ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER MOVE...AND OTHER STUFF

It is January 29. This has been a good and productive week, although there have been a couple of negative events. On Tuesday, January 26, there was a suicide bombing near Camp Phoenix, one of the US bases on Jalalabad Road, which I have previously mentioned is also known as “Bomb Alley.” The bomber was aiming for a US convoy and either set his device off too early, wasn’t close enough, or the bomb didn’t contain enough explosives. Eight US soldiers and six civilians were wounded and, thank God, no one was killed. Three of the wounded civilians were interpreters for the military.

Yesterday, another US convoy was traveling in the same area and thought a car was a bomber and opened fire. They killed a local, and very popular, Imam, who was traveling with his two young sons and, apparently, picking up another son from a religious school. The kids were not hurt. As always happens when these events occur, there are conflicting stories. The first story by the military is that the Imam got his car too close to the convoy. Local people who saw what happened say the Imam was sitting on a side road, engine idling, waiting for his son to exit the religious school when the convoy opened fire with no warning. The National Police called it “an accident.” Whether it was a legitimate response to a perceived threat after taking proper actions before opening fire (hand signals first, then warning shots), or a complete fuckup, is yet to be seen. In either event, it caused a large and noisy demonstration because this was a popular young preacher with two wives and ten kids. I will be following the investigation of this event with interest. It is hard to win over the Afghan people when we continue to kill them in this fashion, unless it appeared to be a clear threat and the Imam ignored the hand signals and warning shots, assuming they were given.

My friend, Tony, whom I have mentioned several times in previous posts, is finally here. I picked him up Monday, the 25th, at the Kabul International Airport and it was just great to see him coming across the parking lot. He was not at the office five minutes and had already jumped back into the fray as if he had not been gone for almost six months. All of the Afghans in the office were as glad to see him as I was and believe that he can make some things happen for our program that have been getting put off for a lot of reasons I don’t understand and that make no sense. Of course, my on-again, off-again move to Herat and our eventual move to Zaranj are two of those things.

In the meantime, Tony has already given me several assignments that concern making our program better and will provide needed information for the countries who donate funding for our program and the various projects we are involved in. So, my work on the training modules is on hold right now as I begin the process of researching the issues for the first project, which is putting together a Border Liaison Office project. This will bring our police officers and their leaders into close working relationships with their counterparts across the border in Iran and Pakistan. This is not a new idea for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, who provides assistance to similar projects in other parts of the world. It is now time for Afghanistan to implement a similar program and we have been given the task of making that happen.

I have been reading a ton of material that I was able to find on the web about this program as it has been instituted in other parts of the world, particularly on the borders of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, China and even Myanmar. There is also a cross-border program being developed between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, and then Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Nearly 20% of the opiates leaving Afghanistan are trafficked into Central Asia and most of that goes through Tajikistan. Their Drug Control Agency (the DCA) has been very successful in interdicting narcotics and UNODC is hopeful that a meaningful and productive program can also be established along the Afghanistan border with these Central Asian countries.

It’s been a week since I last wrote and now it’s February 6. A lot has happened. First—and, of course—last week Tony and I got the word that we had to move again. This is my sixth move in two months. We moved to the UNOCHA compound. UNOCHA is the main UN humanitarian affairs organization and their compound is way the hell out Jalalabad Road, the place I talked about, above, where the bombing and the shooting of the Imam occurred. ISAF and many of the other NATO forces have their big combat bases on Jalalabad Road, so their convoys are regular targets. You have to make sure that your driver stays far back from a convoy, or even two or three military vehicles traveling together. If traffic is good, it’s a thirty minute ride to the office. If traffic is bad—which is pretty regularly—it can take an hour or more. One day it took Collie two hours to get here. So, by and large, it totally sucks.

Although our new quarters are pretty nice, there are some problems. We are living in pre-fab containers that are about 20-x-10. They are new and we each have our own bathroom, which actually has good water pressure. So, taking a shower doesn’t take forever and you can wash the soap out of your hair. We have no internet or TV cable, yet, and they say it will be taken care of in 3-4 days, but Tony says that, in Afghanistan, that could mean a month. It is called, “Afghanistan Time.” The furniture is also new, but the lacquer hasn’t quite cured and when the heat is on, the fumes are pretty bad. Then there’s the power outlet situation. The way the container is laid out, the main power outlet is behind the bed and about six feet away from the desk. The microwave is located on a shelf above the desk, so that’s not near the plug, either. And, today, the management told us that they would not have power strips—or freaking sheets for the bed—for 3-4 days. It’s weird…everything is 3-4 days. We are going to the PX at Camp Eggers later to get sheets, some small rugs for the floor and power strips so we can plug things in. We also have to provide our own drinking water, which we got free each day when we were living at UNICA and when I was at the UNODC compound, there are water dispensers on each floor. What a pain in the ass, but, after all, it is Afghanistan.

Twice this week, Tony and I have met with someone from the Nimroz area about their needs. It was very interesting that the top three issues were agriculture, training and jobs for women and education for their children. They also want to do something about the drugs going through their area, which is why he came to see us. There have apparently been some other agencies—military and civilian—who have come into this area in the past, made a lot of promises and then either not followed through or just left without doing anything. There is an engineer there from some company with a contract to help them bring water from the Helmand River to their farming areas for irrigation. Apparently, the company’s security people told the engineer it “wasn’t safe,” so, according to the man we met with, he never leaves his office and has done nothing. I’m not sure what we can do about the water situation, but it is something I intend to look into.

Today is February 8. We are still without internet, cable and the other items at our new living quarters. I called the development manager and asked about the internet and the cable and was told—on the fourth day of being here—that it would be another 3-4 days before we have these things. I guess Tony may be right and that, on “Afghanistan Time,” this might mean a month which will really piss me off. I did find out today that, at least, we do have laundry service that is part of our rent, although they forgot to issue us the laundry bags which our clothes “must be in.” It has snowed for the last three days, off and on, and rained some, as well. This is good for the farmers, but, man, these guys cannot drive in this stuff and they don’t use snow tires or chains. The last two mornings, we have seen a number of vehicles off the road, crashed into phone poles and flipped over on their roofs. Our drivers, thank God, are relatively skilled at driving, even at high speeds, in the snow, so that’s good.

Yesterday, we got into a big fight with the head driver over being picked up at 6:00AM, instead of at the normal 7:15 time. If you take the 7:15 ride, you have to stop at another facility and pick up people there and, then, you’re screwed by rush hour traffic. Plus, you are sitting in traffic on Jalalabad Road at a time when military convoys could be pulling out, or coming back in. There are also as many as six people in the rig, which also makes you a target, especially in a vehicle that is marked “UN.” The ride yesterday took an hour. So, this morning, even though the driver was supposed to be here at six, he arrived at 6:20. Still, even after we stopped to pick up Collie at Green Village, we were at the office in thirty minutes. Tony went to the head of the drivers, Fida, and made it clear that we were to be picked up at six. Fida said we would be picked up at six tomorrow. We will see.

One of the tasks that Tony has given me is to do a weekly news briefing on stories that relate to what we do, or the Afghan Border Police and other National Security Forces. Or stories that I find of interest. This week, apparently, the Taliban are in “blow up an animal mode.” You couldn’t make this one up if you tried. Two days ago, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle drove his bike into a crowd at a dog fight and killed three people and wounded nine. Unless he was a member of the Taliban branch of the Animal Liberation Front, I am unclear of the tactical significance of bombing a dog fight. I am hoping that the dogs got away in the confusion. Then, today, the Afghan National Police stopped another suicide bomber on his donkey—I swear—carrying 200 kilograms of explosives. I am grateful they were on the watch and that the donkey is doing okay, although he now apparently has PTSD.

Well, that’s it for the last two weeks and I want to get this up. Don’t forget to get flowers, or something nice, for your significant other for Valentine’s Day. For the EOD people on the blog list, I made my reservations for the convention and the Memorial Foundation ball and dance. Looking forward to seeing all of you there. Duffy—no excuses this time!! Be there…or else.