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...