A Rant... of sorts

Funny day. Dreary and rainy but busy as hell. It seemed like the first chance I had to check the clock it was already 4:00 PM. Over lunch I met with several reps from one of our suppliers. The logistics issues here are somewhat different than back in the states but not dramatically so. Lucky for me, it’ll shorten a normally steep learning curve. One of the reps I met with was Afghan. He moved to the US at age 13, completed school in south OC, Laguna Nigel, Dana Point. He is now one of the Country Managers for his company and back in Afghanistan. It’s his opinion that one of the major factors in the decline of the country was the brain drain that happened when everyone with sufficient capital fled the Russian invasion. It created a power vacuum that allowed the shrewd but not necessarily bright to move into key positions. I’m sure his case has some merit but at the same time he was obviously somewhat privileged. So…accurate argument or anger over the loss of what once was? I can’t say. I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve been here longer and hopefully had more dealings with the local populace.

Such promise here, but so many issues to deal with. While there was never a fantastic infrastructure the country was once rich in agriculture and the world’s top almond producer. For centuries it was the only sizeable source of Lapis Lazuli. It has been at the crossroads of West Asia, East Asia and South Asia for millennia. A key link in the silk road and spice trade. I’m told it was a wonderful place to visit before the late 70’s. When the kingdom crumbled it allowed the chaos that brought in the Russians.

After more than 30 years of decay the infrastructure is shot. Families that once owned orchards no longer remember how to farm. That kind of knowledge is lost over a couple of generations. The isolation of villages has allowed thought to stagnate and backward ideas to gain influence. The best analogy I can offer up is the dark ages in Europe. As the Roman Empire fell apart, trade declined, knowledge was lost as people became isolated in their small kingdoms. Things moved backward. That’s what has happened here. When populations are isolated the free flow of ideas atrophies. Without new ideas creativity implodes. It’s all bad. Isolation is a bad gig.

Funny, I’m sitting here writing, the rain has turned to snow, the internet is out. Jets aren’t flying, due to the weather I suppose. I was planning to talk more about my work day but am distracted. This whole concept of civilizations decaying and cultural collisions fascinates me. When I was in Kuwait one of the contractors training us in convoy ops had some interesting stories. He had been a marine and had served here in Afghanistan. He told us of the night raids the US Special Forces are fond of conducting here. They will sneak in at night to pick up bad guys. They invariably secure a large section of the neighborhood for their own safety. He told us of breaking in doors and forcing families to lie on the floor during the operation. It occurred to him that that the fathers must have felt completely gutted of any power. In this culture that is a very bad thing. He also relayed the tale of a young NCO who was asked by the bad guy they came to pick up (via interpreter) to please wait until they were outside to handcuff him, to please not disgrace him in front of his family. The NCO spat out an expletive, forced him to the ground and cuffed his hands behind his back. These are the actions that win small battles but loose wars. During the 60’s the talk was of winning hearts and minds. In many cases we do that. We’re good at helping orphanages. When allowed we interact fairly well with local populace. Unfortunately we also really screw up on far too many occasions. Our military can’t be entirely faulted. We still train to kill bad guys and hold ground. If we were fighting WWI, WWII, Korea or the Russians that training would be quite applicable. In non-Christian countries with vastly different cultures and low-intensity conflicts this training is terribly insufficient. We should be training in cultural awareness, Islam, Pashto and Dari. I don’t mean the usual bullshit few hours that are given. If we want to be effective, our troops in leadership positions need the equivalent of AA degrees in these cultures. Anything less and they won’t be prepared to make correct decisions.

I’ll relate just one more story. I read a news article a month or so ago about the way the US enters villages on raids. These generally happen at night. They are targeted at specific individuals or houses. Unfortunately Afghans, because of their isolation, have very close knit neighborhoods/villages. When someone starts shooting at your neighbor in the middle of the night you help your neighbor out and shoot back at the intruder as well. It’s worth remembering that we aren’t the only armed group in the country. Feuds and warlord struggles are still taking place. So, the crux of it is this, the US reports fighting dozens of insurgents. The Afghan press in turn reports 1 or 2 insurgents killed and a dozen local lads slain. We generally get our man but were loosing the war in the process. The article was reporting on the Afghan army’s request to have troops imbedded with us Special Forces to mitigate these situations. I don’t know what the outcome will be.

I am not totally pessimistic about the Afghan chances. I am an optimistic pessimist. The Taliban is attacking more now but the fight still appears to be somewhat low intensity. It is all small unit ambushes and IED’s. It doesn’t appear that the Taliban are all that numerous. That said, my observations over the years are that 80% of the general population go with the flow. 10% line the hard left 10% the hard right. Or you could say 10% are hard charging, motivated and concerned and 10% are criminally minded. The labels don’t matter much. The point is that a small but motivated group can swing the momentum of the masses. Our challenge is to help the few highly motivated individuals that want Afghanistan to become a partner in the modern world, not a backward, reclusive, haven for heroin production and fringe element terrorists.