safe as houses

Since I’ve been in Afghanistan friends on many occasion have asked me “are you safe?” The simple answer to that question is…..no. But I look at it like this; growing up in northwest Baltimore wasn’t all that safe so I’ll be OK. Over the past few months, I’ve come to understand that security in Afghanistan is a complicated thing and it is largely dependant on where you are, what you’re doing, and who you’re doing it with.

In Kabul, there is no security period, you just have to trust in the numbers. That is to say, that on any given day there are roughly two and a half million people in Kabul and the odds are that YOU in particular aren’t going to get blown the fuck up. It’s kind of like playing Taliban roulette where you’re standing at the table as the wheel goes round hoping that the little white ball doesn’t fall on random person # 835,642 – YOU. “come on baby, daddy wants to keep all his limbs!”

In Herat, the calculus changes a bit. The population is much smaller than Kabul so technically your odds get worse since there are fewer people to get blown up meaning that your number is more likely to come up. However, there are apparently fewer things of interest to blow up in Herat and thus fewer bombings. Generally speaking, in Herat if you stay away from the airport, Governor’s house, U.N. compound, hotels, bazaars, bike shops, ice cream parlors, hospitals, restaurants, private homes, electronic shops, mosques, schools, parks, tailors, office buildings, garages, fruit stands, police stations, DVD shops, dry cleaners, and public buildings of any sort then you should be OK.

Out in the provinces like where I live it gets even more interesting. A little background, after the NATO led invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban, the country was essentially divided into security zones with different NATO member states responsible for the security of a particular region of the country. The area where I live is under the military protection of a contingent led by the Lithuanian army. That’s right the Lithuanians. Now I don’t want to malign these boys too much for two reasons; firstly, they recently invited me to their base for dinner which was much appreciated because there’s only so much stewed goat a man can eat, and the Lithuanian army cafeteria comes complete with fried chicken, lasagna, and an ice cream station, secondly, should the proverbial shit hit the fan I’ll be counting on these boys to save my ass and get me out of here. But since there is absolutely nothing out here worth going to the effort or expense of blowing up, paired with the fact that I live about ¼ mile from the Lithuanian army base so unless the Taliban actually decide to attack the base itself I should be OK.

So while the 82nd Airborne they may not be, let’s give it up for the Lithuanians – keepers of the peace and givers of the double scoop of chocolate!

Kabul - a thousand words

Help Wanted

I’m back in Afghanistan after going home for a too short Christmas break. Yes, I am part of that noble core of do-gooding souls ready to stand arm in arm with our less fortunate brothers and sisters, living as they live, eating what they eat, forgoing creature comforts and risking life and limb - just not on major holidays or during our children’s school breaks.

The snow has started to fall and that is both good and bad. Good because insurgent related violence goes down during the winter since apparently the Taliban haven’t figured out where to buy good snow tires. Bad because access to the people that we are trying to reach with services becomes severely restricted. We are planning to distribute food as part of the health intervention but we are having trouble getting it into the country. It was the same way when I worked in Indonesia. Bringing in free food ain’t as easy as one might imagine!

I recently met with the provincial Governor and members of the Provincial Council and they all pledged the support of their respective good offices. These meetings are mostly ceremonial but occasionally the phrase “when I was speaking to the Governor about……” does come in handy when dealing with a less than helpful civil servant as you’re trying to get a copy of this or that government regulation / policy statement / strategic planning document.

We’re still having trouble recruiting staff, both Afghan and expatriate but for some reason I'm hopeful that things will turn around. I’m thinking that in this shall we say challenging economic environment that maybe people will give old Afghanistan a second look, she ain’t so bad!