Thoughts on Afghanistan

Editor’s Note:  This posting was written by Cdr Tim Weber for his blog “My View; Our Mission” now referenced on our links to the right.  Because he updates quite regularly, I didn’t want you to miss such a well written, well executed post, I am re-posting it here with his permission.

– by Commander Tim Weber

Over the last couple of weeks since I’ve had the opportunity to re-learn some lessons that people taught me early in my deployment. As you will read the first two lessons are positive, the third, re-taught recently, is not.

Lesson #1: This is not my country.

Afghan Medical Sustainability

-by Linnes Chester, Colonel, USAF, MSC
Senior Advisor, Afghanistan National Police Surgeon General

We have all heard that our actions must lead toward a medical enterprise that the Afghans can independently sustain. This is particularly important if we want to ensure that the investments we have made will benefit them far into the future.  Both collective and individual actions can help make this so.  Our physical and mental energies must be deployed at every turn.  Determined and focused measures toward Afghan medical sustainability are required now. 

Women of Courage Ceremony

First lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton present the 2010 International Women of Courage Award to Colonel Shafiqa Quraishi of Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 10, 2010, at the State Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Only good can come from empowering women

By Kathleen Parker
Sunday, March 14, 2010; A19
If your impression of an Afghan woman is of a shapeless, frightened form engulfed in yards of heat-trapping fabric, you haven’t met Shafiqa Quraishi.

Read the entire article here in the Washington Post

ANP Leadership: Improving life for the Afghan people

– by Colonel Linnes Chester, USAF, MSC

Brig Gen Shinwari Qandahar, ANP Surgeon General, begins distribution

Each day in Afghanistan, many wake up to begin a search for their next meal.  Thanks to the Lamia-Afghan Foundation and its founders, Lieutenant General (retired) John Bradley and his wife, Jan, several families of the Afghanistan National Police (ANP) did not have to look far for their nutrition on Feb. 2, 2010.  That day at the ANP Central Warehouse in Kabul, Brigadier General Shinwari Qandahar, ANP Surgeon General, began distribution of 20 thousand pounds of Ensure, Pedialyte and ZonePerfect Nutrion Bars that the Abbott Company donated to the foundation.

A Culture Rich in Tradition

General Mangal, Deputy Minister of Interior for Security, in his office after his fourth star was announced

The Afghan culture is one that is built upon hospitality and tradition.  If you are an invited guest in an Afghan home or office, your host will spare no expense to make you feel welcome, and each meeting starts with chai and some sort of snack ranging from cookies to the golden raisins and pistachios native to the country.  Authors Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin Mark’s book Three Cups of Tea recounts the Balti proverb about three cups of tea, whereby when you share the first cup you are a stranger, when you share the second you are a friend and the third, you are family.

Teaching law – the Afghan way!

– by Commander Scott Thompson

NTM-A attorney, Mr. Jamal observing COL Khairullah teaching Intermediate Legal Training to students in Kandahar.

Three Afghan attorneys working with the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan (NTM-A) Staff Judge Advocate’s Office in Kabul have been training and developing Afghan National Police (ANP) legal advisors over the past year to teach the law to other police. NTM-A attorneys have overcome logistical and security issues traveling throughout Afghanistan to provide training to ANP legal advisors in all seven regional legal offices located in Kabul City Police Center, Central, Afghan Border Police, Gardez, Kandahar, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat.

Building for the Future

– by Commander Eric Hawn

Project team inspects building foundations

On 2 Mar 2010, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Afghanistan Engineer District (AED) hosted a project site visit to the National Police Training Center currently under construction in the Maydan Shahr district of Wardak province.  The visit was scheduled to gain an on-site view of construction progress for this national strategic asset, which will provide capacity for training and life support for 1,000 student policemen and 250 police trainers in September 2010.