Kabul, Outbound

My checkout at KAF went pretty well.  I had been told to spend 3-5 days there.  Turned out that my official duties consisted of turning in a badge and telling the IT guys to turn off two email accounts.  The rest of the time, I was packing up a couple of boxes to send home, deciding which shirts to throw away now and which to keep for a few more days, and meeting with old friends in the office or for lunch or dinner or just to shoot the breeze.  Contrary to popular opinion, there are a lot of really cool people out here who are working their asses off, trying to make a difference.  

Last night, for example, I met with Ahmed and Patrick, two guys that went through training with me a year ago.  One has extended for a year, the other for six months.  One is a doctor with an amazing breadth of experience in bottom-of-the-ladder countries like Libya.  The other is an inveterate prankster who is nevertheless a consummate professional.  Our discussion started with "whatcha been doin'? and wound up going over the recent activities in Libya, segued into an incredibly well-informed and in-depth discussion of Egypt (well-informed on their part, complete ignorance on mine), compared both countries to what we're seeing in Afghanistan, wandered over the significant differences in cultures between a variety of seemingly-related countries, and wound up with "is there any ice cream left?"  It was great to have the opportunity to work with people like that: smart, witty, dedicated, and with experience that comes from being out in the international community.

This morning was The Day, though.  Up early, breakfast, finish packing my bags, and head out to meet up with the transportation to the flight line.  There was a big crowd heading to the State Department flight line and then on to various places.  I got to see a bunch of other friends out there and say goodbye to them.  My flight was called early and we were off.  Our route took us up over the Hindu Kush, which is the name for the steep mountainous region over central Afghanistan.  A spectacular area, almost uninhabited except for pockets here and there.

Before long, we were coming in over Kabul and heading for the airport.  Kabul is a huge city, mostly jam-packed into a too-small area.  Which basically describes most cities such as New York or New Delhi, but here many of the buildings are made of mud brick.

We were met by a vehicle from the Embassy and driven into town.  I am forever grateful that I was not stationed here in Kabul and did not have to drive on these streets.  Drivers here make Italians look prim and proper.  Roundabouts are the worst: you just dive in and cut off anybody who might get in your way.  In the short drive from the airport, we came across two fender-benders, both parked in the middle of the road and (in a sign of the typical Kabul road chaos) not slowing traffic down one bit.

I quickly settled into my room at the Embassy and discovered that one of my two roommates was also one of my fellow students during training a year ago.  I walked out into the lounge and saw four more.  Over at dinner, I ran into somebody I knew in Iraq.  It's like old-home week, meeting with my peeps.

The checkout process probably won't be too arduous, but it looks like I'll have to deal with typical bureaucratic stupidity at times.  For example, one guy today didn't want to sign my sheet because my record showed that a set of travel orders was still open.  Well, since they're for the trip I'm still on, I'm not too surprised about that.  The lightbulb finally went on in his head (it was a 25-watt bulb) and he signed off.  One item down. 

So the journey continues.  Tomorrow will be a big push.  I've got plenty of time, but I want to do as much as possible as early as possible so I can take care of any issues (like today's) before they become Problems.

And I'm looking forward to seeing some more old friends.

Out of Maiwand

As the title to this post says, I am out of Maiwand.  Now I'm at Kandahar Air Field, or KAF, for a few days.  I'm overdue for a post here because things have been a bit busy.

In my last post, I wrote about putting together a sort of pass-down book on the district.  I finished up what could be done with the book on Wednesday and sent it out to all those who might need it.  The final version was a whopping 67 pages long.  It's written so that my teammates, both military and civilian, can continue to add to it, change it, re-arrange it, and do whatever needs to be done to keep it updated.  I felt good about the project - it was the kind of thing I wish had been available when I first got there.  Finally, I felt like I'd done something to contribute to the effort.

Another thing that I said in the post was that the Afghan security forces were very capable and could do a good job if the government gives them the resources they need.  The day before I left Maiwand, something occurred that illustrates this.  A convoy was moving from one of our bases in the district to another.  All the drivers and the private security team were Afghans.  Just outside the first base, they were ambushed by the Taliban, who shot up the trucks and set a number of them on fire.  The drivers and security forces ran off.  Some Afghan police responded to the call and swooped in.  One of them ran up to an MRAP that had a burning front tire.  While under fire, he jumped in, started it up, and drove it all the way to our base (several miles) to keep it out of Taliban hands.  That, my friends, took guts.  I walked up to the vehicle the next morning and saw the shredded tire, smashed window, and ping marks from all the bullets.  Who says the Afghans aren't brave?

But regardless of Afghan progress, my time in Maiwand was up.  On Thursday morning, I packed up the last bit of my gear and trundled it over to the helo landing zone.  The State Department's trusty old ex-Marine CH-46 helo settled in amid a huge cloud of dust.  My teammate Eric, who'd been at KAF for a couple of days, hopped off.  We shook hands and did the high-5 duty turnover under all the propwash, and then I climbed onboard and belted in.  We lifted off and circled east over the District Center.  I looked out the tailgate and watched Maiwand gradually disappear in the distance.  Another chapter closed.

Here at KAF, I quickly settled into the temporary quarters.  In the spirt of coming full circle, I'm right back in the very same temporary rack as when I first arrived here last October.  I've been in meetings, written reports, and helped out briefers over the past couple of days, trying to make sure that the Powers That Be have an accurate understanding of Maiwand's unique situation.  Next step is getting my own stuff squared away: packing up my gorilla box, throwing some stuff out, and turning off a couple of email accounts.  I've got some friends here that I need to see, so some dinners at the DFAC or coffee at the Green Bean will be in order.

A few days more and Kandahar will be in my rear-view mirror.  

Thoughts on the Afghan Surge

As I'm wrapping up my time here in Maiwand, I've been putting together what is essentially a pass-down book.  It contains a lot of stuff that people who work in the district, or whose work affects the district, need to know.  Things like a list of all the public schools, information on who's in the shuras, writeups on the key power players, data on community councils, project reports, all kinds of things.  Some of it's narrative, some tables, some lists, and a few pictures.  Not exactly the Great American Novel, but if you're interested in Maiwand, it's a good thing to have around for reference.

One of the areas that I've really learned a lot about while doing this project is the recent history of the district.  By "recent", I mean since the establishment of the communist regime back in the 1970's, through the Soviet invasion, to the civil war years, then the Taliban rule, and finally the "modern" period since 2001.  The elders of this district have lived through all of this.  Some of them were on opposite sides at various times.  Some of them were literally shooting at each other on occasion and will joke about it now.  "That was you in that field?  I was in the back of the pickup shooting at you!" "Really?  Well, you still can't aim your AK worth a hoot!"

After the 2001 invasion, this place got very little attention.  There were no US/NATO forces stationed out here for years.  The government was really corrupt and the Taliban was able to re-group.  Mullah Omar's original madrassa is about 20 miles down the road, so this area is the Taliban's home turf, and they took advantage of it.  By 2007 they had pretty much free rein here.  NATO forces (under Canadian leadership) came out on disruption operations, but they didn't have enough manpower to stay for any length of time, beyond manning checkpoints on the highway.

That began to change in 2008 when the 2-2 Infantry arrived.  They started building two bases, one at Sakari Karez (now closing) and the other here.  It looks like force levels stayed about the same through 2009 before sufficient forces arrived, through the surge, to begin to make a difference.  In early 2010, just 2 1/2 years ago, there was still no functioning government.  The District Governor and the shura members who were still active (and alive) all lived in Kandahar City.  The district office buildings were unusable.  ISAF controlled the district center, main highway, and not much else.  But the increase in ISAF (primarily US) presence allowed us to start changing things.  The governor and shura members started coming back.  Buildings were fixed up and occupied.  A model farm was built.  Kids went back to school.  The Afghan police and army units became more professional and effective.

I gripe about the slow pace of progress here, but when I look back on how this place was just a couple of years ago, it's a world of difference.  Our governor not only comes to work every day, but he brought his family to live here.  Our shuras are often lively and contentious affairs.  People come to the district center from all over the district.  The bazaar is lively and people can travel on the road with a reasonable expectation of getting where they want.  There are about 400 boys in the main school here on any given day and we're about to open up the first classes for girls in many years.

That is not to say that all is peaches and cream.  IED's are a daily occurrence around the district.  There is a lot of corruption in government.  This district grows more poppy than any other district in Kandahar Province because they can't really grow anything else.  As a result, the narcotics trafficking rings are very strong and tied in with the Taliban.  People like me can't go out in town.

But if you want to know if the surge made a difference, I can say yes, it did.  I see the difference every day.

Whether it will last is a different question.  Our forces are drawing down.  The Afghan security forces are pretty good and will fight like hell if the Afghan government gives them the support and supplies they need.  That's not a given.  The corruption level will have to drop to Afghan-normal levels in order to be at least acceptable to the natives.  And I don't think the outlying areas will come under government control for many years.

What my predecessors in the military, civilian, and Afghan worlds have built here in just a few years is quite amazing.  It still has a long way to go, and it's very fragile.  But the Afghan people have some hope for an alternative to the violent and repressive Taliban regime.

Dust Storms

We just had an unbelievable weather pattern today.  It started out clear, with a few high clouds.  Around noon it clouded up.  Then at about 1 pm, a wall of dust rolled in.  "Rolled" is a good word for it: it advanced pretty fast, absolutely silent, no wind, just a wall of dust coming across the desert towards us.  It even had a dust devil in front that passed directly over me.  I can't show most of those pictures because they show some key features of our base, but here's one that looks out over the town of Hutal.

When the dust hit, the wind kicked up and then the rain exploded.  It didn't last long, but it was intense. Then it was gone, the skies cleared up completely, and it turned into a beautiful afternoon.  The rain made the place smell like a fishing pier, though ... don't know how that happened.

And then at 6 pm, here came a second wall of dust.  This was another fast-moving, silent, ominous storm that was sweeping across the desert.  Because of the late-afternoon light, it was bright orange.  This storm didn't bring any rain, just choking dust, and most of us covered our faces with scarves, handkerchiefs, or whatever was available.

The dust is still here and the wind is blowing.  I'm staying put, right here in my room.

A Couple of Sketches

Haji Abdul Rahim

Graphite on paper, 12"x9" 

Haji Soda Khan

Graphite on paper, 12"x9"

Getting Short

Yes, I'm starting to get short.  In two weeks, I'll begin to work my way back from the Wild West of Kandahar, through KAF and Kabul, to home.  My year here is going to come to a close before long.

In the meantime, there's still plenty to do.  One of the things that has kept me busy lately is our move.  Somebody On High decided that the location of our CHUs on this little base was too dangerous and we had to move.  Never mind that there has never been any kind of a threat to them, and they are well out of the way, and the only "threat" would come if the base was attacked with heavy artillery or mortars and they scored a very lucky hit.  And none of the insurgents in this area have mortars.  Didn't matter: the order came down, so we had to move.  Immediately.  So we worked with the military unit that controls this base and drew up a plan.  This plan lasted about 24 hours before something was discovered that made it impossible.  Plan B lasted a full week, until the day before we were scheduled to move.  So we went with Plan C, which we made up as we went along, and we are now in our new home.  Lugging our junk from old to new homes was the easy part.  The hard part was moving our communications equipment and computers.  Dismantling the old network took two hours; building a new network (running cables, aligning the satellite dish, hooking everything up, and testing) took another seven.  But it worked and we were up and running again about nine hours after starting.  Our IT guys are fabulous.

I've seen some changes in Maiwand since arriving in April.  A few of the strategically-located villages have come into the Afghan government sphere of influence.  We've done some things that I think could have an impact over the longer term.  Unfortunately, in the past few months there has been a big increase in "green on blue" incidents across Afghanistan and particularly in the south.  "Green on blue" refers to attacks by Afghan security forces on US forces.  The Taliban is always quick to claim credit for them, but that's not really true.  A minority of these incidents are done by Taliban infiltrators, or by security forces who later align themselves with the Taliban.  More are done by Afghans who have a personal issue at stake: a perceived insult or whatever.  Some are copycat incidents, like we often see in the US.

Whatever the case, we are taking these green-on-blue incidents very seriously.  Our security awareness is way up over where it was when I arrived at this little base.  The good thing is that our Afghan partners are also very aware, and very concerned, over it as well.  They should be: in reality, the senior Afghan leaders here are more at risk than Americans are.  So, without giving away any details, I'll just say that I feel much better about our security posture now than I did even two months ago.

Meanwhile, business in the Afghan world is just now getting back to normal following Ramadan and the Eid celebration immediately after.  Yes, it ended over a week ago, but just like the post-Christmas period in the US, it takes a while to get going.  Everybody is slowly getting back up to speed again, starting to address issues that have been in limbo for a few weeks, but not really anxious to do much.

One of our female officers is the leader of a Female Engagement Team, or FET.  Recently, they were with a patrol in a village, when a happy bearded elder stopped them.  He told them that his son, standing next to him, had just gotten married, and they should go see the women inside.  The patrol quickly established a security perimeter and the FET went into the home.  Inside, they found about 50 women dressed to the nines, all made up, and loaded with jewelry.  They were surprised to see our female soldiers but made them welcome.  Our FET team talked with a few of them, including the mother of the bride, said their congratulations, and left them to their party.  The bride, who remained covered, huddled in a fetal position in the corner, never moved and never spoke.  She and her new husband would go to his family's house in a day or two, where she would become, essentially, his property.  The groom, by the way, was 15 years old.  The bride?  Ten.

A Few Sketches

Here are a few sketches from the past few days ...

Before the Patrol

Graphite on paper, 9"x12" 

Abdul M.

Graphite on paper, 7"x5" 

Rahmatullah

Graphite on paper, 7"x5"

Eid Makes for a Quiet Week

The Muslim world finished up Ramadan just as I returned from leave.  The Eid celebration that followed it was supposed to last three days.  Yeah.  Just like we would have in the US, Afghans managed to stretch it out over a whole week.  Over at the District Center, there were a couple of parties with bands and food and lots of chai and good times.  All offices were closed, meetings cancelled, and lots of people went to wherever "home" was.  As a result, I was able to play catchup without falling further behind.  A pretty quiet week.

I hit the gym the first morning back.  I weighed in, expecting to have gained a few pounds during R&R, but found I hadn't gained an ounce.  Cool!  But I've been exercising every day anyway, taking it easy at first and then upping the strain.  Part of the reason is to try to work off a few more pounds before this tour is over.  Another part is that I've still been waking up at ridiculous hours in the morning, so what else is there to do?  I was in the gym this morning and one soldier was putting all the rest of us to shame.  He was on the leg press and kept adding more and more weights until, finally, he was pushing 880 pounds.  I couldn't believe it.  There I was, sweating away with my measly squats (no extra weights), and he's pushing five of me around.

This week, I learned that there's a Canadian combat artist in southern Afghanistan.  Richard Johnson is on his fourth trip in-country.  His articles and drawings are being published in the National Post newspaper based in Ontario.  He was at KAF at the same time I was, although I didn't know it.  His drawings and writeup are really good and I highly recommend taking a look.

Two bits of news today really sucked.  One was that former Ambassador Ryan Crocker was arrested on a DUI hit-and-run last week.  Crocker has done an amazing job for the US as Ambassador to Pakistan, then Iraq, and then Afghanistan.  Any one of those would have required a superhuman effort from a normal guy, and the fact that he did all three of them, and so well, is unbelievably impressive.  He left Afghanistan early due to some unspecified, but serious, health issues.  This DUI is not excusable, but it pales in significance to what he has done for this country.

The other bit of bad news is the retired SEAL who's publishing a memoir of the Bin Laden raid.  That's just plain wrong.  All of us on government service sign an agreement that we will submit any manuscripts that might contain classified information for a security review.  That's a normal requirement that's been around for many decades.  I signed the agreement.  This guy, though, didn't live up to his obligation.  Especially for somebody involved in the actions of SEAL Team 6 in general and the Bin Laden raid in particular, there is a lot of highly classified information involved and, no matter how careful he is, he's probably going to spill some of it. If he does, I think he should be brought back on active duty and court-martialled.  My message to him and everybody else on active duty (military and civilian): follow your obligations and don't put your teammates and other soldiers in danger.

To cap it off, this morning Fox News, that bastion of right-wing military adventurism, outed the guy, publishing his name for all the world to know.  Now why in the hell did they do that?  They just endangered him, his family, his friends, and his teammates, all to sell newspapers or TV spots.  Now, granted, the ex-SEAL team guy endangered himself by writing the book in the first place, but he used a pseudonym for himself and his buddies.  Now his cover is blown and it won't take much investigative work to find the real identities of some of the rest.  Way to go, Fox News: where money comes before country.

Had the name been published by MSNBC or the New York Times, I bet there would have been a huge outcry from the right.  So far, I haven't heard anything.  I'm waiting.

Back In Maiwand Again

Hutal, Maiwand District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan

I arrived back in Maiwand this morning.  It was a long trip.  I left Asheville on Monday evening.  The flight was delayed a bit by weather, but I still got to Atlanta in plenty of time to catch the flight to Dubai.  Some of my friends have recently had some bad experiences with United (lost bags, cancelled flights, and don't-give-a-hoot crews and representatives) but Delta has been pretty good for me.  Our flight was packed with lots of US civilians obviously heading to Afghanistan.  How did I know?  They had this certain look to them, of men who had done hard things in difficult situations for long periods of time; calm, competent, no-bullshit carriage.  That, and the military-issue backpacks.

The 14-hour flight was as long as it sounds, but surprisingly, I was able to get some sleep.  Waking up at the 6-hour mark and realizing that you still have 8 hours to go is not much fun.  Dubai passport control is efficient and I was soon at my hotel.  Had a long soak in the tub, followed by a great dinner on their terrace (burger and draft beer), and in the rack for the night.  My body clock was so confused.

The next day, it was on to Kabul.  The seats on this plane were even smaller than Delta's and every single one was taken.  In other words, sardine city.  After Dubai's modern airport, Kabul's was really ramshackle.  But the passport control was quick and efficient, and I didn't have any checked bags, so I was through in no time.  After getting to the Embassy, I got settled in my room and started taking care of business.  Good thing I did, too, since they'd lost my flight request for the next day to Kandahar.  I ran into several old friends while wandering around the compounds, which was cool.  The Embassy is a massive construction project right now.  Eight hundred million of your tax dollars are building a huge new compound, and as a result, getting from one office to another is a challenge.  Hell, even finding the office is a challenge.  Is all this necessary?  A lot of us think not.  It is too much like the monstrous embassy in Baghdad that is now way under-utilized.

The next day, I flew down to Kandahar and checked in with the offices that we work with on a daily basis.  I got caught up on news and gossip and checked my three email accounts.  When you have 1400 emails in the queue, the "delete" button is your friend!  Sleeping at night was still difficult: I'd hit the rack around 9:30, wake up later feeling like I'd been down forever, look at the clock, and it would be 12:45 in the morning.  Ugh!  I had some over-the-counter sleep aids that really helped although they left me a bit groggy first thing in the morning.

Today was the last leg.  I was the sole passenger in an ancient Huey helicopter heading from KAF to Maiwand.  I rode sitting sideways, looking out the great gaping hole where a door would be if a door had been installed.  It was better than any amusement park ride.  We thup-thup-thupped our way across the desert and swooped down on Hutal (top picture).  A cloud of dust, a final bump, and I was back at my little base.  It's so small that I was almost back to my hooch before the bird lifted off.

I've spent the rest of today getting caught up on the happenings here.  There have been some personnel changes, some politicking over at the District Center, and other things that I needed to know about.  Things haven't really changed, just more of the same.  It's back to the grind.

Oh, and lunch today?  MRE's.  Yes!  Looks like I'm going to be losing all those pounds that I gained while on leave!

Some Assembly Required

That could be the tag line for much of this R&R at home.  A variety of small-bore projects that always seemed to require a bit more work than they initially appeared.  There was some catch-up paperwork that took a week to get done.  The bank of juniper plants behind the house had about a gazillion weeds in it, most of which didn't show up until I was face-down in the bank.  Mowing the lawn led to pulling more weeds and trimming some trees.

Here's an example.  Before I came home, I ordered a new stereo unit for the truck that added the capability to play my iPod, as well as bluetooth for a hands-free capability with the phone.  Putting the new unit in wasn't actually that hard - it took me about twice as long as the directions estimated just because I double-checked everything, but it went right in.  Cool.  But then I realized that my speakers had all the frequency response of a mailbox.  Another order to Crutchfield and a few days later a new set of speakers showed up.  It had two to replace the ones in the front doors and two to replace the ones in the dash.  Should be an easy plug-in, right?  No.  The door speakers weren't a straight replacement.  The wires had one color-code coming off the stereo unit and a completely different one at the speakers. There were two additional pieces of electronics that needed locations where they were accessible for adjustments but wouldn't get kicked or mashed or whatever.  When I went to drill the holes for the screws, the battery for the drill was dead.  When I recharged the battery, I found out it was really dead. The wires included to hook up the door speakers were about 12" too short, requiring a trip to Radio Shack for a new roll.  When I got home, I found I'd bought a size way too small, so it was back to Radio Shack again.  The new speakers for the dash were completely different from the existing ones, so I had to figure out a way to install them without doing permanent damage to the truck.  But eventually, after many hours of work and cussing, it all came together.  The new speakers sound great, the new unit will play my iPod, and the bluetooth works well.

Not everything about this trip was work.  We went to an Asheville Tourists minor-league baseball game with our neighbors, then out to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant.  Friday night, we went downtown to check out a new restaurant and ran into some friends of ours who were also going to the restaurant.  That's one of the things I love about a small city like Asheville: you tend to run into friends everywhere you go.  We watched a lot of the Olympics, which was cool, especially since I hadn't been able to watch any TV for the past three months in Maiwand.  One thing I did not miss: political ads.  I kept the remote handy and immediately changed channels every time a political ad came on.

I also started talking with people about employment and related opportunities after Afghanistan.  There are a few interesting possibilities out there that would make use of my background and skills.  In a perfect world, I'd be able to use those skills while working (or at least being based) here at home, where I could set up an art studio again and resume making artworks that mean something to me.  I'm available after early October - anybody got any ideas?

But vacation is now over.  I'm sitting in the Asheville airport, waiting on the flight to take me to Atlanta and then to Dubai.  This will be my final stint in Afghanistan.  I'll get back to Maiwand, see what's happened while I was home drinking beer, pick up where I left off on my projects, and very soon start wrapping them up.  I'll out-process from the State Department and come home in early October.  No more deployments for this boy.  Trips, yes; deployments, no.  Time for me to spend time with my wife, my dogs, and my friends.

Back Home Again

Traveling across eight and a half timezones really messes with your body.  Particularly when you do it in one swell foop, it's like throwing a monkey wrench into your inner body clock.  So at 2:30 a.m., I was lying in bed, wondering whether to lie there and pretend to sleep, or just go ahead and get up and find something productive to do.  I compromised: I lay there a half hour listening to my dog snore, then got up and made a cuppa joe to get my day started.

The trip back was pretty uneventful.  I flew from Kandahar to Dubai, then took a cab over to Terminal 1 and waited for the Delta desk to open.  People-watching in the Dubai airport is quite interesting, as folks from all over the world are passing through: Chinese stewardesses in long slinky dresses, Arabic men in their white thawbs and kheffiyas, Indian women wearing the traditional sari, Europeans in business suits, Americans in shorts and T-shirts, and all manner in between.  Eventually the desk opened, I got checked in, and headed off to the passport line.  Where I was stopped.  I'd only been in-country for two hours and apparently my entry into the country had not made it through the system yet. But it got straightened out after a bit of a wait, and off I went to wait on my plane to board.

At the gate, I wound up talking with a very interesting man.  He's a naturalized American from Afghanistan who is now working in the country.  There are a lot of people like that in both government service and with the contractors.  This man's father had just died the day before and he was on his way home.  He told me about his father's accomplishments, and then the topic drifted to our mission, how it was proceeding, and what the various possible outcomes were.  He had a lot of insight and, really, he just needed to talk.  I barely said a word, just listened.

But then it was time for me to get on the plane.  We loaded up and left on schedule for the long 14-hour flight.  It always amazes me that you can stuff that many people into a long metal tube, with all their junk, get it in the air, and land it halfway around the world 14 hours later.  It's mind-boggling, really.  I watched a movie and a couple of TV shows and actually managed to get a few short snatches of sleep here and there.

We landed in Atlanta early in the morning and went through the immigration lines.  Atlanta is far and away better than Dulles.  It's more modern and better arranged, but the biggest difference is the people. Even at 5:30 in the morning, they were cheerful, efficient, and friendly.  I don't think I've ever seen anybody at Dulles be cheerful or friendly.  Efficient, yes, but definitely not cheerful or friendly.  Never.

And one of the best things is hearing the immigration agent tell you "welcome home".

The final hop to Asheville was pleasant.  The sun was up and I could look out the window at my own country again.  We landed, I grabbed my backpack, and headed out the door, where Janis and the dogs were waiting.  It was a great homecoming!

What really hit me on the drive home was how green everything was.  Southern Afghanistan is brown. Western North Carolina is GREEN.  Green trees, green grass, green fields.  What a difference.  Another thing was how fortunate we are to live in this country.  Even a small house in North Carolina is a palace compared to the mud-walled, dirt-floored homes that shelter millions in Afghanistan.  We take 24-hour electricity, clean running water, paved roads, and general lack of warfare for granted.  Trust me, these are blessings.

So now I'm home for a couple of weeks.  I've got a honey-do list that's not too big.  We've got dinner dates with friends and tickets to a ball game.  I need to start making some contacts for after-Afghanistan employment.

Mostly, I just want to be with Janis and the dogs.  Home again.

Heading Out on R&R

I'm back at Kandahar Air Field (KAF), on my way out for my last R&R.  These last three months have both crept by and gone by in a flash.  If you've been on a long deployment, you probably know what I mean.  Frankly, I was getting a bit burned out towards the end.  I need to get my brain reset for the last sprint to the finish.

Finish?  Yep.  Once I come back, I'll have about six weeks or so before my time in Afghanistan is up.  I am not going to extend here.  If I thought my efforts were making a difference, it might be worth considering, but I sure don't see it.  And beating my head against a brick wall is not worth the price of separation from the family, no matter how good the pay is.  So I'll go home this fall and deploy no more.  Travel, yes; deploy, no.

This past week saw the start of Ramadan.  This Muslim holy month typically slows down nearly everything except insurgent activities.  The faithful don't eat, drink, or smoke from the first call to prayer (around 4:30 in the morning) until sundown (around 7:30 in the evening).  Since the daily temperature is around 105-110 in the afternoon, they really need to be careful to avoid severe dehydration.  So the working hours now are from around 6 or 7 am to around 10 am, maybe 11 for  those working indoors. 

As for the insurgents, their mullahs say that, since they're engaged in a holy war, they can eat and drink during the day to maintain their strength.  So our Afghan security forces are often following the same ruling.  No sense fighting a war when you're giving the enemy a big advantage. 

But Ramadan is a good time to go on leave.  I flew into KAF yesterday, got settled into my temporary rack, and took care of some business.  After being out in the boonies, I'm looking at KAF with some fresh eyes.  Here are the top 10 things to like about KAF:
1.  Indoor flush toilets.
2.  Salad bar at the DFAC.
3.  Ice cream at the Boardwalk.
4.  Seeing friends again after 3 months.
5.  Cooked-to-order ham and cheese omelette with REAL EGGS.
6.  Cappuccino at the Green Bean.
7.  Did I mention indoor flush toilets? 
8.  Umm ... that's about it ...

So I have a couple of meetings to do today to discuss some Maiwand-specific issues.  Then I need to do some paperwork.  After that, read my book, pack my bag, and get ready for the flight tomorrow.  Sunday morning I'll be HOME!

Projects and Progress

We've had a pretty intense week since my last post.  There were a lot of things that we were trying to get wrapped up, or started, or whatever, prior to the beginning of Ramadan.  This is the month-long Muslim religious observance, during which the faithful cannot eat, drink, or smoke from sunup to sundown.  As you can imagine, in a dry climate where the temperature is 105-110 every day, this is going to slow things down a bit.  Ramadan started yesterday.

So, did we get everything done that needed to get done?  Hell, no.  But we made progress.  My teammates are both with USAID and manage projects.  One is still busting his tail to get the local leaders to nominate projects that can be completed under a regional program by late fall.  These are basically projects that will benefit communities that we (ISAF and the Afghan government) are reaching out to.  They include things like roadwork, culverts, and water projects.  You may think, as I did, "we've been doing that for years, so what's the point?"  What's different now is the context.  In earlier years, ISAF dreamed up projects to hire a lot of people, have them do something that's somewhat productive, give them a bit of cash, and give them something else to do besides ambush our soldiers.  Those programs generally met their objectives: where we did projects, there were fewer ambushes.

Now, though, we're trying to connect the people in key areas with the district government, and the district government with the provincial one.  The Afghans have their own ways for these connections to work, but since ISAF has essentially been running the show out here for so long, the Afghan ways are more than a bit rusty.  So we're using our programs to loosen things up.  The villages decide what they need most (a well, a road, a school, whatever), and send their request up to the district development committee, which is a group of elders from around the district.  They consider the request, and if they approve it, send it on to the appropriate ministry in Kandahar.  That's the theory.  In practice, well, as I said, it's a bit rusty.  So we also have our various program managers (some military, some USAID) consider the requests, and carry out the ones that can be done within our guidelines.  This way, the villages see a benefit from working with the district government.

Does it work?  Well, yes, pretty much, but only when done as part of a larger effort that involves security, and only when graft and corruption are kept within Afghan-normal bounds.  The districts to the east, around Kandahar City, have used this approach over the past two years.  Most areas in them are pretty quiet now and the people are concerned with more routine things.  I'm seeing fierce arguments and divisions over charges that so-and-so is incompetent, that another guy doesn't come to work, or a third charges too much for services and is lining his own pocket.  All of which means that the Taliban is not in control of those districts anymore.

Here, though, we have a long way to go.  The Taliban still controls most of this district.  The Afghan government, with ISAF support, controls some.  But we're pushing out further.  Two months ago, I went to a shura in a strategically-located village.  They basically told us to go away, that when we showed up the Taliban did, too, and they just wanted to be left in peace.  ISAF and the Afghan security forces stayed anyway.  This past week, one of the village elders told me that security was good and that now they needed projects.  That's progress.  Slow, but progress.  And we're pushing beyond that village to the next ones already.

Political Maneuvering

The Afghan political scene has been very active since my last post.  I wrote then about Mohammad Ehsan's visit to the district and the tumultuous shura that greeted him.  Since then, the Afghans have been very busy.  A new shura chairman has been appointed from outside, the old chairman has been assigned a specific task on rooting out a problem, and there may be some more shakeups pending.  As mentioned last time, a large portion of shura members had quit coming to the meetings because they didn't like the way things were going.  Now they're back.

I've talked with members on both sides of the fence.  It's been really interesting.  One side (just to give them a name, let's call them "Republicans") says that the other side are crooks, that they've been robbing from the people, and they're only out to line their pockets.  They're really happy with the new chairman and think that now they can make progress.  The other side (we'll call them "Democrats") say that the Republicans are proven criminals, they're only interested in power, and they're out to line their own pockets.  They're really happy with the new chairman, too, and think that now they can make progress.

I'm really glad that I'm not the new chairman.

The good thing, as I mentioned, is that both sides are back at the table.  Our shuras had been down to maybe ten guys, basically the same ones each week.  But this week, over 30 showed up, and the tone of discussion was pretty civilized.

Maybe these guys can teach our politicians a few things ...

Meanwhile, we have a variety of programs ongoing.  One of them is giving a lot of seed and fertilizer to district farmers.  The intent is to give them legal crops as an alternative to growing poppy.  Personally, I don't think this will make a bit of difference, but I had no say in the decision-making, so now we're just trying to make it work as best we can.

So here's one of the trucks that brought the seeds and fertilizer to our agricultural center.  The NGO handling the distribution has sorted all these bags out and divided them into "packets", one for each farmer.  They've given out over a hundred so far and are steadily working through the rest.

Meanwhile, I've continued to do artwork whenever possible.  Sometimes it's in the shuras, where I can draw the people from life, hopefully without their knowing it.  For the pastel drawings, though, I have to work from photos.  Here are a couple of them:

Khogiani Elder

Pastel on paper, 13"x12" 

Afghan Girl

Pastel on paper, 13"x12"

Today is Friday, our "weekend", so I'm catching up on a few things.  This blog, for one; but also routine things like cleaning my hooch and going over my notes and lists of things to do from the past week.  It's nice to have a slow morning and not have to rush, though. 

A Visitor to the Shura

A meeting between local Afghans and a high-level one is something to be experienced.  At least, the one yesterday was.  Two members of the Kandahar Provincial Council came to Maiwand for a visit.  The Provincial Council might be thought of as the equivalent of a State Senate, although its function is quite different.  One of the members, Mohammad Ehsan, is from Maiwand.  He is also the Chairman of the Council, and is related (distantly) to President Hamid Karzai.  In other words, he's a local boy made good.  And his visit was a Big Deal.

Just how big was a surprise.  I had thought that the two members would come out for a quiet talk with our District Governor and the leaders of our local councils.  Instead, when we arrived, it was standing room only.  Nearly every member of both our shuras had come.  Our District Governor opened the meeting with what sounded like a typically flowery and well-delivered welcoming speech.  I can't tell you what he said because I was trying to get my earpiece to work.  Finally, it fired up in time for me to hear Mohammad Ehsan's speech (short) and then he opened the floor for discussion.

Almost immediately, one man stood up and denounced half the members of the development shura.  "They're thieves!" he said, "and all who agree with me should stand up!"  A big group right behind him stood up.  I thought, ohboy, this is gonna be an interesting meeting.  So of course, one of the shura members had to stand up and defend himself and it quickly became a shouting match.  The Governor and Ehsan managed to get the meeting back under control, and Ehsan went on to give an impressive off-the-cuff talk stressing that all the members should work together to bring security and development to the district.  He is an extremely skillful speaker, and his words would have done justice to any high-level American politician.

But they only worked for so long.  Pretty soon, more accusations flew, fingers pointed, voices raised, and the Governor and Ehsan had to calm things down again.  And again.  It didn't help when the Governor was the butt of accusations, either.  At one point, the interpreter on the radio, who was giving a running translation of the discussion, gave up and said ".... aaaaaand another fight breaks out ..."  They could have gone on all day, but eventually we had to wrap things up so our guests could catch the helicopter back to Kandahar City.  And then everybody filed out like brothers.

Odd as it may sound, I was really happy about this meeting.  Our shuras have seen steadily declining attendance over the past several months.  This meeting showed that there are some deep divisions that are apparently the cause.  But it also showed that there is a lot of energy and passion, and that people are willing to mix it up in the right circumstances.  I spoke with the Governor later and he felt the same way.  Our challenge, now, is to get those disenchanted people back into the shuras, and even get them shouting at each other again.  That's how they'll figure out solutions.

Kids in a Village

One of our patrols was out in a village the other day.  As always, kids came running up to them, calling out "Chocolate!  Chocolate!"  One was a little girl, maybe 8 years old.  The soldier didn't have any chocolate, so he tossed her a Clif bar.  She looked at it a second, then threw it back at him hard enough to bounce off his helmet, and shouted "Chocolate!  Fuck you!"

Don't mess with a little girl who knows what she wants!

Chicken Training

My post yesterday triggered a note from a reader today.  Here's the text:

Hi Skip,

I am reading you blog and came across your work with your tem in Afghanistan.

Although I thought you doing a good job there that make people happy and save but when I came today reading you latest post I cannot hold myself from laughing loudly and I reach to point falling from my chair.

Are you serious that you really smart guy by teaching Afghani how to raise chickens?

I lost my words what to say more that mother nature have giving and doing all things to humans from the day of creation you don’t need to bother for teaching what human learned for centuries how to each or drink and get their food.

Just get sick and tired of this Whiteman stupidity over others.

I was about to send a note back, but then thought that this raises some issues that others might be interested in.

Yes, we arranged for an NGO to teach 20 local women how to raise chickens.  Some may think that all Afghans know how to do this, particularly way out here, far away from the big city of Kandahar.  Unfortunately, they don't.  There are too many women around here who do not have a man to take care of them.  Maybe they're widows, or abandoned, or whatever.  In this society, men are responsible for women.  If a woman is not lucky enough to have a man to care for her, then her economic options are severely limited.  

Here in Maiwand, such women have not been able to benefit from the US-sponsored seed distributions for some very dumb (in my mind) reasons.  They are generally shuffled off to the outside of society.  I've seen them begging at the District Center.  Many have children, and these kids suffer when the mother suffers.

So we arranged to have an NGO come in to do this class.  Raising chickens, you may think, is a no-brainer.  Not so.  It's not rocket science, but there are things that need to be done to ensure that the chickens remain healthy and produce eggs.  This class taught them how to make chicken coops that were reasonably cool in the summer (important here), had adequate ventilation, were easy to clean out, and provided security.  They were taught how to care for their adult chickens as well as the chicks, including feeding, water, what sort of health conditions to watch for, and more.  After the women built adequate coops and showed that they knew how to properly care for their chickens, they each received about 40 of the birds.  So now these women have a source of food for themselves and their families that they can sustain over the long term.  

This course did more than just teach them how to raise chickens.  It provided them with a shared experience and a sense of both community and empowerment.  (I can't speak from first-hand experience here, I'm relying on what our female soldiers reported).  Most of these women had virtually nothing, but now they have something that will help them survive.  

I have seen many programs in Afghanistan that I thought were really stupid, that wasted time, money, and effort.  Afghan men figured out how to game the system long ago so they could make maximum benefit from these programs.  I see lots of focus by district leaders on these large, expensive programs, that too often result in little benefit to the district, but in which they make large sums of cash.  This chicken program was a low-cost effort that directly benefited a small number of people who needed help very much.  So, while it may seem ridiculous to teach an Afghan how to raise chickens, I make no apologies for it.

Kids

We had a big event over at the District Center today.  A class that was teaching a bunch of local widows how to raise chickens, so they could feed their families and earn a little cash, was completed.  As their graduation present, they each got a bunch of chickens to take home and keep in the chicken coops they had built during the class.

As is typical of Afghan activities, it was chaos.  Things that were supposed to happen, didn't.  The start time came and went long before things actually started.  Things that weren't scheduled, happened.  This is Afghanistan, and if you're wedded to a schedule, you won't make it here!

But finally, each woman came up and received her chickens.  The fun part was putting the chickens into cardboard boxes to take home.  The chickens were not at all interested in being stuffed in any cardboard box.  So every couple of minutes, one of them would escape and go running around, chased by wildly screaming kids, until it was captured and brought back.  A few minutes later, another one would make a run for it.  Eventually, though, all the chickens were loaded up and taken off to their new homes.  Twenty women now have a way to help themselves, and their kids, survive.

Kids were everywhere today.  This is a small part of the batch.  One of our soldiers wanted to take a picture of a couple of kids, and one of the women saw that, so she started rounding up every stray youngster in the area.  She was definitely in command: these kids did as they were told!  They just didn't necessarily look at the camera, though.

I've said before that soldiers are kid-magnets.  Female soldiers are girl-magnets.  Here's one of our young soldiers playing patty-cake with local girl.

As the soldiers left, this young girl hung onto their hands all the way out the gate.

These three young princesses came late to the ceremony, but were definitely the belles of the ball.

Another Week

It's been a busy week here in the wilds of southern Afghanistan.  My little team has been wrapped up in some very contentious issues with local officials.  What it boils down to is a matter of trust, or rather, the lack of it.  We have tried to move some projects along, but local officials don't trust the contractors, and the contractors don't trust the local officials.  Meanwhile, the local residents don't trust the district governor (who is not from here), nor do they trust the police, the provincial government, the national government, my little team, or ISAF.  How do you get past that?  Well, you just tell the truth, don't over-promise, and do what you say you're going to do.  Same as anywhere in the US, except here we're starting from way behind the 8-ball.

One of the things that has hampered us this week has been the organization charged with carrying out some of our projects.  See, the way we work is that the US civilian government does not do these projects on its own.  We use non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to carry out our programs, simply because we don't have the people to do it all ourselves.  NGO's are the organizations who provide managers, hire the contractors, buy the stuff that needs to be bought, hire local labor, coordinate with local officials, and do all the actual grunt work of carrying out a program.  For the past week, one of the NGO's has been a real headache for us.  Essentially, they over-promised and under-delivered on too many things.  This really irked the locals (as well as us).  Partially as a result, they do not have a good relationship with people here.  So some of our programs are stalled while people yell at other people.  Some of the meetings got really ugly this week.

But other meetings went surprisingly well.  There is one area in which there has been some tension between different sides, but they all made an extra effort this week and really moved things along.  I was impressed.  Unfortunately, it wasn't MY area, so I can't take any credit nor enjoy the fruits of improved coordination.  Rats.  But I'll keep banging my head against the brick wall of local officials and NGO's this next week, and sooner or later I might make a dent.  Or not.

One thing I was able to do earlier this week was more pastel work.  Here's one of them:

Village Elder

Pastel on toned paper, 12"x10"

I think it turned out pretty well.  I'm still working at doing more.  Sometimes they go on my studio Facebook page and sometimes they go in the trash can.

During the shura earlier this week, I did some more ink drawing as well, and here's one:

Bazaar Merchant

Ballpoint on paper, 9"x6"

Today (Friday) was our "weekend".  So I took some "me" time.  I got up a bit late, cleaned up my little hooch, dusted (coff coff coff), aired the place out, and basically just fluffed my nest.  This afternoon, I had to write a couple of reports, so it wasn't all play.  Now that I'm caught up here, I think it's time to get the pastels out again ...

Color Sketch

Abdul H.

Pen, ink, and pastel on toned paper

12"x10"

This past week, a box with my art supplies finally arrived.  I broke out my pastels, drawing pen, and toned paper today to see what would happen.  Well, this is what happened.  This gent is one of the elders in our district.  I worked from a photo this time, in contrast to my pen and pencil sketches, which are almost all done from life.  I think it turned out pretty well.  It sure was fun working with color again!