Patrick Hennessey: Good news from Afghanistan ... democracy is taking root
[Patrick Hennessey is a former captain in the Grenadier Guards.]
We’re in the village of Baluchan, about 570 miles from Kabul at a shurah in the heart of an area until recently under Taleban control. Over the past 48 hours British and Afghan troops have been engaged in firefights with the Taleban to clear the surrounding countryside. Hajibullah, the charismatic district governor, has just made his way up from Nad-e Ali in a nervous but cheerful convoy of well-protected vehicles. but the IED threat and the terrain forces his party to patrol the last kilometre on foot.
The shurah — a gathering of elders — was the first time many locals had come face to face with the Afghan Government, a concept more notional than real across vast swaths of southern Afghanistan. Images of the district governor flanked by his police chief and a newly appointed wakil, a local spokesperson for each village area, should provide hope to those who are sceptical that the region can ever be receptive to democracy. But such meetings don’t come easily or cheaply.
To set up the secure perimeter for the shurah, troops from the Grenadier Guards, the Afghan Army and their British mentors, along with a US counter-IED team, spent days conducting clearance patrols. On the morning of the meeting an Afghan sergeant was wounded in a desperate last attempt by insurgents to disrupt the well-publicised event and, halfway through the governor’s speech, a bomb was discovered. The controlled explosion shattered windows in the nearby mosque. But it served as great political theatre, underlining the governor’s point about the Taleban threat: “This,” he said, wagging a finger at the noticeably more attentive crowd, “is exactly what I’m talking about.”
The Afghan soldiers in their new uniforms and Humvees attracted most attention from the young village boys. The more venerable Hajis, the local leaders, remained impassive while the governor spoke but were clearly impressed when Lieutenant-Colonel Roly Walker, Commanding Officer 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, added his own words of encouragement. After the speeches Afghan police distributed warm clothing and blankets, a gift from the often remote ministries in Kabul, and the meeting broke into small groups where the real business of haggling, mostly over agricultural and land disputes, was conducted...
Read entire article at Times (UK)
We’re in the village of Baluchan, about 570 miles from Kabul at a shurah in the heart of an area until recently under Taleban control. Over the past 48 hours British and Afghan troops have been engaged in firefights with the Taleban to clear the surrounding countryside. Hajibullah, the charismatic district governor, has just made his way up from Nad-e Ali in a nervous but cheerful convoy of well-protected vehicles. but the IED threat and the terrain forces his party to patrol the last kilometre on foot.
The shurah — a gathering of elders — was the first time many locals had come face to face with the Afghan Government, a concept more notional than real across vast swaths of southern Afghanistan. Images of the district governor flanked by his police chief and a newly appointed wakil, a local spokesperson for each village area, should provide hope to those who are sceptical that the region can ever be receptive to democracy. But such meetings don’t come easily or cheaply.
To set up the secure perimeter for the shurah, troops from the Grenadier Guards, the Afghan Army and their British mentors, along with a US counter-IED team, spent days conducting clearance patrols. On the morning of the meeting an Afghan sergeant was wounded in a desperate last attempt by insurgents to disrupt the well-publicised event and, halfway through the governor’s speech, a bomb was discovered. The controlled explosion shattered windows in the nearby mosque. But it served as great political theatre, underlining the governor’s point about the Taleban threat: “This,” he said, wagging a finger at the noticeably more attentive crowd, “is exactly what I’m talking about.”
The Afghan soldiers in their new uniforms and Humvees attracted most attention from the young village boys. The more venerable Hajis, the local leaders, remained impassive while the governor spoke but were clearly impressed when Lieutenant-Colonel Roly Walker, Commanding Officer 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, added his own words of encouragement. After the speeches Afghan police distributed warm clothing and blankets, a gift from the often remote ministries in Kabul, and the meeting broke into small groups where the real business of haggling, mostly over agricultural and land disputes, was conducted...