"Kandahar Chronicles is the ongoing story of the day-to-day life of an MSF (Médecins Sans Frontičres) Field Logistician based in Kandahar Afghanistan. You can email the author your questions and comments here: carlos@citizenlab.orgTuesday, December 16, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #47 - 16/12/2003My head was clouded the next morning with too little sleep and too much vodka. Coffees and frantic last minute organizing quickly cleared the fog from my brain and in the two hours we had before the flight left we felt most things were in place. The order of responsibility was agreed and I’d left lists of jobs tacked to the walls of my office for the guys to look after over the next three days. I felt a bit like a worried parent but reminded myself that these guys had already been through an expat withdrawal earlier in the year after an ICRC expat was murdered in Uruzgan province to the north of Kandahar. They knew what to do to keep things going smoothly and were already ticking things of the lists as I ran around trying to pack some of my gear. Everyone came out to see us off as Hamil and I loaded our bags into the cruiser. I felt terrible. It wouldn’t have been too bad if they were all packing up to leave as well but with them staying behind I couldn’t help but feel we were abandoning them. They laughed this off and wished us a speedy return. In three days most of them were going to have an extended paid holiday and looked forward to spending the extra time with their families during this tense time. posted by @ 11:16 AM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #46 - 15/12/2003 Last week… “Okay, I’ve got some bad news and the first thing I want to tell you that this is a security decision and it is not reversible.” I stared dumbly into my cup of tea with the cell phone pressed against my ear, my face warmed in the early morning sun. I knew what was coming. “We’ve had thorough discussions here and with HQ in Amsterdam and we’ve decided to pull you and Hamil out of Kandahar temporarily and reduce operations for a skeletal staff to manage. This will stay in affect for three weeks in which time we will then reassess the situation.” posted by @ 11:15 AM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #45 - 13/12/2003 The days continue to be difficult and I either haven’t found the time or a computer to keep these entries coming out on a regular basis. Since my most recent entry, another bomb has gone off in the centre of Kandahar leading to a temporary suspension of MSF expat presence in the city. A little over a week ago, while I was at the airport seeing off our interim PC, Vickie, a bomb strapped to the back of a bicycle exploded near a central roundabout injuring about twenty people, five seriously. The attack was suspected to be in account of the Loya Jirga, the Constitutional Assembly, which was taking place in Kandahar during that time. This process, which registers voters for next years elections, is an attempt to secure the progression of the Interim Governing Council, of which Karzai is the president, to a nationally elected government in June 2004. Elements within the country opposed to such a course, such as the Taliban, see this time as being instrumental to disrupt these attempts at responsible government by launching indiscriminate attacks in an attempt to discredit the existing government by exposing its inability to maintain a secure environment. posted by @ 11:11 AM EST [more..] Thursday, December 4, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #44 - 03/12/2003I think it’s been three weeks since the last entry and a lot has happened, most of it I can’t detail because of the continuing delicate security context that still exists in Southern Afghanistan. The car bomb outside the UN headquarters brought the conflict to the heart of the INGO community in Kandahar, and the subsequent murder of a French UN Officer in Ghanzi a few days later further shook an aid community trying to find ways to continue their operations in the region. Once again, we have had to suspend our operations in Zhare Dahst IDP camp because of our staff intensive, predictable movements along the unsecured roads from Kandahar. Once again, we have established a referral system, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and an excellent local organization, AHDS, to deal with the patient caseload. At the time of writing, there are still bugs to be worked out with this system but at least the care is there for the IDPs. posted by @ 03:20 PM EST [more..] |
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