News from our Man in the 'Stan.

The landlocked sailor's updates continue.

Another week down. I’m getting more comfortable here. I still miss things like the color green and the smell of cleanliness, but over all, its not bad here at all. I have more room than if I was on ship, better food than the front, and decent company.

I’m friendly with a couple of kids at the bazaar, and a couple of them give me presents of little necklaces or bracelets if I come by. As a thank you to two of them I gave them each a soccer ball from my family to honor the presents they gave me. Now everybody wants a soccer ball. At first I was upset at being seen as a big American flagged ATM, who can just conjure up presents from the great PX, but I really can’t blame them, it’s an honest assessment of how they see us and our way of life. I doubt they think it’s a big hardship for me. Sure there is the assumption that every American is super-rich, but there is also the assumption that every American is super-generous. Not a bad way to be seen overall.

Anyway, buying things at somewhat unreasonable prices is my contribution to the war effort. A huge part of this war is in the minds of the Afghanistan people. If they trust their government, and trust that we are here to help, we win. If they don’t believe that, things get a lot tougher. We are in a contest with the Taliban over civilian casualties. Every person killed in an airstrike is tallied against ones killed by suicide bombers and IEDs. Not a very happy thing overall, so we do what we can on the positive side, showing that we do care for and respect the Afghans. It may not always go the way we plan, but we do try.

With all the problems here, the Taliban, the corruption, the drugs, and the interference from over the border, one big one is the lack of what I call cultural imagination. Quite a lot of the people here want a better life, and are willing to take great risks and work very hard to make that happen. Everyone understands that if the boys and girls get to go to school, and the infrastructure improves life gets better. The issue is convincing people to put aside some of the deeply ingrained cultural issues like honor killings and blood feuds. Its always very tricky mucking with people’s culture, and the best way to do that may be just by example. It also doesn’t help that there is no Afghan culture. You have Afghans in the big city, but outside, people are sub-tribes of the Pushtun Ghilzai, Pushtun Durrani, Tajiks or Dari.

When I was at the Market I promised to come back and get some jewellery I was looking at after I ran some quick errands. It took longer than I what I told him, and when I got back he said “I did not think you would come back, but my friend said that if Allah was merciful you would, and here you are.” Interesting enough, it was the first time anyone mentioned Allah to me. That probably means that I don’t get out enough.

On Fridays we usually take a shuttle over to Camp Eggers for a few hours to provide a little variety. The shuttles are Afghan owned mini-vans that are contracted to drive us around. I always keep a sharp eye out for attacks, but the main worry is other drivers. There are no traffic laws in Afghanistan, in fact there aren’t even traffic suggestions! (I’m here all week! Try the veal!) My barracks is right near the compound wall, and every couple of hours you can hear someone locking up the brakes outside.

I said hello to some Afghan National Policemen yesterday on the way back from visiting my rug guy. I really respect those men. They are under armed, underpaid (if at all) and out there pretty much alone. They are a favourite target for the Taliban because they thrive on lawlessness. They exist to be bait for the Taliban so NATO and the Afghan Army can find out where the enemy is. You want to know what selfless sacrifice looks like? It looks like an Afghan policeman.