Bagram Burning... or Not

While I don't want this to be a political blog (I get enough of that in my day job) it did seem like I would be remiss in not commenting in some way about the events that have put Parwan in the spotlight.

Didn't notice that Parwan was in the spotlight? Join the club.  Most people, including a majority of those who live on Bagram Air Field - or BAF as my faithful readers already know are unaware of the province in which they live.  In fact BAF is right smack in the middle of Parwan, and easily visible (and audible) from my PRT, and much of Parwan for that matter.

As you doubtless know there was a recent incident in which Korans were "improperly disposed of" on BAF, causing deep insult and provoking many demonstrations, several of which ended in clashes and fatalities (the worst of which occured in a Parwan town far removed from BAF where four people died). Suffice to say - as every official from the President down already has, that is was a big mistake, and was unintentional. There was good reasons why the Korans required disposal, I won't go there.


Insert Juicy Riot picture of Burning Tire and Screaming Protestor - crop out the bored reporters and police on the side waiting for the show to either end or turn genuinely nasty


Anyhow, what has been heartening and humbling is to see the reactions among the Afghans.

Firstly, when they say that the Koran is the incarnation of god, they really mean it, feel it actually, in a way that we, who have vestiges of such tradition in things like taking the oath of office on a bible, genuinely cannot fully comprehend.  For us this is simply a cultural fact to learn, like not leaving your chopsticks stuck upright in your ricebowl (unless you really meant to end your day by calling out your dinner companion for a street fight). For Afghans it is simply an element of good upbringing (actually of any upbringing) and therefore presumed to be known, even by the infidels.  Like us, Afghans easily forgive our frequent cultural gaffs, like when we speak out of turn or accidentally sit in the spot of an elder.  However, as one friend told me "if we don't have the Koran we are nothing" so even if you can convince somebody it was an accident, ignorance of the Korans importance is itself deeply offensive. It might be like having a visitor from out of town break half of the ten commandments and then explain with a straight face that they didn't know stealing, lying, killing and making a graven image wasn't allowed in your house.  Even if you beleive their sincerity you would feel let down and violated, and probably a tad angry.  Afghans (particularly Taliban), cite this as the latest evidence of our barbaric nature, and I must say it is depressing to have a certain degree of empathy for that conclusion, however much I also understand that the error was an honest one, even an earnest one made in the course of trying to protect and serve both America and Afghanistan.

Anyhow, I've mentioned the bad news phenomenon before, and simply wish that people could see a bit of what else goes on when things DON'T go badly.  In this case, there were hundreds of community leaders, some elected, but most not, who encouraged and in some situations enforced peace on their neighbors. However slow the actual government may move, real governance, by which I mean communicating with, reacting to, and influencing the population, happens VERY fast and very well - just not through the channels we are familiar with.  People who are all but invisible to us as outsiders, and many we conveniently lump into the "bad guy" column were essential in preventing violence. This does not BTW mean they did it for us, they did not, they did it to prevent Afghan on Afghan violence and in so doing showed just a hint of how the country really runs, on a complex network of friendships, alliances and tribes that go back decades.

In short, today, the people in Parwan who really hold sway, decided after two moderate riots (as measured on my newly developed riot-o-meter) that they had sent their message, and wanted to go back to work on BAF (think steel company to Allentown only much more so). In fact, they even turned back "outsiders" from the next town over, who wanted to come through rocks at the poor G.I. manning the ramparts at BAF. Power to the people!

However, what is most humbling in the whole affair is how our Afghan allies have borne this burden without rancor or complaint.  As they swallow their own disappointment and anger at the incident they have nodded through our apologies and explanations and then quietly gone out to face elevated dangers, threats, and the judgment of their families and communities in order to stand at our side and get back to working towards a tough goal that just got notably harder.

Afghan Heroes

As time wears on, and some of those around me have started to count the days until their departure, the frustration, resentment and fatigue are taking their toll.  Even the "can do" sometimes painfully optimistic approach of my green suit friends is fading a bit as their tours march toward the end. While often expressed in the general terms of "let the Afghans fix their own *!@*)^ country, I'm outta here" a more honest sentiment I have heard is disappointment at constraints that prevented efforts we wanted to make, and not seeing more progress.  In short, wondering if it all made a difference. A question I'm not going to try and answer.

For me, I'm trying to be sympathetic, but am being careful not to catch a case of short-timers disease. Certainly there are reasons to worry about the future of Afghanistan, and I do, but my theory is to worry less about Afghanistan and more about Afghans. For every Talib or corrupt warlord or dirty cop, there are men and women struggling and dying to make their country and community a better place, and I try to hold onto those when I get the cynical sniffles.

Afghan inspiration #1 - unnamed bus driver  As we drove up to the Salang tunnel our interpreter pointed out a landmark I couldn't even see, which I think was a just a pile of stones. While I have learned enough Dari and milspeak to get by, I haven't learned Rock, which is something of a lingua franca in Afghanistan - and is used to mark routes, give warnings, and commemorate events. 

At any rate - the rocks marked the spot where a passenger bus had hit some ice and was sliding inexorably towards a drop that would be quite fatal. Seeing the catastrophe in the making, another bus driver made his calculation, picked his spot and laid himself beneath the tire about to go off the cliff. All the passengers survived, the driver did not.

#2 This year in one of the Kabul bombings a suicide bomber was spotted by police in the line approaching the checkpoint and they raised the alarm. Seeing that he was caught the bomber moved to detonate his explosive. Meanwhile, as one of the often-maligned Afghan National Police was running at him through the panicking crowd. He tackled him and covered him with his body just as the bomb went off.  There were no other serious injuries.

#3 As I returned to our base together with the Afghan security forces that had led the mission, I watched the most senior officer stop at a traffic circle that had become a slushy mess. He ordered two of his men to get out and walk a good kilometer back to their base, then told a father who had been struggling along the street with his young son to hop in the truck and tell the driver where to take them.

#4 One of the people I know and like best in Afghanistan has been tirelessly helping to promote efforts to reconcile with the Taliban and find a lasting peace despite the fact that he could easily have been killed in an attack on the office where he works. He mentioned in passing that he had been held by the Taliban in solitary confinement in a cave for over three years.

The Morning Commute

In other words, just like at home there are rogues and rascals, but there also many extraordinarily brave and decent people (and some who are both) who are trying to pull together a country that hasn't known normality for more than a generation.