Tim Gurney’s Afghanistan Blog

Marjah blog 2: Jordan, T E Lawrence and popcorn

Apologies for being quiet for a few weeks, I was on leave (yes, again) in Jordan and then was bouncing around between my base in Marjah and the HQ of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Lashkah Gah. Internet tends to be the best way of communicating in this part of the world, but when it goes down - as it did in "Lash" - the world seems to stop. How did we manage before the Internet? Oh yeah, we wrote "letters".

If you are thinking of a slightly more adventurous holiday I can recommend Jordan. No, not the model. Awesome scenery, really nice people, good food, easy to get around. I had always wanted to see Petra (it featured in the closing sequences of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade) and was not disappointed. Wow, pretty darn cool.

Anyway, you're not reading this to get my views on future holiday spots.....But maybe you are? Just as I was returning to Helmand, President Karzai was announcing that the district where I work, Marjah, would be one of a number of areas included in "Transition". In a nutshell, this is the process whereby security operations are handed over by ISAF to the Afghan security forces - police, army - and ISAF step back and provide mentoring, some specialist military assistance and what is known in the trade as "QRF" - a quick reaction force. But ISAF are no longer in the day-to-day frontline. In parallel, the folks who do the type of work I do (no, not lunatics, Stabilisation Advisers) start to stand back from assisting local government directly and move to a sort of over-watch role - keeping an eye on developments and reporting back to the PRT in Lashkar Gah when we see holes in links between the provincial and district levels of Afghanistan's government. There is an element of sitting on your hands which doesn't come very easily when we have all been so actively involved in the process of helping to reconstruct Afghanistan. But it makes total sense. The Afghans rightly want their country back and letting them just get on with it is the natural step. So less dashing out with the District Governor to shuras; less meetings with tea and nuts.

So, here we are, the weather getting decidedly chilly and life switching from sitting outside our container homes to very much sitting in them with the heating cranked up. Thankfully we do have heating here in Marjah - unlike the fun times in Shazad (see early episodes). My colleague, Sera, has brought in some Christmas decorations and brightened the place up a bit for the festive season. We even have a Christmas "tree" - see above photo. OK, yes, it is more of a Christmas stick. Our Friday night outdoor movie is now accompanied by a roaring fire of broken-up packing cases.... no marshmallows being toasted but the US Marines often bring along micro-waved popcorn. All a bit surreal
really: there we are sitting in the middle of Afghanistan, a small bunch of US Marines and civvies watching a movie on a projector screen, munching popcorn, wrapped in blankets, star-light sky..... it could be Lawrence of Arabia all over again. Except that was filmed in Jordan and I don't think Captain Lawrence had popcorn.

Marjah blog 1: One more Pop Tart into the breech?

I moved to my new home in the district of Marjah last week and am now working with the US Marines. This is a very different set-up to Patrol Base (PB) Shazad and working with a British battalion HQ.  My new base, "Marjah District Centre", is manned by around 45 Marines who have the job of protecting the District Governor, the District Centre - the local centre of governance - and my colleagues and I in the District Stabilisation Team.

Small is definitely beautiful. Our home here is, compared to the monastic Spartandom life of Shazad, really well-equipped. I even have a shower and hot water in my room. For those of you who have followed my adventures with outdoor cold showers in the middle of last winter, you will know that this is a MAJOR bonus.  And Marjah DC does not have the same frantic tempo of a battalion HQ. It's all a lot more leisurely and calm. My US Marine colleagues are excellent. Nothing is too much trouble, they are relaxed, easy-going and easy to get on with. I sometimes get out of bed about 8am. Wow!

So, you ask, were is the "but"? And, yeah, there is one: food.  How does the US expect its finest warriors to live on a diet of Coke, caffeine-enriched drinks (the new Coke) and Pop Tarts. After only one week I've had more than enough of them and crave for something that grew on a plant or tree and doesn't have the label "now with extra caffeine" and contains "added maltodextrin". Man, it's like living on intravenous Red Bull. Does anyone ever sleep? CAN anyone ever sleep??

Thankfully I still have kilos of Lavazza. Offering him a fresh coffee, the excellent US Marines Commanding Officer wryly commented that you could always rely on the Brits to produce something with style and taste - while the US produce it quickly and in a can...... 'nuff said.

Marjah district is making good progress in terms of the services it can provide its 60,000 or so citizens. The US Marines have largely driven the Taliban out and have them pinned down in the fringes. Schools are springing up and I was at the ground-breaking ceremony a couple of days ago for the building of a Comprehensive Health Care centre. With assistance from the US Marines, the Afghan National Army has even established a community ambulance service here. That's pretty amazing for Afghanistan.

So lots of adventures ahead and this promises to be a fascinating 6 months. As long as I can find something to eat other than Pop Tarts.

Nad-e Ali blog 12: Making a difference

I know I say this almost every time I write, but the time flies by in Helmand. With no weekend break and living in a constant hub of activity - the "Battle Rhythm"  as the military call it - one day feels like another.  But now the football season has restarted and Manchester City crushing all in their sights ("in rampant form" - BBC) at least I have a vague idea when it is weekend. Or was that a mid-week game?

Each morning the clatter of helicopters or the engines of armoured vehicles make my metal-can home shake and tremble. The noise contrasts with the bird song that is a delightful feature of Patrol Base SHAZAD. Although the birds can't over-power the sounds of the military, they do continue long after the helicopters have flown off and the Mastiffs have moved away. Perhaps there is something deeply symbolic there? Or maybe it's just time for a break.....
 
But talking of Shazad, big news: as part of the process of transition to Afghan control and reduction in ISAF forces, the battle areas of Nad-e Ali (North) and Nad-e Ali (South) were combined a few days ago back into one - just Nad-e Ali. With this my Happy Home in Helmand was more or less closed and I moved to Forward Operating Base Shawqat to join the stabilisation team there. Unlike Shazad where the whole team consisted of an Afghan assistant, our bodyguard and me, Shawqat is a big team: three Stabilisation Advisers, an American Development Adviser, an American Rule of Law Adviser, a Political Adviser - and loads of Afghan assistants. I must admit to feeling like a fish out of water - from being the principal stabilisation adviser to the 42 Commando Battlegroup to, errrr, well just one of a bunch. Not an easy transition.

I was very sad to bid farewell to 42 Commando (who are leaving too) and Shazad. They were a terrific bunch and the UK is indeed fortunate to have such capable, thinking soldiers. It was an honour working with them. My team hosted a barbecue for the senior staff in our compound. An ammunition box made an excellent barbecue pit (I may suggest them to B&Q - über-chic) and we tucked in to steaks, pork chops - and a salad I knocked up from local market produce with Afghan bread. Delicious. Lots of "goffers" sunk and I was genuinely deeply touched when the CO presented me with a 42 plaque - which will appear on a wall with great pride of place when I finally have somewhere to live. We all got quite emotional. Well I did. I now have to transition back (that word again) from Marinespeak. No more goffers, heads, scran, wets, galleys...

I have said before that if you look ahead in Afghanistan you are daunted by the mountain yet to climb. But 42 Commando can look back on their 6 months with great pride on what they have achieved. Only a few days ago I took the district mayor and the local bazaar manager to the village of Loy Mandeh where we agreed the site for a new bazaar as a start to replace the one smashed by the Taliban. This would have been unthinkable 6 months ago. With a fair wind a school and clinic will follow and a community will have been helped to recover from years of warfare. Work started today.

So I feel I leave Shazad with a job half done - loads left to do. But looking back, so much has been achieved: the District Governor now visits without ISAF help, ministry representatives visit the communities; schools, clinics, bazaars  refurbished, up and running; kids going to school; people attending clinics; kids getting immunisations.....  ISAF made a difference in the lives of ordinary people. Pretty cool.

And me? Off to challenges new somewhere in the dusts of Helmand.....

I'll keep you posted
 

Nad-e Ali blog 11: Out of the one pot into the frying pan

There is nothing quite like looking back on Shazad life from a pavement café in the sun whilst sipping a double espresso - even if the café is in Stockport. I've just got back to Helmand after a two week break. It's interesting the things that bring pleasure after spending almost a year in Nad-e Ali. Espresso aside, it was great fun buying fresh produce and cooking. I can heartily recommend the BBC One Pot Cookbook and, yeah got to admit it, Jamie Oliver's Italy cookbook. Mercy, there are some delicious dishes in those books and so easy. Go on, give it a go!

Then a few days visiting friends in Amsterdam (another great espresso city) took me to Arnhem, the final objective of Operation Market Garden, which was portrayed in the movie A Bridge Too Far. The Commonwealth War Graves, in their inimitable style, maintain an immaculate cemetery in Oosterbeek close to a fascinating museum. It was poignant to visit this having worked in Shazad with 3 Para who were heavily involved in Market Garden.

On the way back I stopped overnight in the marbled palaces (well not literally the palace bit - but even the Airport Premier Inn is lined with marble) of Dubai, followed by the two hour flight to Bastion and back to the heat and dust. After the coolish northern European summer temperatures it did feel fairly warm. From 14 degrees to 44 degrees.

Life in the Patrol Bases does not stop whilst anyone is on leave. The pace continues frenetically. Fortunately there were no fatalities while I was away but still the number of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) strikes continues and the number of lads hurt in them. The pace of the fighting season has picked up and the number of firing incidents with it. The Taliban seem to have realised they cannot match ISAF so "shoot n'scoots" and IEDs seem to be the response.

I stopped off on the way back at my HQ, the Lashkar Gah-based, UK led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), to learn the latest policy developments as we begin the process of "transition". Through this process the Afghan Government take over the reins of security in a growing number of areas and the systems we have helped them establish for governance, education, health care and other services.

I also wanted to make sure that my funding bids were firmly lodged for various projects I want to complete: the refurbishment of a bazaar in a village we have cleared recently; and, if security allows, a clinic and school to go with it. After talking to the elders and government officials we all agreed that rebuilding the bazaar would be a valuable first step in helping the community re-establish itself after the Taliban. And then there are other projects to pursue: a school refurbishment which has been very tough to pull together but, finally, after 8 months is on the slipway, agricultural programs to get farmers off poppy planting and in to what are commonly referred to as "alternative livelihoods". But there are no magic bullets, sadly, just lead ones.

With the start of the holy month of Ramadan, where Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset in the summer heat, it is slow going but we are getting there. I'm just glad to be back with the terrific team here - and that I brought some very good espresso coffee with me...... ;-) So, a great leave. Out of the BBC One Pot into the frying pan of Helmand.

Nad-e Ali blog 10: Panettone anyone?

There are various truisms about this job which have been passed on to me which I'd like to share with you: "never miss the opportunity for a brew, a sleep or a toilet stop". Wise words indeed.  And "there is no such thing as a bad leave". Having just got back from an excellent break with friends and family - and loaded up with the essentials of life, Italian  panettone and amaretti (from Rome no less. Thanks, Rad!) I can heartily agree.

However, it's a strange and unsettling feeling to be enjoying a leave break when the military friends you leave behind are in action and suffering casualties. Within a day of me leaving Shazad, 42 Commando had one marine killed.  And, as I was flying back into theatre, 3 more.  The UK media cover the deaths with, rightly, sombre and sympathetic coverage. A lot less is said about those who are wounded - often with life-changing injuries. One of the Company commanders - a youngish Major who I had come to admire - was, sadly one of them. An excellent bloke: clever, funny, enthusiastic and sensible - he was on the receiving end of shrapnel from an IED which, thankfully, did not kill him but has left him with lung injuries which will take some time to, hopefully, recover. It's times like this when, as I have written before, you do wonder if it is all worthwhile. I have nothing but admiration for 42 Commando: they redouble their efforts and "crack on".
 
It's not just the military temperature which has risen. Yesterday it was 46 degrees in the shade. The generator which powers our compound could not cope, over-heated and cut out. No power, no lights, no communications - and, almost worse, no air-conditioning. And believe me, metal ISO containers are not built to operate without air-conditioning. It was some 7 hours before the generator had cooled down enough to re-start. By then it was 37 degrees indoors. Could I actually air-condition the generator? Even the military communications systems are packing up in the heat. And it's only early June!

Meanwhile, back on the work front, 42 Commando have just removed the Taliban from the village of Loy Mandeh Kalay to the north-east of us. I got up there for the first time the day after I got back.  A refurbishment of the badly damaged, deserted bazaar is probably the best way we can help the community there get back on its feet after 3-4 years of Taliban occupation.  It is certainly what they have asked for. It used to be a thriving centre of trade and commerce. Hard to believe when you see the state of it now. Work has started with us paying contractors to clear as much ground debris as possible. And we are working with the Mayor of Nad-e Ali district to register the shopkeepers and see how we can best help them rebuild.

It'll be a long job - and a long, hot summer ahead. Slice of panettone anyone?

Nad-e Ali blog 9: Deal or no deal?

The time sure flies by. Mid-May already. I'm up pretty early in the mornings - especially as it's now getting really hot (low-40s at the moment and due to go to the low 50s! And yes, that's centigrade). I try to squeeze in a visit to the base's gym, which is outdoors, before it's hot enough to cook my brain. Some decades ago there used to be adverts for the Charles Atlas Fitness Program (No, I'm not that old:

my grandfather told me about them) where a hapless 9-stone weakling on the beach had sand kicked in his face by some muscle-bound hunk.

Mercy, it's not hard to feel like that 9-stone weakling when visiting the gym here. Some of these 42 Commando guys are seriously well-built and seem to be able to bench press cement mixers. I mulled over the idea of photographing a "Hunks of 42 Commando" calendar. I can think of one or two women who would love it. One or two guys as well..... ;-

The stabilisation business has been very brisk the last couple of weeks. And, happily, and almost unusually, we have made some real progress. The opening of a clinic in one community last Saturday was the result of 7 months of to-ing and fro-ing, negotiating, cajoling, persuading, arguing and herding cats. But we did it! A grand opening is planned by the District Governor in a few weeks time. This will be only the 4th health care centre in the entire district so it feels like a great achievement. And with two schools now looking good to open with the new Afghan school year in September, there is a strong sense of things slowly coming together. But we all still hold our breath for the start of the fighting season. The poppy harvest is almost gathered and it will be another couple of weeks before we see whether the bad boys took enough of a pounding last winter to keep them out. Or, at least, are less capable than they were in October. Time will tell. Fingers crossed please, people.

Talking of the District Governor, the DG....  if you have followed this column you may have read  that, in another life, I used to be the Deputy Governor of Bermuda. Back in those days I had a baseball cap for the weekends which had "DG" embroidered on it in big green letters. I thought I should gift this to the DG for Nad-e Ali district. With a huge grin he whipped off his turban and, voila, my old DG baseball cap had one new owner. I thought it a fitting rest home. From Bermuda to Helmand. Not much difference eh?

I have said before that life can be surreal here. A village shura the other day, attended by the DG, ended in some acrimony with lots of yelling and shouting. All quite Afghan. But after decades of fighting and mistrust, getting a community talking again amongst themselves can be the most important achievement. So yelling and shouting is not too bad. The DG and I left to mull over what next. Sitting in the tent of the local commander of the Afghan National Army, the DG flipped on the TV set and was soon engrossed in the local version of "Deal, No Deal". 

There is something totally surreal in trying to discuss how to help an Afghan village whilst musing over whether the female contestant should accept the 50,000 Afghanis (that's money not people) on offer. The DG's conclusion was that we shouldn't agree with what the village was asking. Actually he said "the hell with them" and took another handful of excellent pistachio nuts - which accompany any Afghan meeting. And yes, he thought that the contestant should refuse the deal. She did. And lost.

Hunks, clinics, heat, schools, baseball caps. Life eh? Tsk. Deal or No Deal?