrhea, are at risk of death. This program employs several locals to hand grind almonds, powdered sugar, cooking oil, and multi-vitamins into a powder that can be put on a finger and the kids eat it up! Apparently, one gained 2.5 kilos in one week! I love these programs that are so self-sufficient.

Peace...

Zabul-School and Bullies Gone Wrong

We also went where they are building a dormitory for a boy’s school that is meant to bring boy’s in from the isolated districts since when they attend school there, the families are often intimidated. Here in Zabul schools are closing left, right, and center. The Taliban are going to families to harass them into keeping their kids at home, and when that hasn’t worked, in one district they went and cut the ears off of all the teachers that refused to close the school, and told them they would die if they went back to work. This is the stuff that makes me furious…and glad when the military drags one of them out or I read of an attack on a compound. I’m usually one to side with the underdog, but how could you not want to take an aggressive posture to such nonsense. This is just a small piece of what is basically systematized bullying with guns. They are setting up mines to blow when the Afghan National Police drive by or the Afghan National Army do to keep them from patrolling and reaching their safe-havens. Villagers that are hungry have refused taking humanitarian assistance from the US and UNAMA during the winter because they fear that the Taliban will kill them as soon as they return.

Peace...

Zabuli Queens

Here in Zabul, there are two great guys, one US Dept. of Agriculture and one US Agency for International Development representative. They have been so kind to the team here that it has been a pleasure working with them. Our team was practically mothered by the US Department of Agriculture rep here. The funniest part is that they are both relatively gruff looking, but I’ve not seen a more blatant pair of queens since the Drag Races in DC on Halloween! What makes it more entertaining is that we thought they might be a couple…and wondered if Afghans and the military guys here in the province expected all of the US civilians that worked out here to be just the same way! The excessive hand gestures by one and the questions posed by the other will not be forgotten and I wonder if I will ever think of Afghanistan without a fond smile as I think of their zaniness.

Peace...

Ice Cream!

Ok, there wasn’t any screaming, but there has been some excitement when we legally snuk into the big shipping container that was refrigerated and went to the huge tubs of ice cream to dig some out. MMMMM! The strawberry was delicious and the butter pecan was quite tasty with some peanut butter. Maybe this is the problem with Afghanistan, so little ice cream that everyone is in a bad mood...with ice cream, things would be better...

Peace...

Trip to Zabul

Wow, I’m full of stories right now, so I’ll try to break them out as I’m able. Not necessarily in chronological order, but really, who cares so much about that anyway outside of some historians! I’ll get to Bamyan soon.

So, 5:00pm on 5/19, I found an email telling me my flight to Kandahar was cancelled. I wasn’t going to Kandahar Air Field, but was stopping there to join 2 colleagues to head out to Qalat in Zabul from there. Unfortunate hurdle. However, I was lucky enough to hear of a VIP flight headed down at 12:30am. Not the best of timing, but I knew that the General would make sure I got on the plane if I could. There was a lot of scurrying about to try to get my name on the manifest which didn’t end up being important in the end, but we headed to the airport that night and went into the terminal. They asked if we were the VIPs, and after confirmation, they let us know that the plane outside would be leaving soon, and that we were too late. Apparently, their schedule didn’t mesh with ours and we got stuck in the airport to catch the next flight at 3:00am-which by the way didn’t leave til 4:30am. We couldn’t take our bags on, so we sat there with nothing to do outside of flipping through some Belgian equivalents of Vogue and Cosmo. I opted to try to crash on the uncomfortable seats while the others talked and faded in and out of sleep til around 4:15am, getting at least 2 good hours of sleep in. Finally, we loaded our 3:00am flight at 4:15am and took off around 4:30am. YAWN!
The interesting part of the flight is that it was on a C-130. Big space for payloads but instead we had our group of 5 and one additional random soldier as well as a few boxes and one large propeller. I was glad to ride on it after helping unload, and set up the distribution of dozens and dozens of shipments they brought in loaded with humanitarian assistance supplies in Georgia.

So, we get to Kandahar at 5:45am, unload, jump in a truck as I’m trying to call my contacts who aren’t answering because the cell service is down. I go to the mess hall (the Luxembourg DFAC (Dining Facility)) eat a good breakfast and keep trying to get through to my two colleagues with no luck. The VIP crew let me tag along back to their hooch and crash on an extra bunk bed for a few hours. Woke up and was finally able to connect with my points of contact, they wanted to meet me in an hour back at the Luxembourg…but…I couldn’t find them! There were multiple entrances and the dining facility is huge. Finally after looking about 15 minutes we connected. From then on, we were preparing for Zabul and ready to hop the flight here-not just any flight, but on a Blackhawk, and with the Governor who was returning from a conference. The helicopters I am usually in, have a couple of shooters with AK-47s, but this was a gunship with multiple mounted machine guns and rockets. I couldn’t tell if it went much faster. Did seem a bit smoother, but the photos were a lot worse cause the sides were vibrating so much you couldn’t shoot through the clear panes. It almost shook me to sleep, which wouldn’t have been hard.

What a journey! Ummm, what year is it now?

Peace...

Volleyball

Volleyball!
Well, finally after a lot of occasionally hitting it around, volleyball has started in earnest and I’m loving it. There is something so therapeutic about whacking around a volleyball when you are tired of sitting and pushing issues forward all day. Worked in a few games over a week or so. Was great. Plus, being out on the court, even if just for a bit toward the end of the day, playing in the sand by the pool, sure makes it seem like you can't be working very hard if that is part of your lifestyle!

Peace...

Embassy Hair Cut

In preparation for my Zabul trip, I decided it was time to not be quite so shaggy. I went to the barber and asked him to shorten it. Luckily, he spoke English quite well, so I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be a repeat of the Tbilisi fiasco. He went to town-chopping all over and we had some nice chats about life in Afghanistan-with an actual Afghan nonetheless-quite a novelty for me! He finished up and I was more or less pleased, still not quite up to snuff with the wizard who often still cuts my hair back home. Next, out came a straight-edged razor. I’m the trusting sort usually, but the combination of this brutal looking razor, a small man behind me, holding it to my neck, and the collection of hundreds of articles and the occasional intelligence report I’ve been reading didn’t sit well with me. Nevertheless, I sat still and held my breath, and he cleaned up around my hairline. It was great. First time I’ve had that happen. On top of some shorter neck-hairs, I left his shop smelling like the cheaper after-shaves we used to buy my dad for presents when we were growing up.

Peace...

Environment

Toward the beginning of this blog, I mentioned the wastefulness of the military and how it isn’t recycling so much of its trash/bottles, etc. I am anxious to read in the proposed legislation that was recently approved by the House dealing with CO2 limitations how that will apply to the military. For whatever reason, the US does not bring them into the fold in terms of expectations and their practices and bases, overseas and in the US are clear evidence of that. Regardless, while I know the legislation doesn’t move us to where it needs to, I’m thrilled that we are finally going to take into consideration our practices and adjust them to be slightly more sustainable.

Peace...

Human Rights...or not...

As someone who worked on international human rights with Amnesty International, the Carter Center, and had components of it cross-cutting several other jobs, you can imagine my pleasure and dismay at a meeting while developing components of the National Civilian-Military Action Plan. A military officer raised that as we were outlining issues related to governance, we had overlooked human rights. He wasn’t a spunky recent college grad in the navy reserves, but a grizzled active duty marine colonel. Immediately, USAID representatives pushed back, noting that we weren’t here to make this a Western democracy and that human rights were a “bridge too far”. The marine didn’t let go easily and argued that whether it was easy or quickly attainable was beside the point, that it is a core precept of the US and the UN and that we needed to find ways to advocate and support their establishment and protection across Afghanistan. Outstanding. So many of these soldiers here give me hope for the future. We just have to find a way for their influence to grow, and more importantly, for their voices to be heard by our politicians who so rarely view things outside of short-term gains.

Peace...

Television

Ok, those of you who know me well, know that I’m a sucker for good television but I’ll never be the biggest of fans. Maybe it is because they are always cutting the shows that are good! I saw something on the yahoo main page and clicked through, saw they had cut not just ER, but also Boston Legal, and Prisonbreak. I think there was another one or two I liked as well. I know ER was getting a bit stale, but they have had some great storylines the last couple of years when I’ve managed to watch it, actually seeking to develop some social consciousness about Sudan, public service and more. I guess this will end a bit of hesitancy to being out and about when I get back as there won’t be much on. I can spend all the time catching up on Lost! I will say that here in Zabul, it has been nice to see some folks watching basketball! I felt like I was the only nut here for a while, especially during March Madness. Unfortunately, here, I’m rooting against teams and not for them. All those I was pulling for were knocked out earlier…so for now, I’m a big Nuggets and Magic fan!

Peace...

Bamyan – flight

On our way back, the LtCol and I were chatting about how we wished we’d been able to see the storied lakes of Bamyan. He stuck his head in the pilot’s cabin (we were on a plane again) and asked if we could go to the lake. They said we were low on fuel and it would be a stretch but he persisted, and was able to sweet-talk them into it. Awesome! We headed out away from Kabul on a renegade flight with a New Zealand VIP and swung toward the lakes. Suddenly sparkling out of the brown landscape, they shone the deep blues. I remember there was a lake that was a bit similar in Switzerland, but these were more like something out of Disney World than any natural setting. The blues were intense and stark as everything around them for miles was brown, rough terrain. The colors shifted as they approached the shores to other blues along the spectrum, but the minerals left behind by melting glaciers were enough to create a breathtaking sight. We were lucky enough to fly-over just 1 day after they became Afghanistan’s first National Park-and made it back to Kabul with fuel to spare!

Peace...

Bamyan exploration

Despite the provincial team being a bit of a mess, they were great hosts! We went up “PT Hill” (no, not named for me, but for physical training) at 6am on our last day. This took us to one of the highest peaks in the valley, closer to the snow-capped mountains where we could look out over the surrounding villages. The mountain still was pock-marked from mines that had been dug up, and completely barren. However, trees had been planted to mitigate the possibility of avalanche. Upon return from the climb of more than 1000ft up and down over 2.5 miles, we ate, then ran two more lines of effort to wrap up that component of the plan, then headed out. There used to be two ancient Buddha statues in the cliffs just across the valley from the PRT (you could actually see them from the base). We drove over and climbed around for more than 2 hours, through stairs carved into the cliffs (actually inside, not just on the face), darting in and out of one old temple after another. It is estimated there are more than 12,000 of the caves. I feel like a great climber should head there with a grant and map them out while exploring. I’m sure there have got to be some which are close to intact. Some of them were 9-10 stories up off the floor of the valley. I have no idea how the people got there to carve them, or moved in and out. When the Muslims took over the valley after the first millennium, they destroyed all the idols they could find-just as Christians did in many places…interesting how either religion thought they could win the trust and respect of the people by destroying what they held dear. Perhaps that is why the crusades didn’t work for either and the only reason that Muslims are growing faster is because of their higher birth rate than Christians? Regardless, these small caves led pilgrims, holy men, students, and traders to two immense Buddhas that UNESCO declared a world heritage site. Unfortunately, the two remaining “idols” weren’t appreciated by the Taliban. Initially, they were tolerated, but when the Bamyan people (primarily Hazara instead of Pashtun like most Taliban) didn’t submit to Taliban rule, they decided to attack the Buddhas and shelled them with artillery and tanks. This only chipped away at their façade, so the story told by the locals are that 3 men were kidnapped by the Taliban, drug up to the top of the “Big Buddha” and one was pushed off, falling 100+ feet to his death. Next, the Taliban turned to the remaining two friends and asked if they wished to follow him, when they said no, they gave them the option of climbing around the Buddhas and setting charges to blow them out of existence. To this day, there are still huge chunks of rubble, but unfortunately, they are beyond recognition. Not only did this destroy a World Heritage site and an ancient “treasure” of Buddhists, but it also destroyed the ability for them to lure tourism and tore the heart out of the Hazaras.

In between the base and the cliffs housing the Buddha remains lies another historical point. A small outcropping that juts out of the middle of the valley floor, providing sight-lines down 5 major valleys-including the main one where the Silk Road ran. It is on this hill that Genghis Kahn killed his nephew and named the mountain blood mountain. I did hear a few stories, but will need to verify the background of his fury with the nephew.

Peace...

Bamyan – Kiwis

The Bamyan PRT is staffed by the New Zealand military with a few civilians sprinkled in from the US and New Zealand. It was nice to hear that their military active duty and reserves totaled about 4,000. It makes sense doesn’t it? An isolated nation, surrounded by allies, without much of a threat, hmm, doesn’t that apply to…oh, nevermind. Maybe I should make sure to never go to New Zealand. It is wonderful to have met many people from a country and not found any of them to be the slightest bit disagreeable! They are a great people. I’m not just saying this cause of the awesome tattoos I saw while guys were shaving. To illustrate their awesomeness, the PRT is often asked about why they have a “chicken” (kiwi) on all of their things. They explain it is the national bird of New Zealand and their symbol…and one of the Majors shared that when the kids near the Forward Operating Base (FOB) ask him, he points to the 8 ft. kiwi statue on the roof of the gate and says, well, they are really about the size of that one, much much bigger than a chicken and explains how they are quite scary because they are always snatching up and eating small children! Oddly enough, there is a small pocket in Afghanistan where this tiny bird is feared and greatly respected as a result.

Peace...

Banned in China!

A good friend just let me know that for some odd reason my blog was banned inside China. Odd, I've not got the best opinions about the place, but I figured if that was the case, I needed to give them the justification for such esteemed consideration.

Here in Afghanistan, the Chinese have purchased rights to a massive copper mine "Anyak". Along with the mine, of course, they are going to set up a coal fired electrical plant. Coal, yes, forward leaning, no?

On top of that, they agreed in principal to hire thousands of Afghans. Nice gesture, no? No-one has this on paper. All we have to do is to look to the mines in Africa and see China's version of neo-colonialism. They agree to "benefit" a country, with agreement from the government of course and build a road to the mine, sometimes rehab a port, and then after initial agreements, shift quite rapidly into hiring hundreds if not thousands of chinese in similar extractive industries. I have no doubt that the same will happen here in Afghanistan.

No worries, your tax dollars are helping provide the security for them as they put things in motion to scrape billions in profit from the country. An interesting development as they help stabilize our economy to allow us to spend money to bolster our military in operations to provide the security. Soon, the US will learn that China has become the belligerant economic power across the world as we have seen surface throughout history during the rise of great powers. This one works out well as it guarantees access to copper...and on top of that, will net them $88 Billion!

Peace...

Saturday's Adventures

It was about the time that after a few weeks stuck inside the Embassy compound with just a few quick forays to Camp Eggers and the ISAF compounds just down the street, that I was starting to grow restless, feeling trapped behind the walls. Then, riding in out of the dusk comes an old friend to rescue me. He carted us off to the house of one of International Republican Institute's staff who was gracious enough to throw a pizza party in our honor. So, the 8 of us ate and drank and shared story after story, late into the night. Given the setting, we could have been anywhere in the world, except the Colonel was in his uniform. We talked into the morning and then went on over to the COIN (Counter-insurgency) Academy that the Colonel runs, slept a few hours, woke up early and headed out to explore the ruins of the Queen's Palace (aka Taj Beg)located in Darulamon.

We wound our way up the hill toward the palace, looking off into the distance at the King's Palace further down the valley, the Soviet Officer's Club perched up on an adjacent hill, and the old Parliament building sprawling across the valley floor. The path was lined with beautiful flowers-and even with the dainty yet feared poppy. I was about to cut up the hill to take a more direct route when an instructor from the academy that joined us shared how we needed to be careful since the last guy that was exploring an old wreck off the path stepped on a land-mine.

The palace had seen better days. It's roof was collapsing, the walls were covered in Dari, Russian, Pashto, and English graffiti, some rooms had burned, the walls were pock-marked by bullets with a few holding gaping holes from shelling. The building from King Amanullah's reign during the 1920s seemed to hold the history of the last many decades in its walls. It was initially destroyed as the HIG invaded the region and the Queen had to flee via underground tunnel for her life. Later the Soviets seized it, and then the Taliban. Now, it is a wanderers curiosity at best. The German Government has pledged more than $20 Million to help restore the palace.

From The Warrior Song of King Gesar - Still Appropriate

The passage below is pulled from a book I'm reading, "Three Cups of Tea". While the book focuses on parts of Pakistan which converted long ago from Buddhism to Islam, the quote below is drawn from The Epic of King Gesar shared among the Balti people (near K2) though originating in Tibet. I found the words appropriate today, not because we are living in a land destroyed by war, but suffering from abuse and negligence. The air here in Kabul is a clear sign of this problem. Read below to see the wisdom of more than 800 years ago.

Our earth is wounded. Her oceans and lakes are sick; her rivers
are like running sores; The air is filled with subtle poisons. And the oily
smoke of countless hellish fires blackens the sun. Men and women,
scattered from homeland, family, friends, wander desolate and uncertain
scorched by a toxic sun...

In this desert of frightened, blind uncertainty, some take refuge in
the pursuit of power. Some become manipulators of illusion and deceit.

If wisdom and harmony still dwell in this world, as other than a dream lost
in an unopened book, they are hidden in our heartbeat.
And it is from our hearts that we cry out. We cry out and our voices
are the single voice of this wounded earth. Our cries are a
great wind across the earth.

Bathrooms and helicopters

Well, after getting these photos in from one of the forward operating bases that we've been out to, it seems I may need to be a bit more wary about helicopters and a bit more deliberate about bathrooms in the upcoming weeks. WOW!

Peace...

Holidays and barbed wire

Today was a high risk day...that seems to have passed without the massive outbreaks of violence that were feared. The alerts were out because it was a celebration of both kicking the Russians out of Afghanistan and also a man that many Afghans consider to be their equivalent of George Washington. I visited his tomb when I was in Panjshir. Coalition forces felt that the symbolic statements that could be made today by attacking the troops or even suicide bombings targeting the public were a significant enough possibility that all civilian travel was prohibited.

Oddly enough, the Embassy felt like this would be a good time to take down the razor wire and start the replacement process that rings the perimeter wall. I found the timing odd, but it is great to have a day or two to look out over the walls and feel a bit more normal. In a PR move that I didn't think was the most brilliant, the Mayor of Kabul was invited over to the Embassy to hold a press conference about how the city is getting safer.

Peace...

Faces

I’m not sure if it is old prejudices about what Santa Claus and God were to look like, a fascination with wisdom and its gradual arrival with time, or the stories that faces can tell; but the ones on the men here, seem to hold a library of stories! I’m fascinated with the white beards, the head wraps, and the darker, wrinkled, and wisened faces. This may be the first place I’m really drawn to hear the stories of the older men instead of the women which usually seem to hold so many more stories.

Peace...

Since Easter Keeps Happening, A Post On Christianity

The more I read from this guy, the more I think he should go on one of those lists of people I'd like to have dinner with.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness, and pride of power, and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear ... Christendom adjusts itself far too easiliy to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now.

Peace...

Pirates...YARRR

Interesting to see all the articles coming out about the Pirates off the coast of Somalia. The root causes of the conflict seem to be stemming from a few different areas:

1. Fishing fleets from Europe that were coming down and illegally fishing off the coast and depleting the fisheries and impacting the communities livelihoods. Those communities saw pirating (if that is a verb) as a tax on the fleets that were taking away their jobs.

2. Western European governments have been paying the Italian mob to dispose of nuclear waste. That waste was disposed off the coast of Somalia-what better place that has no government! People along some parts of the shore started to get sick and were able to connect the radiation poisoning to the ships and they decided they would exact revenge by holding the ships captive and demanding money that would be used to reimburse families.

3. Other communities realizing that their poverty could be alleviated with some risk...but that the risk brought great rewards to the surrounding communities and so they supported the efforts of the pirates as they came back and distributed the wealth much like modern day Robin Hoods.

I'm not condoning the practice, but the dark pictures that have been painted in the mainstream media fail to capture the whole story. But, I'll give the Washington Post some props for digging deeper to get "...the rest of the story."

Peace...

Exciting Language from the British House of Commons

"This House recognises that for every dollar spent globally on conflict prevention nearly two thousand times as much is spent on defence and the military..." Maybe if we switched that for a decade or two, we could try what John Lennon was singing about some time ago. People certainly would complain about the lack of security, change breeds fear, but is the paradigm we are operating under really doing so much for us now? Just look at the headlines. If you don't see anything, do a bit more research. Look at the international, national, state, county, municipal, city, and community levels-we aren't knocking on the door of Nirvana with a stable, secure, and safe world.

Peace...

Facilitation Fun-from Wednesday

The weather here is great…though I’m glad I won’t be here in the middle of the summer. It is giving me flashbacks to days spent at summer camps without air conditioning and swatting flies left, right, and center. The first half of today was me facilitating the lines of effort for governance, basic services, and rule of law with a bird trapped in our small conference room continually going back and forth trying to get out. You have no idea how hard it is to stay focused and push a group when you have a small bird dive-bombing your head every 3 minutes.

I’m getting another round of ongoing headaches. Granted, I’ll never be able to empathize with those who get bad migraines, but whacking your head several times a day on door frames that are about 6’3” certainly isn’t a nice feeling. Apparently the problem is that things are built to speculation, but then the frames aren’t raised before the concrete is poured so everything is about 3-4 inches lower than anticipated.

Peace...

Mehtar Lam-from Wed

One of my team-mates lost a filling and will be disappearing tomorrow to head to a larger base so we’ll soon be a team of two for a bit. Hopefully we can hang on.
Last night, several dozen luminiere (spelling?) rounds went up from the 155 artillery battery. I’m still not sure if it was cool. I’ve never been into loud noises and they certainly were. Once up in the air, it looked like there was a massive streetlight flying through the air. Each one made me jump.

It is nice to be out where the good food is. Pecan pie every day! Unfortunately, only strawberry milk here, no banana flavored, but really, how can you complain? This place is active, there were probably 30+ helicopters coming in and out yesterday with shipments, my team, war-fighters, etc.

I’m located in a pretty valley, ringed by snow-covered mountains. This is the 3rd place I’ve been though that is down below surrounding areas. Not that the bases are at risk for being overrun by a hoard of the Anti-Afghan Forces, but, most get shot at occasionally and that is much more easily done from above so why don’t they set up bases like mankind for millennia on top of high points? Here a lot of the insurgents are “economic insurgents” that are paid to launch attacks but do so only half-heartedly, shooting briefly from behind rocks, ducking for cover, and then making their way back home.

Peace...

Happy Easter (Orthodox)

It made for some interesting moments at the headquarters for ISAF (International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan). The Greeks were celebrating with beer and cigars as we were meeting with Australian and American Colonels. That wasn't particularly noteworthy, except soon, they decided to start dancing about 5-8 feet from our meeting outdoors around a picnic table. It was hard not to get cracked up!

Peace...

Other Tragic Regional News

Over 1,500 farmers in Chattisgarh, an Indian state, committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today.

Fun with the Elements!

So, last night, I was working late...and my bed started shaking. I didn't notice at first, but then it started to register that my bed was shaking side to side. There was a big going away part last night and I wondered if someone had bumped into the trailer. They aren't the sturdiest of things, then I remembered the sandbags...and decided there wasn't any way they could have moved it like that...especially not for it to happen over and over again. So, this morning I learned of a 5.1 earthquake! Wow. I've felt tiny tremors a couple of times in my life, but if I didn't read or talk to someone about them, I'm not sure that I would have ever noticed them. This was much different. Tragically, it killed 19 people in Nangarhar province...

Peace...

What I'm Doing Part II

So, I shared a bit ago about my work outside of Kabul. That is only about half the time I'm here. Granted, some of the time in Kabul is spent preparing the documents and trips out to the provinces, but most of the time here at the Embassy compound, I'm working on a large variety of activities. Every sector has working groups and I'm at least attending if not working on some of their activities. These include the following (yes, this will be a boring one-you can go watch one of the videos I post later if you want something interesting!):

UNAMA civ-mil working group (NGOs, Coalition Forces, and UN staff all attend to deconflict some of the problems and set up guiding principles as to how everyone can share the same space)

The rest are all within the US Governmental organizations:
Elections Working Group an example of some of the work is we prepared guidance for all the USG entities in the country on the steps they need to consider and start to take to support the Afghans.

Agricultural Policy Group

Special Committee on Rule of Law where we put together a list of ongoing activities and a request to Holbrooke for funds etc.

Governance Policy Group

Illicit Finance Strategy Team which is new and still establishing a work plan

Economic Policy Group

We put forward issues raised at the provinces to the working groups to help establish guidance on policy, priority, or implementation issues. Each of the groups is attended by all of the agencies and is responsible for all the programs and activities in the country. So for example the Economic Policy Group discusses everything from the IMF and World Bank to the fiscal and monetary considerations, the advisors to the ministries, to the approach to economic development out in the provinces.

Feel free to ask questions, I'm tired and probably did a lame job of spelling this out!

Peace...

One more article about work in DC...

WORLD AFFAIRS
A-Team in Blue Suits

Iraq showed that the U.S. is better at breaking things then fixing them. A new unit aims to change that.

By Adam B. Kushner | NEWSWEEK
Published Apr 11, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Apr 20, 2009

The United States bumbled into Iraq without much of a postwar plan. There were too few troops to secure the country, and the U.S. authorities often lacked the civilian experts to get things up and running again. So key jobs fell to inexperienced Republican apparatchiks or just about anyone theCoalition Provisional Authority could get its hands on. That's how 20-somethings with no experience in finance wound up running Iraq's $13 billion budget (their names were plucked from a job-application page on the conservative Heritage Foundation's Web site) and setting up Baghdad's new stock exchange. Embarrassed by the disasters that resulted (and by grumbling from more-experienced hands), U.S. officials eventually realized they had to come up with a better system for training and deploying seasoned civilians in future conflicts.

So was born one of Washington's wonkiest, most mockable and most important new agencies since 9/11. Known as the Office for the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, its goal is to become the civilian equivalent of the U.S. military's Special Forces. "We went into Iraq and Afghanistan, and our military proved very efficient at dealing with the bad guys," says John E. Herbst, the former ambassador to Ukraine and Uzbekistan who now runs the agency, which came together in 2005. But the U.S. also had to ensure stability and technocratic competence, "and our efforts to do that proved to be very difficult." Troops aren't trained to govern; the CPA needed bureaucrats.

To provide them, Herbst's new office has collected experts from throughout the federal government in a Civilian Response Corps (CRC). It's a kind of temp agency for specialists, deploying them whenever they're needed to help unstable governments. Beverly DeWalt, a Foreign Service officer and CRC member, was sent to Kosovo in the months before that nation declared independence to help synchronize its laws with international standards. After Kosovar independence, DeWalt was dispatched to a provincial reconstruction team outside Kabul in order to help make municipal government more democratic and transparent. She erected a police recruiting station and helped broker a deal between local clans.

But Herbst's most dramatic new unit is the CRC standby force, only now being assembled. It will rope in, for example, contract-law authorities from the Justice Department, monetary policymakers from the Treasury Department, civil-military-affairs specialists from the Defense Department, linguists from the State Department and botanists from the Department of Agriculture, all ready to respond to disaster at a moment's notice. That way, if, say, the Burmese junta collapses, Washington could assemble a team in hours to fly over and show locals how-without any centralized government-to package, ship and deliver new rice crops to markets on the other side of the country.

To prepare for such contingencies, CRC officials have gamed out exactly what they would do in various regions around the world should calamity hit. They won't say exactly where, because they worry it will frighten local governments about the possibility of an invasion. But it's a safe bet they're looking at current conflict zones (like Congo, Pakistan, Sudan) and teetering strongmen (like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe or Burma's Than Shwe).

The idea, says Herbst, is to ensure that "next time we find ourselves in a stability operation, we'll have the flexibility, smoothness and civilians with the right skills to run it." As he puts it, "the post-Cold War world has been characterized by the unique problem of failed states. There were always ungoverned spaces, but in this world-with integrated economies and integrated communications and lethal technologies-an ungoverned space can pose a lethal problem." And the best way to prevent that is to have competent, nonpolitical experts ready to parachute in.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the CRC program, however, is not its size and scope-250 active corpsmen and women, 2,000 on standby and 2,000 on reserve-or its budget, which at just $250 million means that it could do stabilization cheaper than the military. Rather, it's who set it up. Not Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the "smart power" team that promised a subtle and nonbellico se approach to international affairs. It was then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and then-secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, the Bushies who bungled reconstruction and stabilization in the first place-another sign of how even Bush administration diehards managed to learn from their early mistakes.

© 2009

And this one...some of you have seen...but how can you not want to watch it again?

Perhaps one of the most touching things I've seen in years. Odd, how something so silly, can be so beautiful. It screams of the joy of life, the connection among humanity, the adventures and discoveries that lie all around us. Click here to smile, listen to a great song, and reflect on things much bigger than ourselves that can be portrayed so simply while begging the question how we can allow ourselves to be so divided.

This one is to make your day!

For those of you who grew up within 2 decades of me... click here

Today is a day of postings...Article: Why Countries Like Haiti Matter to the Well-Being of Everyday Americans

This article is by Robert Creamer. A bit slanted, but it does a good job presenting the bigger picture issues and since the Haiti Stabilization Initiative is something I've spent time on this past year, I figured I could share.

Haiti is the poorest country in our hemisphere.
• It is a country of 8.2 million people.
• 6.2 million of them live in poverty.
• One out of eight children die before the age of five.
• Seventy percent are unemployed.
• Life expectancy is 54 years.
• It has been deforested and environmentally degraded for years.
• 7.2 million Haitians do not have access to reliable energy.

Of course we've heard these kinds of statistics many times before -- about Haiti and the other desperately poor developing countries of the world.

This week an international donors conference meets in Washington, DC that will have an enormous impact on the future of Haiti. But at a time like this, when our own economy itself is a basket case, what's wrong with a little "donor fatigue"? Why shouldn't we wait to focus on countries like Haiti until we've taken care of our own problems?

The reason is simple: because what happens to the people of Haiti affects us in at least four critical ways.

1) Our own long-term economic well-being. The world economy is not a zero sum game. For us to be richer, someone else doesn't have to be poorer. In fact just the opposite is true.
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If you think of the earth as a huge space vehicle -- or a ship at sea -- it just doesn't make sense that a big proportion of the crew isn't able to pull its weight because they are undereducated, unproductive and constantly in need of handouts from the rest of us. The Navy wouldn't tolerate it, neither should the world community.

The more skilled, the more educated, the more productive, the more efficient every one of us is, the more successful we will all be in our common mission of forging a better life for future generations.

Every kid in Haiti who grows up to be a surgeon or an engineer instead of a stoop laborer contributes to the common store of our wealth. If a woman is sentenced by the accident of her birth to spend hours each day cleaning clothes in a Haitian stream instead of going to school, all of us miss out on the possibility that she might contribute to finding a cure for cancer. Millions of minds are indeed a terrible thing to waste.

And the effect of this waste plays itself out in the terms of pure economics. Several years into the Great Depression, the New Deal began to close the gap between supply and demand in the American economy. Roosevelt began to use public sector demand to fill the demand gap and move the economy toward full employment. But Emperor Hirohito's attack on Pearl Harbor was necessary to give America the political will to fully utilize the tools of the New Deal - to stop worrying about short term deficits - and create full employment. After all, it was do or die.

There was great concern at the end of World War II that demobilization would result in a precipitous new economic downturn. One of the major factors that prevented that downturn - and fueled world economic growth for the next 20 years -- was the Marshall Plan. America invested massively in rebuilding Europe. In the short term, that created a huge new market for American products. In the longer term it allowed the rebirth of an economically prosperous Europe that contributed to the store of our common productive capacity.

In the same way today, long-term economic growth in the developed world will require a massive investment to jumpstart the economies of countries like Haiti and the entire developing world. And like the Marshall Plan, we will all benefit.

2) Our own national security. The bottom line is that an island of relative prosperity can't exist forever in a sea of poverty. Ask Louis XIV of France how that works out. Kids who grow up in poverty in countries like Haiti don't see the "good life" in American commercials and movies and then resign themselves to suffer quietly. A recent survey showed that 75% of the people in Haiti want to leave the country. Many of them will try -- even if they risk their lives in a leaky wooden boat. Many will try to come illegally to the United States.

People have never left their homes and families to immigrate to foreign lands unless they felt they had no choice. The millions of immigrants at our borders are the waves crashing over the seawalls of our island of relative prosperity. If you want to do something serious about illegal immigration, you need to help create economies in countries like Haiti and Mexico that allow people to believe they have a future there -- everything else is a band-aid.

Without economic development in Haiti, other children will grow up to join criminal gangs that promise them a relative fortune of a few thousand dollars to transport drugs to the United States.

In other parts of the world kids like them will resort to strapping on bombs in the vain hope of giving their lives some meaning. Or they'll hijack ships. Or they will join revolutionary movements to challenge the wealth and power of those who have it.

A recent report made public by our own CIA described world poverty as the greatest single long-term threat to world stability and our own national security. There has never been a time when the old Catholic Worker slogan was more correct: "If you want peace, work for justice."

3) It is our moral responsibility. Well-being is not just a matter of the number of rooms in our houses or the quality of our vacations. People -- especially young people - want meaning in their lives. They want to commit themselves to other people -- not just for the sake of the other people -- but because it fulfills them -- it makes them feel that their lives matter. Our well-being as individuals and as a people is not simply measured by our GDP. It is measured by whether we can be proud of ourselves.

Unfortunately, with a few brief exceptions, the government of the United States has actually prevented the development of Haiti for much of its history. In fact, too often American policy has treated Haiti as one giant sweatshop -- available for exploitation.

Over much of the last 50 years, the U.S. supported two vicious dictators -- "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son, "Baby Doc." These regimes, and the tiny group of elites that constituted their political base, systematically exploited and terrorized the island's population.

Much of their power was exercised through the Army -- which was created during the U.S. occupation of the country in the early 1900s. In its history, the Haitian Army never fought a foreign foe. It was used exclusively to enforce domestic social control.

In 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a progressive priest and hero to the country's poor, was elected President by 70% of the vote. Within seven months he had been ousted by a military coup backed by his country's elite and their foreign backers. Aristide was returned to power in 1994 after President Clinton threatened to send American troops to re-establish democracy in Haiti, which is only 600 miles from Florida.

After Aristide returned, he abolished the Haitian army, but economic progress was slow and difficult. Over its history, Haiti has been almost entirely deforested. The border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with which it shares the island of Hispaniola, is a stark line. On one side there are forests. On the other side there are none.

Aristide became the first president in Haiti's history to peacefully hand over power to another elected civilian, René Préval, in 1996.

Four years later, Aristide was re-elected. Unfortunately for Haiti, so was George W. Bush. The Neocons hated Aristide. They used purported election irregularities in the election for the Haitian Senate (and not for the Presidency) as the premise for an aid embargo to the fragile government, including $500 million in aid from the International Development Bank.

In 2004, The Boston Globe reported that the aid cutoff ravaged the economy of the nation, already twice as poor as any other in the Western Hemisphere:
The cutoff, intended to pressure the government to adopt political reforms, left Haiti struggling to meet even basic needs and weakened the authority of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.... Today, Haiti's government, which serves 8 million people, has an annual budget of about $300 million -- less than that of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a city of 100,000... Many of Aristide's supporters, in Haiti and abroad, angrily countered that the international community, particularly the United States, abandoned the fledgling democracy when it needed aid. Many believe that Aristide himself was the target of the de facto economic sanctions just as Haiti was beginning to put its finances back in order.

In fact, the U.S. may have done even more to undermine Aristide. In early 2004, a small group of well-equipped personnel from the former Haitian Army entered the country and marched on the capital. The exact role of the U.S. is unclear. But the International Republican Institute (IRI) spent $1.2 million of the U.S. taxpayer's money funding Aristide opposition.

We have a moral obligation to help Haiti be successful. Luckily, that now seems increasingly possible.

4) Success is possible. This is a turning point time for Haiti. A relatively small amount of money could make a huge difference in finally jumpstarting serious development. The UN mission there, and new government, have begun to give the country some stability and security.

The international community, the election of Barack Obama, and the volatile Haitian political scene may have finally aligned to allow for real progress.

Haiti needs $3 billion to execute the development plan that has been designed by the government and international community. That is the equivalent of the price of about ten F-22 fighters.

In a world where hundreds of billions of dollars are spent to bail out big banks, $3 billion from the international community to recreate the future of 8.2 million people would be a quite a bargain -- for them, and for us.

Rather uneventful day...except

For the fact that our office lost 2 LTCs and 3 S/CRS'ers in the past few days, so wish us luck! Wow, ok, let me clarify, lost as in they flew out of the country. LTCs being Lieutenant Colonels and S/CRS'ers being people from my office in DC-the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization. On top of that, this morning while I was typing at the computer inside the heavy imposing concrete building of the Embassy with its bulletproof glass, there was an enormous explosion. The office was empty except for one other guy who ran to the window to see what happened. the sound was big enough, I was thinking that wasn't a good idea. The impact at the beginning wasn't as loud as those percussive fireworks at the big shows that just make noise with the flash of white light (my least favorite), but the impact was about 20 times that and the rumble continued as the building shook for about 5 seconds. I've never heard anything like it, including at explosives training. We were surprised and wondered if that was a truck bomb...but luckily it ended up being the intentional destruction of a weapons cache that was found on the edge of town. So, all in all a good thing!

Wow. What power. Am glad as always to be safe and just as glad to know that people weren't hurt.

Peace...

Television and Work-What I'm Doing Pt. 1

I sometimes have the TV on while I'm working in my hooch. It is a brilliantly eclectic combination of channels. There are stations from India, Afghanistan, Britain, and more. It also carries the Armed Forces Network which for the civilians out there, is a channel that is shown around the world. No commercials, outside of advertising for re-enlisting, and a slew of public service announcements presenting the responsibilities of a variety of agencies within the military, and campaigns against smoking, theft, and security. The programming is a conglomeration of sports, talk shows from both Fox and CNN, some movies, sitcoms, etc.

Today as I was writing, I flipped through the stations, and stopped on a show from the UK on the "Hollywood Channel" where two Brits were checking out houses in East Tennessee! It was nice to see a glimpse of home. Of course the Brits were impressed:) They were concerned about the wooden houses and pleased that there were fireplaces since "the power can go out often during storms in the winter."

Several people have written to ask exactly what I'm doing. Let me tell you about 1/2 of my responsibilities that kick in when I'm out in the provinces. I go out with 1-2 other colleagues, at least one of whom is a lieutenant colonel to ensure that we gain some credibility with the military. Once there, the leadership of the province comes for about 15-25 hours of facilitated sessions (depending on if it is a new effort or an update). The leadership can include Department of State, US Agency for International Development, and US Department of Agriculture representatives, as well as members from the Police Mentoring Teams, the military staff of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams, Maneuver Units, and other military task forces in the area of operations.

Those discussions begin with a situational analysis to gain understanding of the province, and are followed by an attempt to link all of the issues that surface and trying to connect the issues to one another. Once that is done, discussions are held to establish a 1 and 3 year goal and then to determine how that goal can be met through levels of effort in a variety of sectors: governance, basic services, rule of law, security, economic opportunity and human capital, infrastructure, inclusive dialogue and reconciliation. Then a management tool is applied as the activities/projects necessary to ensure that the efforts are successful are identified as well as supporting partners and counterparts in the Government of Afghanistan and then placed against a timeline. Next, themes are identified that synchronize multiple levels of effort with transformative effects. A talk about what metrics are being used to monitor progress follows. Critical districts are identified where increased focus would yield higher results than anticipated and throughout the process, national level decision points, requests for information, and recommendations are captured.

The purpose of all of this is that it pushes all of the actors to step-back and communicate by cross-walking understandings, ideas, and activities with one another. The pace of operations is rapid at that level, and previously, few provinces took time to look beyond the next week. This allows them to set goals and a direction. These facilitated sessions allow a horizontal integration to occur, and as the provinces establish these plans, they can have their concerns and interests represented up the chain to the brigade and national levels. It also serves the purpose of having civilians promote their agenda in a space where the military will acknowledge the value of their perspective.

I don't know if any of that made any sense, but I've been explaining in bits and pieces, so I wanted to try to be a bit more thorough. Feel free to ask questions.

Peace...

Good Morning!

I'm not sure I've ever been overseas and had as good of a time watching basketball as I did this past night-the results just made it that much sweeter. To top of the surreal aspect of being in one of the least developed countries in the world and watching the Final Four live, I also got to spend some time last night with two old friends from the Africa region at Chemonics. They had to run the security gauntlet to get in and the food was a bit lacking, but it was great to hang out and share stories for a while.

What is the connection between the Dutch East India Company and Eastern Afghanistan?

TULIPS!!

The epicenter of the US presence in Afghanistan is Bagram. Surrounding the base are several land mine fields. Within those fields are scattered a pleasant surprise against the dreary mountains and and dusty green fields. Dwarf tulips dot the landscape among the market fields and the rusted remants of war. The red tulips held a pinstripe at the edge of each petal, or maybe each sepal? Hard to tell when you are driving past. I later learned after a bit of research that tulips actually came from the Hindu Kush-which are the mountains that I've been in and out of so far. They were beautiful, and I hope to see more.

Peace...

Fallen Comrade Ceremony

Saturday morning at Bagram...

The "big voice" came on over the loudspeakers and let us know about the ceremony. I'd heard of them, they are quite an event here. I am not sure of its origin, but was glad to take part.

When soldiers are killed, there is a ceremony at the base. Their coffins are placed on the back of a truck with their unit sitting on the sides around it. It is driven down Disney Road (not after Walt, but after a soldier who was killed much earlier in the war) very slowly as it makes its way to the airfield to unload the coffins to be sent back to the US. All the traffic is stopped and the base usually quietens down. Outside of the ceremony being given a name which still sends many of the people in the US into cold shivers as they try to shake their legacy of fear of the Soviet Union, and the somber parade down Disney drive, there were other strange and touching pieces to the whole event.

Everyone who isn't "mission critical personnel" is supposed to show up. Soldiers and civilians alike head out to line the road from the beginning of the drive down to the airstrip. In many places, the line is several people deep as there are more than 15,000 on the base. As the truck approaches, the soldiers pop to attention and salute with the civilians placing their hand over their hearts. A pick-up follows the flatbed carrying the unit and coffin. This truck looks like it should be following Brangelina somewhere as there are cameras sticking out in all directions. I'm told that there is a short video that is made for the family and presented. I didn't think it belonged there, which is odd, since I felt like photos of the coffins should be available to the public.

The event stuck different people in different ways, some had tears, others went straight back to work, while others began chatting as soon as the corner was turned. I like the idea...it was a way of honoring death without glorifying it.

Perhaps what the world needs is more of these ceremonies, where they reached across both sides. But more importantly, bringing those who are responsible for war and its conduct to attend. It would be a nice addition to the Geneva convention. Just imagine if all the politicians, generals, and military industrial complex CEOs were all there as well as the leaders of the hate-preaching madrasas, the heirarchy o f the Taliban and their families in this instance, to line up beside the soldier's friends and comrades and family regardless of the side, so that each side could understand what the other was going through.

The problem with war now is that it has grown so distant, from the way we kill, by bombs, missles, or IEDs to the fact that no-one making decisions is connected to those following the orders anymore, on either side. Perhaps there is something to be said for the small militias and fiefdoms in days gone by. It would be interesting to compare the levels of violence.

Peace...

From Saturday Night: Panjshir

Ok, have had lots of questions about this photo. It is an old Russian armored personnel carrier. The Mujaheddin blew it up during the Soviet invasion and have kept it since (along with several stacks of artillery pieces, and such) were scattered all about.


I’m back at Baghram. All seems to be going well. In Panjshir it was really beautiful. I thought about trying to stay and work! It is more like high threat development than counter-insurgency operations. We didn’t have to wear our body armor, aka battle rattle, there or go out in the monstrously imposing Humvees. The team was well integrated and while it was small and remote, they had a good camaraderie.

The Panjshir province has a pretty remarkable history. It was the last part of Afghanistan to “Islamize” and was the only place that wasn’t taken by the Russians (and the rusted remnants of their equipment lie scattered around the mountains), or the Taliban. The people live in sparse communities scattered throughout the valleys in the mountains. The mountains are almost impassable except by donkey. That is slowly changing now with hundreds of millions of dollars being invested in a road that goes up the main valley and the establishment of rib roads. I would have loved to have come here 30 years ago and just walked through the mountains with an interpreter. It is easy to see the gradual encroachment of the global economy…and I really wish that wasn’t always the case. In some ways, it will be good when we are all the same, but I enjoy most the unique cultures, traditions, and perspectives of indigenous people around the world. We slowly are losing that which makes us different.

So, wearing my southerner hat, Panjshir helped me gain a bit of insight as to why some of the animosity is still found against the North in parts of the South. The devastation that was wrought really never hit home when I read the history books, but, driving through the mountains in Panjshir helped me understand a bit. Seeing how bare they were, I learned that the Soviets had their own version of a “scorched earth” policy. Seeing the naked mountains must have just served as a reminder of the hard and painful past. I’m glad I grew up in a part of the US that had some balance between the North and South and managed to escape some of the worst of it.

With the progress of our civilization, some of our best breakthroughs are in how to destroy one another. I wonder if that is really progress.

Written from the Pat Tillman (NFL all-star who was killed in Afghanistan) USO.

Peace…

From a distance

Sometimes being further away from something you have the chance to consider it more objectively. I understand that the gaps between the rich and poor are slowly coming into focus in the US. I’m not sure why, perhaps it is just that the middle class is feeling vulnerable and is scared about what could happen to them?

To show just how prevalent the exalted lifestyle of the elite has become in our society, I had a long conversation with a member of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Panjshir. She was badmouthing the benefits of the military. A colleague of mine and I stopped her and asked if she didn’t get the same benefits as others in the military. After a positive reply, we started asking about the medical, dental, and life insurance, and about the pension. She felt the benefits were very poor. After discussion, some recognition as to the value of the benefits provided by the military was if nothing else superior to the 1/6 of Americans that receive none. It was an interesting conversation…

Like 9/11 this “crisis” is offering the nation an opportunity to look at what it has become…and make adjustments if necessary. We wasted an opportunity after 9/11 to unify the world behind a common cause. I hope the dialogue has begun at home to unify the nation into creating a more just and equitable system that provides equal opportunity to all. For too long we have lived with blinders on, preventing us from any understanding as to what our country is becoming. I hope we’ll accept the cause of redirecting our charted course back to where it once was.

Here, as many places, I can see what happens when communities fail to dream together and do not unite in their quest to achieve that dream.

All about the Bs

Was back in Kabul Sat. night, at Baghram in Kapisa Province Sunday night, and now in Panjshir Mon night. Haven't had any time to write or much computer access. For those of you who are worried, I'm fine. In the safest province in Afghanistan! The last attack was by an older man who decided if he fired a rocket launcher, it would get the attention of the coalition forces and more funds would be spent here since the tranquility seemed to only get them ignored.

I’m going to miss a lot about Kala Gush. Some of which I’ve mentioned, others not so much…
-Banana milk-nuff said
-Beard covers by the servers in the cafeteria
-Basketball breaks in the middle of the day
-Convenient gym that has enough stuff you can get in a good cardio and weights workout when you want
-Computer lab that is easily accessible (though in high demand) that feels like a club house.
-Weather patterns that are constantly shifting, but always interesting and pretty...even the gray swirling clouds don’t stay long
-Southern-ness oozing from some of these guys to the point that this feels like a tight-knit community.

See how easy it is to make someone feel comfortable? It is all about the B’s, banana milk, beard covers, basketball, breaks, beauty and benevolence. We'll see how FOB Lion in Panjshir measures up. So far I have already noticed banana milk and beard covers. I've got a 10+ hour day of facilitating planning tomorrow so I'm not sure there will be much time for basketball. We'll see!

Swamped today will try to write a bit more later this week if I can.

Peace...

Public Health and the Environment in Conflict Settings

Sounds like the typical international development concern, right? I just read an article about how one Forward Operating Base Commander was concerned with the trash that was being produced and set up a recycling program. With minimal effort, they cut down on waste by 30% in just a few weeks. They are continuing to push out to the rest of the base and to build more receptacles.

What does it matter? Well, it saves the US taxpayer money in the long run. Some bases have trash picked up, if this is the case, it is a way of minimizing the demands and costs of waste collection. More importantly perhaps is the impact on the bases who do not have waste removal services. The trash is simply burned and increasing numbers of soldiers are arriving in VA hospitals with respiratory infections, increased cancer rates, etc. Right now, medical experts are guessing that this is the result of burning the plastics and the carcinogens they hold. Everything that is drunk here is from water or Gatorade bottles or canned sodas, or my favorite, the little juice boxes that are almost enough for a 5 year old. I wonder how many 100ml banana flavored milk or pineapple juice a 200 pound soldier drinks in 125 degree heat? I think I would pretty easily drink about 20 a day. Crazy.

There really is great support for the soldiers, to the extent that the care that is provided erodes the individual’s sense of responsibility. Food is sometimes wasted, toiletries that are donated are left in the showers at some of the bases, people use stacks of napkins, and the trash is prolific. As the military is slowly becoming greener out of cost savings and maneuverability, I hope that this culture of neglect will be addressed - just as some of us in the Department of State are trying to cut down on waste there.

Having said this, a lot of the living quarters here are pretty basic. Just plywood walls, ceilings, floors with a frame holding it up. The kind of thing I think I could throw up with a few friends in an afternoon at most. Luckily for them, there is a unit to heat or cool the hooch, but right now it isn’t needed. These buildings are about the size of what you’d think of when you pictured an old one-room schoolhouse or country church. Turns out, they cost $50,000 to make-no insulation or anything, basically a tree-house on the ground. The gov’t has got to have more oversight, as noted in the SIGIR reports on Iraq and that would allow the chance to bid more contracts instead of having these huge overarching contracts.

Peace…

Target Practice

Last night was the first, a huge THHUUMMMP, followed by more vibrations than used to be pumped out of the cruising “red neck rolls” that were in my hometown (the owners tore their back seats out and installed a radio system big enough for most small towns in the open space and trunk. The whole building I was in shook violently. Not one to sit still for too long when I have no idea what is going on, I immediately shot up from my computer and looked to a soldier next to me who was a bit bemused. He explained that it was just target practice. Two or three others followed, yielding a sizable jump from me.

This morning, I’m glad I didn’t live in the mountain about 5km away. The Afghan National Army who is co-located here at Kala Gush was practicing with shells that were the size of my leg. Wow. I went and got earplugs and continued to jump with each of the 30 or so THHUUMMMPs.

Peace…

Activity here at Kala Gush

Today, the base was a beehive of activity, I think at least 10 or so helicopters were in and out whereas the past few days since my arrival here, there may have been three. The elevation is high enough that the Apaches have a lot of equipment problems.

Yesterday a 2 star General was supposed to come visit to get a read-out on the current situation. Well, his flight was cancelled due to weather considerations, but 2 USAID flights got in that day yet again proving that given the proper resources, civilians can often do things cheaper and faster than the military. This is especially true in humanitarian assistance operations!

Peace…

Reality setting in

I never really knew what to expect coming out here to Afghanistan. I’ve been places with bodyguards, military escorts, or needing armored vehicles. I’ve seen protests turn to chaos, moved fast through areas I shouldn’t have been in at night, and felt the risk, but I’ve not ever been in more than what I would consider an unstable environment. Afghanistan’s numbers are nothing compared to Iraq, or especially Vietnam, but the environment is just as tense as it is considered a high threat environment.

Before anyone starts to worry, I’m not running around too much in the “bad neighborhoods” so just think of it like a big city, which has some elements of danger everywhere, but there are some places you just don’t go unless you are with someone from there that knows it well.

Having said that, Sunday was a hard day for me. I woke up to find out that the base had been “attacked” with small arms fire while I was sleeping. Not very disconcerting though since it couldn’t have had an impact on me. Still, it made me frustrated that we are stuck in such a difficult role and are having to justify that to people here and not doing a good job of it.

We went back to our facilitation with Task Force Duke who oversees the provinces of Nangarhar, Nuristan, Konar, and Laghman. Around lunch, we’d heard a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Nangarhar, where I was supposed to deploy to, was hit with an IED and there were four casualties. Two of them had died. A bit later during a session, a soldier stuck his head in the door and urgently asked if anyone was O+. A few of us responded and he said if we were willing to donate blood, to head to the hospital on base. Not much more was said, but on the way out the door, we were told that two of the guys from Nangarhar were in the hospital and bleeding profusely. We half-ran to the hospital to find many people already there. They thrust forms in our hands and told us to fill them out quick and get hydrated. We were told one of the soldiers had died and the other had lost both legs and a hand and they had gone through all they blood they had. The medical team was dashing back and forth between two low-hanging buildings grabbing supplies, blood, mops, and other personnel, staying totally focused despite what must have been a bad day. Way back when, before my anti-malarial drugs kept me from being able to, I used to give blood, but it was in a very disconnected setting - a nice bloodmobile, or collection center. Here, the purpose seemed clear. I was glad to have the opportunity again. The line was somber with his military police colleagues that were out on patrol with him when the Humvee got his were there watching. It was a time I could look on my fellow citizens and be proud. I’ve been in several places where if the call went out, only a few would appear. Here, there were people laid out on cots in the sun, some even lying in the dirt with other volunteers rocking the blood “bags” to help out. Not much later, we learned the soldier died on the table, that they just couldn’t keep him going. It got 6-8 lines in the back corner of the New York Times and the folks on the base were upset. I looked at everyone around me that day, wondering what they were thinking, if they were scared, angry, hurt. Special ceremonies were held in two places the next day for the 4 men. My itinerary was changed to allow the Nangarhar team to have some down time and collect themselves. One of my colleagues just left as Commander of the Nangarhar Provincial Reconstruction Team a few months ago and despite his cool distance, you could tell he was hurting for what would have been his men.

The war here is nothing like the scale of wars everyone reads about and studies, but loss is still loss, regardless of the scale.

Peace…

Prisoner...Rule of Law...St. Patty's...and Quality of Life

As some of you know, there are a few US prisons here in Afghanistan that are primarily around the airfields. While waiting for my ride yesterday, a helicopter landed, and two guys pulled a blindfolded and handcuffed guy from inside. He was pushed/pulled as quickly as possible toward a waiting truck and whisked off.

It didn't sit right with me that he was blindfolded. Probably it was for security reasons, so he wouldn't see the layout of the airfield since photos are not allowed...but...what was more disconcerting, was me wondering how I would have felt witnessing this during WWII, or the first Gulf War-excited and hopeful I think. Yesterday, I couldn't help but wonder if he would ever have charges filed against him, if he would be tortured, or if he was even guilty. I know this was only the case for a very few prisoners before and thankfully Obama rescinded many executive orders and interpretations of the law that were put forward during the past administration that allowed that to happen. Surely though, my being here in support of the effort, and wondering if our own rule of law system would hold up (while trying to foster a nascent one in another country) isn't a good thing. Maybe the media can be blamed for making too big of a deal out of it, but actually, I think that the media didn't focus on this very much at all. I hope that Americans will embrace our civil rights as tightly as our forfathers who enshrined them in the Bill of Rights and fight before we relinquish them again, no matter what the circumstance. They really are the bedrock of a democratic society and without them, there is legitimate no rule of law in my opinion.

Having said that, the tactical part of efforts here are very cautious. Due to the ability of the Taliban to take precise hits and push the media to portray them as attacks on weddings, schools, and the like. The military takes every precaution not to make a mistake and I am glad that another terrorist was taken into custody. This means one less person building roadside bombs, or attacking district governors, or sabotaging the construction of primary health care clinics.

On a lighter note, I left my green polo in Kabul, so I had to wear green boxers today so my great-grandmother wouldn't roll over in her grave and my mom wouldn't fuss too much. I might actually pin on one of those shamrocks we used to fight about in the mornings before school when I was younger. I never did know where my dad stood on that, I think he just knew it wasn't a battle to pick as he wouldn't win. Following the St. Patty's day musings, on my way to the shower today, I crossed with a short local Nuristani man with a big smile on his face and a friendly wave. His bright red beard caused me to do a double take. Our own leipreachán right here in the mountains! I didn't think it would be culturally apropo to hold him down and demand his pot of gold.

For the first time, I noticed the Beck's beer in the chow hall which is non-alcoholic of course! Strange. I get my laundry done today...for free, and back in 24 hours. GREAT:)

A lot of effort is put into the soldiers' quality of life. I can't imagine how happy the guys would have been in Vietnam to get to play videogames, watch movies, eat lobster and ice cream, play poker, surf the net, etc. I would think in many ways, a deployment would be a wonderful way to clear your head, relax, and refocus your life if that was ever necessary. Unfortunately, there is sometime a great deal of risk that comes with that opportunity as well.

I'm off to shoot a few hoops before starting our next meeting on Lines of Effort here in Nuristan!

Helicopters and stars...

I have lots to catch up on and will try to do that soon, but I just found something I loved today in ways similar to SCUBA. After feeling a bit trepidacious, I climbed up into the helicopter surely looking like a dork in my helmet and flak jacket unsure how my fear of heights would impact me.

I sat in the middle and within 2 minutes, really wished I hadn't. WOW! I never want to be on a plane again! We had 4 stops as I made my way up into Nuristan from Jalalabad. It was incredible to see the snow-capped mountains, the dusty plains, the river valleys with the intricate array of terraced crops. I took a bunch of pictures...this may be the first country I've visited that I have more pictures from the air than the ground! I loved it and can't wait to jump in again.

Granted, sitting there isn't as fun as swimming around underwater, but I had that same "otherworldly" feel...that maybe you aren't supposed to be here (as it is the realm of birds), but it is great to pretend and so much easier without the boxed in feel of a plane. Maybe the Wright brothers had the best idea after all! I just hope that the skies are perfectly clear next time.

Speaking of, I'm up in the mountains at a base, and there are almost no lights to be seen. A few beams coming from under the doors, but if you look up, even on this overcast night, some stars are gleaming. I can't wait to see the sky the next few nights. It is going to be as incredible as Namibia was for sure. Maybe even better! I'm sure you might have thought I meant Hollywood royalty when I mentioned stars, but alas no, I just left Jalalabad as Christine Amanpour was coming in for a CNN spotlight on the Hearts and Minds Campaign here. That is fine by me, the goofy picture of me and Biden in Georgia was enough international coverage for the year.

I feel much better here, the air is clear, the mountains are back around me, and the food is still good. Tomorrow kicks off a big day, so I'd better head on. Will be playing catch up with this now that I have a bit of access over the next few days.

Peace...

Cheating, curry, connections, and class

Today, I learned how stones can be painted to appear like Lapis-you look for natural cracks, and if they are brighter blue, instead of being grey or white, you know you've got a fake on your hands. Just a helpful tidbit for those of you out there in the market for lapis.

I had some green curry today for lunch...which seems to have made my day-or maybe it was the sleeping in? It was the only day off that folks take around here, so I only worked about 6-7 hours.

In the past two days, I learned that one of my Russian friends who studied with me in Hungary was in Dubai when I flew through. Also, in trying to reach out to a friend of mine in Bhutan, I found another friend on Facebook from India who is now in Sudan. At some point, we should all get chips embedded to show where we are! Who knows how many people have been near as I've travelled and I not even realized it!

Had an interesting discussion about the various military forces here on the ground. Let's just say those of you who are always looking for something to be patriotic about, there is a lot of positive things that can be said about our troops. They seem to be grouped with the Brits, Danes, Canadians, and Aussies at the head of the class.

I won't have much access for a bit, but I'll finally have good stories when I do!

Peace...

Australia…friends…and elevation

I thought Australia was great. The movie, not the country. I’m not sure why it didn’t do better in theaters. Perhaps I’ll find the country to be great soon! I enjoy being able to work on things in the evening and watch movies at the same time. I know I’m not quite as fast, but it is a nice change of pace. Today I surprisingly bumped into an old friend from Chemonics who is serving as the development advisor for one of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams. He really is enjoying it, and made the interesting comparison of his work to Peace Corps since it is always changing and he has so much access to people.

I’m a bit perplexed as to why 2 stories of stairs seems to make everyone breathe hard due to the elevation. Certainly, I'm not in the shape I used to be in. I understand the concept of limited oxygen in higher elevations, but if that is the case, why are people able to do cardio workouts and not be under any increased stress? I pushed hard on a bike yesterday for 45 min and was ok, and see people running for an hour, and yet those stairs coming up from the tunnel still manage to get the best of everyone!

Peace...

Elections...

One of the big upcoming challenges facing Afghanistan is how to actually pull off a major election. You may have noticed some of the discourse in the papers this past week as Karzai attempted to pull a smooth one and hold them early. It was a win-win, either all agree and he has a significant advantage over incumbents who are just now surfacing, or it is held in August, but he appears to be a guardian of the Constitution by trying to hold them within the mandated timeframe.

The numbers are pretty impressive, there will be 7,000 polling centers with 20,000 total stations. While that may not sound too overwhelming for those of you used to working at the macro level. That means the IEC alone will be training over 150,000 individuals. Of greater significance as the international coalition is attempting to empower the Afghans, by instilling faith in their system of governance, is figuring out a way to ensure that each of these locations is safe and secure. This is beyond the capacity of their police or their military and if we were to reallocate some of the international coalition's armed forces to work on this at the levels necessary, a great deal of territory would have the security compromised. This will be one of the key benefits to having the 17,000 soldier surge coming in the next few months. Some time exists, but the planning is just beginning and it will be quite challenging due to the complexities involved of finding ways for Afghan forces to provide some security and for coalition forces to do the same but in a way that Afghans know they are in control.

Granted, in the US, we have a lot of work to do as we find ways to make our machines more accountable, our processes smoother, and our people more engaged, but we should be grateful that some of the basic issues here have not been concerns since the first major elections were held. Much luckier than most countries.

Peace...

Gremlins could never make it out here...

When it isn't completely grey here, I feel like Stripe as the window blinds are open and he starts to melt. I go outside and my eyes squint so much they almost shut. My face gets sore just from being outside a few minutes.

I couldn't figure it out at first, my only idea was that the snow covered mountains ringing much of the city were reflecting the light down into the "bowl" and causing a great concentration of sunlight making it brighter.

Today, I was talking to a colleague about it, and we began to put a few more pieces of the puzzle together. There isn't a lot of greens and browns to soften the colors, most of the buildings are white and yellow. On top of that, the elevation is about 4x where I grew up in the foothills of Appalachia. Perhaps the most significant factor is the suspended particles in the air which reflect the sunlight in every direction.

So strange to have so many different types of light. The light of the sun in the forest in summer, on the snow in winter, in the jungle, on the plains of Africa, and the city of Kabul.

Peace...

GO MUHAMMAD! (Monday was the Prophet's Birthday)

In the 8th Century, Mohammad's birthplace was turned into a shrine. That sparked a celebration of his birthday much in the same way Christians celebrate Christmas but the Islamic equivalent called mawlid. Unfortunately, I didn't see any parades where people were throwing out candy today. That is a pity.

Actually, today was the first day I went out to the street while waiting for a shuttle. I didn't have a flak jacket or helmet on as it was in the protected zone, but it was the first time since I was very young, that I ever felt nervous on the street. Part of that was for getting chewed out just 2 days earlier for trying to get to a shuttle that was waiting outside for me.

Today was the first day in a while I didn't hear sad stories coming in from the field about fallen soldiers, or Afghan civilian casualties.

I wish everyday could be Mawlid.

Peace...