[Previous entry: "Kandahar Chronicles #39 - 06/11/2003"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Kandahar Chronicles #41 - 11/11/2003"]

11/10/2003: "Kandahar Chronicles #40 - 09/11/2003"

Work is crazy again but too much security stuff I can’t write about so instead I’ll try to answer some comments and questions.

Turqoise, Salam alakom, thanks for the “props”. What part of the country are you from? Afghanistan is a fantastic place and it’s a pleasure to be here even with all the shit happening. The people for the most part are strong and noble but they have a temper and memories like elephants. MSF works in some dodgy places around the world. Liberia, Burundi, DRC, Iraq and Somalia to name a few. They started in Nigeria during the Biafran war in 1967 and have been getting into the thick of it since then. There’s about twenty six NGOs in Kandahar now so by no means are we the only ones.


Twc, Through bad planning and ignorance I’ve been to a lot of tough places and got myself in trouble too many times to count. I’ve been thrown in jail in Uganda and Zaire but that was my fault so I can’t blame anyone else. I’ve also had a machete pulled on me in Tanzania, bullets smack into a wall two feet above my head in Kisingani (an accident it turned out), threatened by knife wielding thugs in Bolivia, etc,etc, you get the idea. There has been a couple of incidents in particular but my parents read this so I can’t write about them. I’ve also gotten into trouble with wild animals, fish and reptiles but that’s not for here either. So far, touch wood, I haven’t had any trouble personally in Afghanistan but the stories are pretty frightening. As far as disease related issues, only malaria seems to get me but I haven’t had that since 1996. It is still tough to see people crippled by polio or kids who have lost arms to machete attack.

a.b.and Tom, Your questions kind of merge so I’ll try to answer them together. The work here is a lot more rewarding than adventure tourism, which I did before for too many years, but sometimes it can be frustrating. I don’t really get to see the results of my work in the same way as the medics do. It’s easy to get tunnel vision when technical problems occur and at those times I could just as easily be working in Canada. While a medic can see a kid get better with treatment, I just pat them on the head and make sure that an ambulance can get them to a hospital without breaking down. Most of my job is support for the doctors, nurses, midwives so while it is multi faceted, it sometimes means that I don’t get to appreciate the final results. I’m very involved in the security though so I have to stay on top of that. It requires keeping an eye on the big picture as well as conversing with all sorts of shady types in the field. I only really feel like packing it in when I get fever but otherwise it’s very interesting here.

Scallywag, concerning the blog on the Taliban offensive, your observations are quite true. A late autumn offensive is not the best idea and it is possible that any large-scale Taliban operation could be put off until spring. The winter here is cold and hard. Unfortunately, the threat of continued small scale attacks remains as high as ever. I’m no expert on these things and Coalition and Afghan Government Forces remain on high alert. It’s very easy for these Taliban/Al Queda forces to blend into the local population and remain out of sight for extended periods of time. They have support in many areas of Southern Afghanistan and large numbers are known to be in Baluchistan, where the black and white striped flag of the Taliban is flown quite openly.

Faisal. M. Ahmed, Your question about how the people feel about the situation here has about as many answers as people I ask. I’m going to Zhare Dasht tomorrow and I’d like to find the time to sit with some old grey beard and get his story and feelings. Most of the guys that work for us feel the presence of NGOs and Coalition forces are necessary to bring stability to the country. In the case of the Americans, they acknowledge that their troops are the only thing preventing the country from slipping back into anarchy. There are basic issues that must be solved in a country that is controlled in many ways by regional warlords and poppy barons. The Coalition does not help though in that it supports the warlords for use as allies in the war against the Taliban, much to the detriment of Karzai’s Transitional Government. Guys like Dostrum and Mohammed Atta were instrumental in the Northern Alliance but spend quite a lot of time fighting each other too.

The average Afghan sees the situation as improving and feel confident with help from NGOs they can rebuild their ruined infrastructure. There is also suspicion of Pakistan, who they feel want to keep the country unsettled, but that varies on who you talk to. There are also huge problems concerning the IDP’s and they understandably feel gloomy about the future. I’ll get into that a bit more later once I’ve talked to a few people but there are a few notes of optimism as well. Good rains last year reversed some of the devastating effects of the five year drought and if there is more of the same this year then parched valleys will become productive and perhaps open opportunities for agrarian people to begin again. Afghans are resilient, determined people and after so many years of loss many feel that things can only improve.

Replies: 1 Comment

Thanks for answering my question, you be the man... I'll send you some more later on in the week, methinks.

Faisal said @ 11/12/2003 12:21 AM EST