The Sangin Story: Security, Stabilisation and Development 2008-2010
The Sangin Story: Security, Stabilisation and Development 2008-2010
When 40 Commando Royal Marines took control of the challenging Helmand district of Sangin from 3rd Battalion The Rifles in early summer, it is a measure of recent British and Afghan government success here that they discovered the population talking about the flourishing market, a health clinic attending to the community’s needs, new schools opening and a local government steadily getting to grips with the town’s long-standing problems.
It is remarkable progress for a place that British soldiers once nicknamed Mordor after the Black Land of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tucked away in a valley in northern Helmand, Sangin has acquired a formidable reputation in recent years as a deadly stronghold for insurgents and drug traffickers.
Experts say the dramatic improvements on the ground demonstrate the powerful effects civilians can have working in tandem with the military. The Stabilisation Unit, co-owned by the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development, has been at the heart of this civilian surge in Sangin since 2008.
When John Moffat arrived as a British government Stabilisation Advisor (STABAD) in May that year, among his most pressing objectives were tackling corrupt governance and promoting the Afghan government as a legitimate alternative to the Taliban. The local population had no confidence in the authorities, relying instead on the Taliban to administer informal tribal justice. A breakthrough came when, with provincial support, Afghan line ministry representation reached Sangin.
Bringing order to “Mordor”
The arrival of Nick Pounds as a STABAD in July 2008 closely followed 2 PARA Battle Group’s shift of its headquarters from remote Camp Bastion to the town of Sangin. At a stroke, the coordination with the local Afghan government was strengthened. “It was significant for stabilisation because it brought greater involvement with the Afghan government, the local chief of police and the Afghan National Army (ANA) commander,” Pounds, a former officer in the Royal Marines, recalls.
The new STABAD faced immediate challenges. There was no District Governor (DG) and the entire local government consisted of just four officials: the Head of the District Development Assembly (DDA), the ANA commander, the Chief of Police and the head of the National Directorate of Security.
By October 2008 a new DG was appointed. Pounds established a secretariat to run the DG’s office and facilitated weekly meetings of the District Administrative Assembly and the Council of Elders. “It could be pretty ad hoc at times but we certainly got the basic mechanisms of governance going, including an informal justice shura to deal with low-level criminality. The challenge always was to ensure it was self-sustaining under a decent district governor, which we had by the time I left.”
Andy Corcoran deployed to Sangin as a District Political Officer in October 2008. His civilian role was a critically important piece in the overall jigsaw, assisting commanders understand the local political situation.
Tangible progress with new schools, health clinics and bazaars reopening is the most obvious evidence of improvement, says Corcoran. Yet equally important to long-term success is the intangible progress implicit in establishing who the key figures within the local community are, developing relationships with them, building a picture of the community’s needs and understanding what it would take to move them away from the Taliban to support the local government.
The Kabul government also played a significant role in Sangin’s emergence from crisis. “We got a minister to visit Sangin to open government offices, the school and the clinic,” says Pounds. “It was the first time an Afghan minister had been seen in Sangin – probably since the king died. It was really good for him and good for the people of Sangin.”
Security moves centre-stage
In the short term, security was the highest priority to allow the people to engage with the local government and go about their daily lives with confidence. A joint civil-military stabilisation plan created three security zones with a combined area of approximately 8 sq km. At the heart of Sangin was the most secure Governance Zone, home to the school, government agencies and NGOs. Next came the Economic Zone, consisting of the bazaar and its immediate environs. The last of the three areas, moving out from the town centre, were the four Focus Zones based around ANA Patrol Bases.
“In terms of effect, it was a success,” says Pounds. “We secured the area we set out to secure. We provided security in the Governance Zone, protection in the Economic Zone and established an ANA presence in the Focus Zones.”
Stabilisation depends on a permissive security situation. With this achieved, commercial activity could resume. The bazaar started to thrive, boosted by a grants scheme to encourage shopkeepers to reopen their stalls, linked to the Regional Governor’s seed distribution programme. Very quickly 120 shops reopened. “By the time I left, the bazaar contained 700-800 shops selling everything from cars and mobile phones to grain and satellite dishes.”
The future of local law enforcement necessarily lies in Afghan hands. Pounds describes difficulties with the local police as his “biggest headache”. Desertions, corruption and drug-taking were pervasive. Police chiefs came and went. Nevertheless, steady progress was made. By the time he left in June 2009, 35 policemen were in place. Today there are 100.
Business returns
Phil Weatherill, a civil engineer who has worked for Oxfam, the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres, now working for the Stabilisation Unit, was deployed to Sangin as a STABAD in October last year. His story indicates the extent of the progress on the ground. In a classic display of the practical benefits that flow quickly from stabilisation, the hard-won security gains paved the way for rapid commercial development. He says the area in which he can move around safely has expanded by a factor of 10.
“Today, STABADs are able to move relatively freely around the bazaar, we have an operations area where there is no requirement for military support and can join Police Mentoring Team patrols when we need to move further afield. The bazaar continues to grow, schools open, the health clinic is running and there is a new and competent District Governor.”
“Economically and socially the lives of Afghans here are changing for the better on a monthly basis, it has taken a long time to get to this state and there have been, and will continue to be, challenges along the way but I honestly believe that slowly the people of Sangin are beginning to be won over,” Weatherill says.
Development continues apace, providing a stark contrast to Taliban-controlled areas. The DDA has completed more than 70 projects in the last six months. Health and education have both benefited dramatically. The government has opened 45 community schools and four national government schools. There are now five free government health facilities as well as numerous private clinics now open, too.
Asked how much difference a STABAD can make on the ground, Weatherill doesn’t bat an eyelid. “The Stabilisation Teams are making the impact that will get ISAF out of here,” he argues. “I would say that with the District Governor and our Military Stabilisation Support Team colleagues we are providing the impact necessary to show the ordinary population the limitations of the Taliban and the capacity for delivery of the government.”
