2/9/2010 4:34:00 PM Journey to Afghanistan Touring a bazaar and seeing soldiers train Afghan National Police officers
“Button” is an Afghan youngster familiar to the U.S. soldiers. He helped get for the soldiers a lunch of a flat bread wrapped around seasoned thin french fries.
The main terminal at Dubai International Airport is a bazaar of shops and stores offering all types of goods and services. The architecture is an attempt at high-tech, with a combination of glass and stainless steel that falls short of the mark.
To achieve the feeling of openness, some very obviously fake palm trees adorn the moving walkways.
A taxi ride of about a half hour takes you to Terminal 2, a spartan facility where flights to third- world countries are boarded. It is just past midnight and the check-in counters have opened. The busiest is the oversize baggage desk accommodating travelers that have purchased large electronic merchandise not available in their home country. A vendor has set up shop offering to shrink wrap your Dell computer tower to your Panasonic flat screen, minimizing the checked baggage count.
While services are limited in Terminal 2 there is, of course, a Starbucks Café. It is crowded, mostly with contractors heading to some part of Iraq or Afghanistan. They have been hired by a U.S. or international company that has been awarded a contract by the Department of Defense or State. KBR (Kellogg Brown and Root), Fluor, ITT, and Xe, formerly Blackwater, are most frequently mentioned. The cuts of the late 1990s have created a shortage of trained military personnel, thus, a ratio of one soldier to one contractor has evolved.
Among those waiting is Zack, a resident of Montana returning to Afghanistan after a 15- day visit with his wife and children. He is pleased with his six figure salary, but not enthused about returning to his job. At a base in Kandahar, he installs and repairs cell phone jamming devices that are often used to trigger IEDs (improvised explosive devices). TJ, a former California state police investigator, is returning to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. As is the case with many security contractors, he talks of his inside information and clandestine activities. It makes one wonder why Osama hasn't been captured long ago with all this talent available.
Beyond the tasks Zack and TJ perform, is the training of Afghans. Both agree that they are lazy and have no work ethic. TJ goes on to say the ANP ( Afghan National Police) are corrupt from the top down and sees little chance of these circumstances changing. The patriotism among contractors I experienced in my prior embeds is now, it seems' replaced, by monetary consideration alone. All seats in the DFM chartered Boeing 737 are occupied. If you took all the annual federal income taxes paid by the residents of Galena, I estimate it would just about cover their six figure salaries.
The 410 Military Police Company Third Platoon is charged with training local ANP officers. On the first day of my embed, I have been asked to join them as they convoy to a local police station and conduct a class on vehicle stop and search.
To become a member of the ANP, one merely files an application. A background check is performed by the 82nd Airborne Company, also stationed at Bagram. These are coveted jobs in a country with low wages and an unemployment rate estimated to be 40%. As a result, rumors of favoritism, payoffs etc. abound. Drug testing is not part of the process.
The training consists of a number of sessions covering all phases of police work. Of the 30 officers that begin the class, 20 to 25 complete the training and are awarded certificates. The day I was an observer, 13 were in attendance and 30 percent absenteeism is common. The class is conducted by two of the MPs with the help of an interpreter.
After the class, the US soldiers and I walked the length of the bazaar. A youngster the soldiers called "Button," joined us and proudly demonstrated his expertise with a switchblade knife he carried. He spoke some English learned by hanging around with the soldiers. I gave him $20 and he was off to buy lunch for our group. The sandwich was a flat bread wrapped around seasoned thin french fries and very tasty.
When we returned to the station I was confronted by an officer that wanted to show me a video of him capturing a suicide bomber. Since the arrest, he is in fear of reprisals from the Taliban. He requested my help in influencing U.S. officials to grant him and his family visas so they can be safe in America. Whether his claim was true or not, the video was convincing. All I could do was to encourage him to contact the U.S. embassy.
When I returned to Bagram I was told that as I had requested, I would embed for the remaining 3 weeks with a PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) in Panjshir a province north and west of Kabul.
I am grateful to the readers who took the time to send me questions they wanted me to ask while embedded in Afghanistan. I am hopeful you will find them answered in future articles of this series.
This is the first in a series of stories about Art Ricker's trip to Afghanistan. He took with him questions submitted by Gazette readers, and will soon offer the answers he received.
Reader Comments
Posted: Thursday, February 18, 2010
Article comment by:
Dustan Johnson
This is Staff Sergeant Dustan Johnson from the Panjshir PRT. I enjoyed the article about Zardat and the ANP here. Zardat is a shrewd man and a great host. I thoroughly enjoyed training with him and learning about his experiences. Having Art along for a day was very fun as well. I wish I could have taken him to meet Sheikh Mohammed, another police commander who is equally interesting. The Afghan police here are only a part of the overall security effort of Panjshir and my intentions are to provide them with the ability to think their way through difficult situations and apply knowledge of Afghan law in the ways that American police are taught to do, using it as another tool for success. Our war is against ignorance and narrow-minded thoughts. We have had marvelous success after cracking the code that reveals how to access the minds and hearts of the ANP as we enable them. This is definitely the most rewarding mission and achievement in my 12 years of service. The locals are just as charming as they are dangerous.
