This job just keeps getting more interesting day by day. One of our local field guys got arrested because the Afghan National Police (ANP) thought he was casing city sites for the Taliban. In reality, he was taking pictures for us related to a traffic study. Unfortunately the poor lad spent two days in an Afghan jail, and they confiscated our camera. We can rest assured that camera will never be seen again. Luckily he was not deterred by his experience, and returned to work the day after he was released. In the future, our local personnel will be sent out with proper credentials. At least we learned a valuable lesson here.
I also got word that another one of our local Afghan workers was kidnapped. This was from a different city. Information is rarely reputable, so it’s only speculation to any particulars on that. The risk here for expats (“first-worlders” and myself) is real, but the locals who take a job for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) like us exhibit a true sense of courage. I admire these brave souls immensely. Sure, we pay them extremely well when compared to their non-NGO counterparts, but they really harbor a lot of risk to improve their communities. I’m finding that there are several local nationals (LNs) who turn down positions from Taliban pressure.
These challenges effect us because we need their help to complete our mission. They know the terrain and can navigate the culture. Any time one of these guys get hurt, abducted, or go missing, it sets us back in our overall mission and moral takes a hit. We do our best to protect them, but it is they who are in the worst of the trenches and on the front lines.
Today the Kandahar Provincial Governor’s house came under attack. This compound is deep inside Kandahar city. This offensive included the occupation of one of our project sites by the Taliban, which was a renovation project for a truck depot we are working on. Another setback because we were very close to starting work on the building they are holed up in. Who knows what condition it will be in when they are dislodged. Our Deputy Team Leader jokingly stated that we will probably have to change the scope of work for this project to include spackling bullet holes and plastering over RPG hits. If the powers that be call in NATO, we will probably have no building left to renovate.
I’m happy to say I am at least 20 miles away from this mess, and in the safety of our cozy little compound, but it really sets us back because it forces our PSDs to restrict our teams movements, slowing our mission’s progress.
I can only imagine what its got to feel like to constantly have setbacks like this. But it's your groups' hard work and the sacrifice of the LNs that make progress in Afghanistan possible. It's tough to hear people in the States call our efforts over there a lost cause. But I know I'm proud to know at least a few people who strive to prove otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words Matt.
ReplyDeleteThe setbacks are simply a part of the process. It will take many years for Afghanistan to stabilize. One challenge is to get aid to the people who need it, and not line the pockets of the opportunists.
The Taliban have a very sound strategy. All they have to do is be a nuisance and wait for the citizenry of NATO countries to grow impatient, and force their governments to abandon Afghanistan. They can then take over. This is actually published in their play-book for all to see.
If there is one thing that is happening right now, it's oversight. NGOs are under the microscope, and getting their contracts pulled, and in most cases rightly so. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to produce measurable results in this environment. There is absolutely no infrastructure. If you want to install a toilet here.. you have to install the sewers, a water system, an electrical grid to power the water system, and a wastewater treatment facility. Then we have to train and hire a local staff to maintain all those systems in a country where most people have never seen a toilet that flushes.
In case you were wondering.. currently, raw sewage flows into open ditches on the sides of the streets. From there it eventually makes it to the rivers.. untreated. It's very similar to a Roman era system. It works, but has sanitary implications.