Civilian Interviewees Disapprove of my boring clothes and lack of makeup

I went to interview one family today who had lost the head of the household in 2001 during an aerial bombardment by the international forces. It was a large house with many different family units living together. It was also strictly segregated between men and women. I first spoke with the men in one room, but was then asked to say hello to the women in the other section of the house. This was not a shy and retiring group of women!! They immediately grabbed me when I walked through the door and sat me down on some cushions. Children became dive-bombing into me (there must have been at least 25 children running around).
I hadn’t been sitting long before my lack of makeup began causing general confusion and dismay. Out came the eyeliners, bright lipsticks and rainbow-bright eyeshadows. Then my hair was scraped back, my nasty boring scarf tossed to one side…. THEN the women had a great idea that they were going to change me entirely and dress me up in their party clothes. So I was forced to change into a sexy 1001-nights outfit, complete with a beaded head-piece. This was causing great amusement and pleasure amongst everyone in the house – especially when I was pushed into the men’s quarters again (I really wasn’t sure about the dynamics here and was not comfortable at all.. but the women were pretty insistent!) Oh…. The things I do for my job!

(the photos show me before.. and then after my makeover! You can see all the children that were throwing themselves at me in the "before" photo!)

Make-Up, Afghan Style…

ACAP likes to help civilians by giving them vocational training. But training women in particular can be difficult because they have fewer options to leave the home. Make-up artist training has proved to be an effective way to help…. Because Afghans certainly love their make-up whenever they attend parties and social events!!
Erica and I decided to allow one of ACAP’s clients to give us a “make-over”…. It was a widow whose husband had been killed by a suicide bomber. She had just opened a beauty parlour so that she could make money to support her children.
I have attended a couple of weddings here, so I knew that the make-up would be colourful and not so natural… and this make-up certainly lived up to expectations!Erica went first… and the beautician started by ‘threading’ her face. “Threading” is common in Egypt (where I live at the moment) and also here – it involves taking two pieces of thread and running them up and down so that they remove all the hair…. But I didn’t realize that the hair on the face was something that had to go!
Then Erica had her eyebrows darkened and made into one sexy unibrow… then thick white foundation; shiny, shiny eyeshadow; fake eyelashes and bright lipstick with heavy lipliner.
I went through a similar process, though I also had my hair done (don’t ask me why!!). My hair was scraped back, gelled into submission and then I had glitter put everywhere… the shinier the better in Afghanistan!
This make-over was not a natural look. To be honest, we looked like drag-queens. We were heading to the Italian PRT straight from the salon and the first thing we did was go to the toilets and attempt to remove as much as we could of the gunge on our face!!

ACAP assistance for cluster munitions victim - and he measures us up!

As this blog makes clear, I have been working closely with the Afghan Civilian Assistance Program (ACAP) – a USAID-funded program that helps civilians who have been injured or who have lost family members in conflict. One of the ways that ACAP helps civilians is by providing them with vocational training. In Herat we met individuals who had, for example, been trained as tailors and as make-up artists.
This tailor had lost a leg when he picked up a cluster munition in a park in Herat. He received help from ACAP so that he could set up a tailor’s shop. He was a lovely man – soft-spoken and easy to smile. Because of his work, he was now able to provide food to his mother and sisters and he was deeply grateful for this improvement in his family’s life.
He insisted on making both Erica and me a shirt… So we had to be measured up and the materials chosen for us… We all broke out in giggles as he measured around our waists and then (horror) the chest area. We must have made his day!

Some more photos of my hike/ rock climb above herat!

Here are some more images from my hike in Herat - there really were some hairy rock-climbing bits (with minimal, minimal protection!)

Hiking in the Mountains Above Herat

Hiking anywhere in Afghanistan probably wouldn’t be on the top of a security officer’s list of things to do… but I couldn’t resist the offer to go hiking and rock climbing with my ACAP translator and some of his friends. I have loved rock climbing in California and across Europe – so I thought this would be a cool way to expand my climbing experiences!
We left at 5.30am. This was a shock to the system because Erica and I had been up until midnight, signing karaoke with the Italian PRT soldiers. Erica was sick so she stayed in bed…. So I was left hiking with a group of six Afghan men.
The first thing I noticed was the large gun that was strapped to one of the men’s backs…. That made me a little more nervous about the risk of a Taliban or bandit attack. But I soon forgot about these concerns. The hike was stunning. And it was tough – these guys are clearly as crazy as I am and were attempting to scale all sorts of vertical cliffs. They made a small effort at safety by having one rope that we wrapped around our waist as we climbed. The guy at the top then held this rope (with his bare hands). Not exactly sure what would have happened if any of us had fallen!
We hiked for 4 hours up to an incredible vista. Then we started shooting the gun. Now that was fun!! I fell on my back from the kick-back from the shot and caused a lot of laughter. Then we ate naan bread, drank tea, talked about Islam and Sufism. We ended our hike at a Sufi shrine at the bottom of the mountains. An incredible morning!

Italian soldiers in Herat - and karaoke!

The Italians in Herat have been extremely hospitable. Afghanistan is roughly divided between different nationalities – the British in the south, the Americans in the east, the Italians in the west… When we first arrived in Herat, we visited the PRT and we were given an incredible lunch of Italian food (proscuttio, good cheese, even white wine with lunch!! – in contrast, the British and Americans seem to eat nasty processed food and not a drop of alcohol is allowed on their bases!). The charming Italian soldiers then asked us back to their karaoke night. So we went and ate pizza, drank beer and sang along with bad Italian pop songs… quite an experience!

Ingenious Sewing Machine

The houses in the refugee camp did not have electricity. But this family had made a very effective sewing machine out of part of a bike and elastic chords. They had cemented the bicycle wheel into the floor and one of the children seemed to have the job of turning the wheel by pushing the pedals. The chords linked into the sewing machine – and presto! The sewing machine was fast and allowed the daughter in the family to embroider large pieces of material. This was one of the main ways the family made money to survive now they have been forced from their war-torn village.

Some Images of the BDP camp in Herat

As mentioned in the blog entry below, we visited a refugee camp in Herat where there were Battle-displaced families living and hiding from the fighting in their villages. Here are some more images of this desolate camp.

Battle Displaced People in Afghanistan (Herat)

“Battle Displaced People” (or BDPs) is a term used to describe individuals who are forced to flee their homes because of fighting. There are a specific subsection of Internally Displaced People (IDPs). There are thousands of BDPs in Afghanistan and the numbers are growing.
Today, we visited a refugee camp on the outskirts of Herat, on the road that heads out to Iran. It is a desolate stretch of road – beautiful in a harsh, dusty, mountainous way. But clearly a tough environment to live amidst.
The camp that we visited was built twenty years ago and has accommodated Afghans as they have fled various different conflicts. The camp is a permanent living-place with small, dark houses made from mud and straw. There are a handful of water pumps where the people can get water. But there is no electricity and no arable land.
We spoke with one family that has lived there for the past 2 years. They fled their village after their uncle was shot in the stomach and killed. He was attempting to help a group of children hide in a mosque during an intense battle between ISAF and the Taliban. After the uncle died, the family immediately left the area. The head of the house told us: “We only grabbed the most important belongings. Many of our things are still up in the village. But we cannot return now. We will die if we visit our home and land again.”
This family is desperate to return to their house in the village. The wife summed up the sense of desperation and the loneliness. She explained: “We have nothing here. Up in our village, we had fruit trees. My husband had a job on the land and he could provide for us. We had relatives and support. I could chat and discuss problems with people. Here, we have nothing. I have all these children and I can’t feed them. It makes me desperate. I make lunch, but then there is nothing left over for dinner. We desperately need help. We desperately need the fighting to end.”

Cluster Munitions Survivor and Campaigner

We talked today with an incredible 18-year old man, Ahmed, who had both his legs blown off when he was 10 years old. He was out at a picnic with his family and his cousin picked up a piece of metal he found on the floor. He realized too late that it was probably dangerous and threw it away – but it exploded and killed the cousin and severely injured Ahmed.
Ahmed told us that he was taken to the hospital and put on the pile of dead people. But his uncle came and saw that he was actually still alive. “But I think the doctor thought it was better to die,” Ahmed explained to us, “there is a view in Afghan culture that it’s better to be dead than to try to survive with no legs.”
Ahmed was in hospital for months. When he finally recovered, he tried to return to school. The teachers at first refused to allow him back in the classroom. “They said that they couldn’t manage with me there – they asked how they would take me to the toilet.” Ahmed, however, insisted and pointed out that Afghanistan had many people with disabilities and that they couldn’t simply be excluded from schools and public places. Ahmed then began to campaign for the rights of people with disability. He has attended conferences in Ireland, Norway and France. He intends to the visit the US later this year. He is campaigning for Afghanistan to sign the anti-landmine treaty and to ban to use of cluster munitions. “I am a clear example of the way cluster munitions destroy the lives of civilians,” he told us. “Innocent people should not have to suffer like this.”

The Women’s Section and Greasy Food in Herat Restaurant

We went for lunch with our translator today. We were ushered into the “women’s section”… a small room behind a beaded curtain. Once we were inside, there were such strange “sexy” photographs on the wall. As women, we’re put in a private place so the men can’t see us (or so we can hide from the men??) BUT the photos on the wall totally sexualized women. So what are we women supposed to be?? Private non-sexual beings or Bollywood temptresses?
We were given traditional Herati food – big bowls of greasy meat, greasy rice and greasy beans…. Eugh. I could barely move afterwards! The Bollywood superstars on the wall certainly aren’t eating this stuff!

Friday Mosque, Herat

The mosque in Herat is called the “Friday mosque.” It’s one of the most famous tiled mosques in the Islamic world and it’s beautiful!! The courtyard inside is cool marble, with men sitting and lying everywhere – chatting, sleeping, reading. The tiled mosaics are stunning. It was a treat to walk around it and relax for a short while!

Herat

Erica and I arrived in Herat today – what a beautiful city!! There are pine trees lining the street and open green spaces. There are football teams playing in wooded areas – such a welcome change from the dust of Kabul and the tension of Kandahar!
We hope to talk to some people who were injured by landmines and cluster munitions – the area around Herat was heavily affected by cluster munitions so there are a significant amount of people missing limbs. We’ve also planned to talk with the Italian PRT (provincial reconstruction team – Italian military working to build projects to help civilians) and with soldiers working to provide humanitarian aid in Royal Command West. We’ll be busy!

Wheelbarrows

The wheelbarrow is a heavily-used item in Afghanistan. When I arrived in the airport in Herat, there were dozens of small boys jostling with their wheelbarrows to carry passengers’ bags. When their work was over, they lay back and relaxed inside the wheelbarrows, arms behind their head…

Hot naan bread

Naan bread is staple of the diet here in Kabul. Every lunch time, women and children have baskets of bread balanced on their head. It's served with every meal. And it's delicious... particularly when it's hot and straight from the oven. There are little 'bread shops' dotted everywhere, with a smokey fire in the back and men pounding out the dough. Up front, is the 'main guy' - usually with a pointed stick (see the photos). He jabs the bread from the back and then throws it to the front by the counter where customers are queuing up to buy the bread. If you don't want to buy the bread itself, you can just buy the dough... and make fresh pizzas at home!! yum! :-)

Romance in Afghanistan...

This incredible image is up on the wall in my guesthouse in Kabul. It made me think about the relationships between couples in Afghanistan... Almost every Afghan likes to tell me (with a smile on his face) that the women are the ruling force in most afghans' homes. Yet this can't exactly be true - while the women are probably very strong forces in the home, domestic abuse is also rampant in the country. When I conduct interviews, the men often won't even say the name of their wives, daughters or sisters.... even when I try to push them! I have felt that this is generally more out of feelings of possession than respect....

The dynamics in the homes I have visited are fascinating. The women are generally in another room or on the outskirts of the public 'interview' space . But they often gradually insert themselves into the discussion - sometimes totally taking over the interview. My colleague Erica went to one house and the woman totally silenced the men. Her son had been killed in a suicide bomb attack and her husband and other son had gone to collect the body but had vomited when they'd seen how his body was blown into little bits. They hadn't brought the body home. The woman insisted that SHE would have brought her son home... piece by piece. This woman was clearly empowered by grief and anger - and, understandably, she refused to be silenced.

In other interviews, the men I have talked to have referred to their wives as an economic commodity, adding her up with livestock. I also get told that, when a wife has died, one of the economic problems the man then faces is the cost of remarrying... another wife is a necessary requirement in a household, particularly if there are small children to be cared for.

Of course, as in any culture, relationships between men and women are a complex network of socially-formed and personally-shaped traditions. There is no one model. But one thing is clear.. I would find it tough to be a woman in this society. For one, it has the second highest birth mortality rate in the world. And, in general, women are repressed and silenced and definitely excluded from the public space. Many women still choose to wear the burka, they have told me, just to avoid the aggression of the men in the public arena. They would rather 'hide' in their own space and avoid attracting attention.

Playing Carrom in Bagh-e Babur Park, Kabul

July 19, 2008

I spent a wonderful afternoon with two friends up in Bagh-e Babur park which overlooks Kabul city. The tomb of first Mughal emperor Babur is in this park - he requested to be buried in Kabul because he loved the city. There were lots of Afghan families picnicking and relaxing in the sun. And there were lots of small boys with carrom boards for rent. We asked one boy to set up the carrom board - a game that is popular in Afghanistan and involves flicking a counter so that it knocks other counters into the pockets in the corner. Our boy crumbled up some biscuit so that the board pieces actually moved smoothly... I've been told that people usually use chalk!

We had a relaxing afternoon with incredible views over Kabul. But we heard that, just a few days later, a suicide bomber blew himself up just outside the park (he was supposedly intending to enter the park but might have been put off by some security men who approached him). It just shows how it's not always easy to totally relax at the moment in this incredible city.

“Next time, I will not vote for Karzai; I will vote for my donkey”: Civilian Anger at Family Deaths

Goli’s hand is twisted and scarred. His leg and chest is also a knot of scars, threading across his skin. His uncle, Haji, still has his foot in a bandage – two years after the ISAF forces mistakenly bombed his village. And his left leg is basically bone and sinew, a mere reminder of the healthy leg that he once used to farm his land.

Two years ago, ISAF forces bombed the village where Goli and Haji lived because the Taliban were nearby, crossing a road from one area to the next. The bombing began at 11pm. Haji described to me how he was sleeping in the courtyard of his house and “saw bright lights like lightning and a loud sound like a bomb.” The first bomb hit his neighbor’s house. Twelve people were killed there and seven injured. The second bomb was dropped on the house where Haji and Goli were living and six family members were killed. The firing and shelling then continued from a helicopter and from B52s and lasted for five hours. Twelve people were killed by the gunshots and rocket fire and fourteen people were injured.

In total, Goli and Haji lost sixteen members of their family. Two of Goli’s brothers were killed. One died alongside his wife and four of his children. One child remains from that family unit. The other brother was killed along with one of his daughters and three of his sons. The wife remains alive, but is severely injured. Goli and Haji were both severely burned and shrapnel became embedded in their bodies. Pieces of metal still remain under their skin. Goli also described how his sister was so injured that she can no longer eat by herself. And another of his brothers lost one leg and is paralyzed in the other. He is now in a wheelchair.

Another of Goli’s brothers was shot by the ISAF troops and was taken away to Kandahar Air Field (KAF) for questioning. His mother and father went to KAF to beg for his release and to insist that he was innocent. The military provided him with hospital treatment and released him after establishing that he was not a member of the Taliban. All the other injured family members were taken to the local hospital. The family had to sell half of their land in order to pay for the hospital bills.

Three days after the attacks, the Canadian troops came to the village and apologized for the deaths and injuries. They paid some money to the villagers. The injured civilians even received a visit in hospital from President Karzai and the governor. Every injured person received 20,000 Afghanis to help pay for the hospital bills. No money, however, was given to compensate for the deaths or for the loss of property and livestock.

Now this family has moved from their village because the security situation is just too unstable. Their houses and land are destroyed. Their livestock is dead. One brother occasionally returns to the land to collect some produce for the family to eat. Otherwise, the family makes a small amount of money by selling goods from a metal container in Kandahar city. As with so many injured and displaced civilians, they rely on the good-will of family and neighbors and pray every day that the fighting will end. At the end of the interview, Haji threw up his hands and declared: “I am angry. We have no hope from the government and no hope from the international community. Everyone has lied to us – the Canadians, the PRT, the government. I only trust God now.” Still, despite this anger, this injured man was still capable of making a joke – even if he said it with a rueful smile: “I was the first person to cast my vote for Karzai, but this time I will cast my vote for my donkey. It’s better.”

Kites

There is a constant flutter of kites in the sky above Kabul. On every street, there are young boys tossing up their hand-made paper versions. These prized items dot the sky with purple, blue, pink, green. They dip and curl everywhere. It’s both a lovely sight and a magical sound.

One kite fell into our garden the other day so I could examine just how flimsy and home-made they are... the one I looked at was made from crepe paper and thin pieces of cellotape. I don't know how the boys were getting it to fly!! (or maybe that's why it crashed...)

I was admiring these kites one day with a couple of Afghan colleagues and they told me that, in Pakistan there is a special season (when there is "a nice, soft wind") when family members and (shock!!) even women fly kites. They called it the "basan" season.

ISAF mistakenly bombs civilians and the long-term suffering that results, Kandahar

It was 2am when the aerial bombardment started. Ahmed described to me, in an interview in the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) office in Kandahar, how he and has family huddled together behind a wall. “We said that if we were going to die, we would die together.” The bombing by ISAF troops continued for two hours. Nine of Ahmed’s neighbors died and eleven civilians were injured, including three of Ahmed’s family members: his mother and his two brothers.

When the bombing finally ended, Ahmed grabbed his family members, found a bus and sent them to Kandahar city. He and his neighbors then tried to get the badly injured and dying to a hospital. In one of the houses, five family members were dead. The head of this household pulled his son from the rubble. His son was crying, saying “I’m cold, I’m so cold.” Ahmed found a blanket and put it over the boy, but he died not long afterwards.

The coalition troops had been told that the Taliban were hiding in Ahmed’s village. This is why the bombing had targeted these civilian homes. But Ahmed told me that when the land troops came after the air strike, they found no Taliban and only civilians. The foreign troops therefore promised to compensate Ahmed and his neighbors. But they said that they would pay only for the dead and not for the livestock and land that had been lost.

In this case, the ISAF troops did compensate the civilians who were injured and who had lost family members. They also officially apologized for their mistake. Ahmed, however, does not feel that enough has been done to help the civilians who were wrongfully targeted, particularly because no compensation was given for the loss of land and livestock. He told me that many of the villagers were forced to come to Kandahar City to try to find work because “they don’t have the money to rebuild their homes after all the destruction that happened in the air strike. Now they are in Kandahar City and they cannot find work. So they are starving. And these people – and my own family – we cannot find help from anyone.”

Ahmed’s family is only managing to survive because his son went to work in Iran and sends money home to the family. Ahmed wishes he could return to his village to start farming his land again. But the security situation is too risky. So he and his neighbors remain trapped in Kandahar, too scared to return home but barely able to survive in a city where jobs are scarce and the cost of living is high.

Lack of Cultural Sensitivity from Foreign Troops Angers Civilians in Kandahar - Night Raids and Civilian Casualties

July 22, 2008
Mohddin is angry. His eyes glare at me while he speaks and he sits on the edge of his chair so that he can lean forward and emphasize his complaints. Unlike the majority of civilians who visit the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) office in Kandahar, he has not lost a close family member or suffered losses to his property. But he is angry about the life that he and his neighbors are being forced to endure. It is a life of insecurity and hardship, as civilians are caught in the middle of the fighting between the Taliban and the international forces.

Mohddin took the time to come into the AIHRC office because he feels that the situation is unjust. He was particularly frustrated with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). He told me that the people could not understand why the ISAF troops were hitting civilian targets. “They have sophisticated technology. Surely they can distinguish between the Taliban and the people,” he said, jabbing the air with his finger to emphasize his anger. “Now the people are beginning to think that the ISAF are deliberately targeting civilians. Their perception is that the ISAF forces are committing abuses and this is driving people more towards the AGE [Anti-Governmental Elements].”

Mohddin told me that night raids had occurred in his village and that at least two of his neighbors had been taken away by international security forces. Every day, the villagers were scared that they would be attacked – by the air or by land. ISAF forces, in particular, he said, failed to gather sufficient information and so they made fatal mistakes. “The government should bring security,” he told me, “And ISAF should also coordinate with the government in every military action that they are taking. And they should also work closely with the civilians and try to regain the trust of the civilians and then they can succeed.”

I asked Mohhdin about the biggest need facing his village, expecting him to mention a lack of food, or the need for the fighting to end. Instead, he responded immediately with a different request: “The biggest need is for the foreign troops to educate themselves more about Afghan culture. The night raids in particular are really bad. They are going into people’s houses and taking people and this is not right. When the people are taken, they are not really Taliban or AGE people. They are innocent. And the foreign troops realize this and so they give the civilians to government officials. But the government is really corrupt and they will not release the people so once they are put in prison they will be there for a long time. If they are not rich people, they cannot bribe officials to get out.” Whether or not Mohhdin has an accurate perception of what is happening to civilians, or whether individuals are Taliban members or not, it is important to recognize the growing anti-ISAF sentiment in the Kandahar province. More work clearly needs to be done in demonstrating greater cultural sensitivity and showing civilians that they are not being deliberately targeted in military operations. Unless this happens, any effort to win the “hearts and minds” of civilians in this province will surely be a fruitless endeavor.

Afghan hospitality

Afghan hospitality is quite incredible - every house I go to, even where the families are clearly desperately poor, tea is always provided. Sometimes I am also offered grapes and melon, or sweets. In the offices where I have been working - such as the IOM office or the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission office - the staff always insist on giving me lunch (even though they're paying for it themselves). These lunches are amazing - buttery rice, or rice with orange peel and spices (an Afghan speciality). And dishes of meat and aubergine (all glistening with grease!!). And, of course, the staple naan bread. I am going to get very very fat here!!

Kandahar city - tough security restrictions for internationals

Kandahar is clearly a beautiful city. But I wasn't really able to see any of it.... The security restrictions for internationals working in this city are tough. UN workers, for example, cannot walk in the streets; they cannot buy things from shops; they cannot talk to locals.... this must of course hinder their work. I stayed at the UN compound and we all ate dinner together at 7pm and then... it was bed. I think I'd go crazy living here!!

Of course, if life for international workers is bad, then life for Afghan civilians is far worse... It must be so stressful to life in a city where you're never sure if you'll see your family members return safely back to the house. Suicide attacks are increasing by the week at the moment and there is a definite sense of hopelessness among the civilians I interviewed.

A Fatal Trip to the Hairdressers in Kandahar City

At 3pm on July 22, 2006, Amanullah sent his ten-year old son to get a much-needed haircut. As usual, the father and son had been working since the morning selling ice-cream from their cart. This day, however, changed that routine forever. As his son reached the hairdressers, a suicide bomber exploded a car-full of explosives that were directed at a convoy of Canadian troops. Eight civilians, including Amanullah’s son, were killed.

Amanullah immediately ran over to help his son. A second suicide bomb then exploded and shrapnel became embedded in Amanullah’s feet, legs and arms. Since that day, Amanullah has found it almost impossible to support his family of six women and small children. He no longer has an assistant to help him with the ice-cream cart and his injuries make it difficult for him to undertake the hard physical labor required to make and sell ice-cream.

Killed for Failing to Stop his Car

Around 8am on February 27, 2007, Mohammad was driving to the Pakistan Embassy in Kandahar city to collect his visa. He traveled regularly to Pakistan to buy parts for his successful car business. On the road ahead, an ISAF armoured vehicle had broken down. Mohammad failed to pull over, despite requests from ISAF soldiers that he should stop his car. The ISAF soldiers responded with lethal gunfire leaving Mohammad’s mother, wife and four small children without a son, husband, father, and provider.

Today, I interviewed Mohammad’s brother-in-law, Bilal, who has been supporting Mohammad’s family since February 2007. He told me how his sister had previously had a good life; her husband was a successful businessman and she had everything she needed. Now, Bilal told me, “if you take her two apples, she is excited. When she sees other families, with husbands and children happy together, she starts crying.”

ACAP was the only international or national organization to offer assistance. ACAP developed a business plan and provided money to the widow who agreed to invest the cash into her brother’s motorcycle shop. This money will be used to buy spare parts and any profit made from selling these items will generate income for the widow and her family. The widow’s brother told me that, without this assistance, the family would have been left feeling desperate and frustrated. ACAP’s help “showed that the international community cared and helped us see that the shooting was not intentional.” Before receiving the ACAP assistance, Mohammad’s widow would spend all her time worrying about the family’s next meal. Now she is able to focus on the future and on the education of her young children.

Three Carpenters from kandahar

Mohammad, Amanullah and Abdul have been friends for over ten years. They are carpenters who work together in Kandahar City. On June 4, 2006, they were finishing a large window frame when a suicide bomber blew himself up just outside their shop. The bomber was targeting a convoy of Canadian troops; as with all injured civilians, the three carpenters were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The three friends were all injured. Pieces of shrapnel became embedded in their legs, arms and faces. Mohammad and Abdul were so badly burned that they were flown to Pakistan where they stayed for a month. “The doctors were looking at me as if I was a dead man,” Abdul told me. Over two years after the incident, the skin on his face and arms is still mottled and scarred from the burns.

The carpenters paid for their hospital treatment by selling their cars and furniture and by relying heavily on the assistance of family members and friends. They now have debts that make it very difficult to survive. The men finally received some assistance when ACAP approached them in January 2007. ACAP agreed to provide them with funding for their carpentry business, with tailoring training for their family members, with stationary for their children and with medical treatment.
I met these men on the day that they were collecting the ACAP assistance. I asked them what the aid meant to them. Mohammad summed up the sentiments felt by all the men: “We are hoping to make an income with the assistance we got. Nowadays, if you get a piece of bread from someone, you are happy. So this aid is very important. It will help to expand my supplies and to expand business. It will bring positive effects to my family. With this business, we can pay off the loans that we owe to people.”

Grieving a Son in Kandahar

July 20, 2008
Ahmed Sultani is a small 70-year old man with a soft-spoken voice and lines etched deeply into his tanned face. On July 22, 2006, his 18-year old son, Zalmai, was blown into small pieces by a suicide bomber who had been targeting Canadian troops in the centre of Kandahar city. In this attack, twelve civilians were killed and twenty-eight were injured. Ahmed told me how his neighbors came to his house in a village outside Kandahar to tell him that his son was dead. The women of the house started screaming and wailing in grief. Ahmed rushed down to the city and found his son “on the ground and he was torn up and burned and we took him. Half his body was missing.”

I asked him what he missed most about his son and his eyes filled with tears. “Every time I think about him, my heart goes to pieces. I cry hard. I miss everything about him. He was a good son. He was married and he had one son and then another baby was on the way when he was killed. Now he has another son but he never saw this son.”

Zalmai was a taxi driver and the main earner for his family. His income supported ten family members, including an older brother who was shot by the Russians and is paralyzed down the right side of his body. Now the family, which includes four children under the age of three, is finding it extremely difficult to survive. They borrow wheat and vegetables from relatives and depend on their neighbors’ generosity.

Things only began to look a little more optimistic for Ahmed when one of his relatives told him about the USAID-funded ACAP program. “Finally,” he told me, “I began to feel that there might be hope.” ACAP has agreed to buy the family a cow. “With the cow, we can manufacture milk, yogurt and we will sell this in the bazaar and get income.” As he told me this, a smile finally broke out on Ahmed’s face. He is still clearly grieving for his son, but now at least he can start building a future for his family.

The Dangers of Assisting Civilians: Kandahar ACAP Field-Officer Captured by the Taliban

July 20, 2008

I went this morning to the Kandahar IOM/ACAP office. I met the staff and talked with one field officer who travels around the southern provinces to find affected civilians and to verify information that has been submitted to the ACAP office (ACAP is the "Afghan Civilian Assistance Program" - mainly USAID funded. See link above). He has worked with the ACAP program for three years. He told me that his job was rewarding but also dangerous: a few months ago, he went into a remote village to survey an ACAP-funded construction project when he suddenly found himself surrounded by gun-wielding Taliban fighters. The Taliban accused him of supporting the international forces. This ACAP worker told me that he is only alive today because, as he was being taken away by the Taliban, a close friend saw him and negotiated his release. Such stories emphasize how difficult it is to assist civilians in this charged atmosphere, where foreign aid projects are frequently targeted by the Taliban and where Afghan NGO workers are often kidnapped because of their “foreign involvement.”

Kandahar Field-Trip: Suicide Bomber Attack and the Daily Threat for Civilians

July 19, 2008
The difficult security situation in Kandahar and the severe challenges facing civilians and NGOs were immediately apparent when I was driven this morning from Kandahar Air Field into the city. Squashed in the back of an armoured vehicle and wearing a bullet-proof vest, I saw the wreckage caused by a suicide bomber who had exploded himself only an hour earlier. I could still see his sandaled foot by the side of the road. This tense environment is something that the civilian population has to deal with, day after day. There is at least one suicide bomb attack every week in and around the city. In February 2008, a suicide bomber killed 80 people at a dog-fighting event just outside the city. I asked my Afghan driver who was born and raised in Kandahar how he and his family coped in this environment. He sighed, shook his head and told me how the women always make an extra effort to kiss their fathers, husbands, sons and brothers goodbye. “The women never know if their men will return,” he said. “Just stepping outside is a risk. But we have to go out. We cannot be trapped inside like animals.” Gesturing towards the remains of the suicide bomber, he added: “Why did he blow himself up here? There are no soldiers here. Just poor people trying to make enough money to feed their families. Tonight in my city there are even more mothers and wives left to grieve.”

Kandahar Field-Trip: Reports of Civilian Mutilations in the Southern Provinces

July 19, 2008

I arrived in Kandahar this morning. To be honest, I was scared to be coming here alone. Everyone I talked to - Afghan or foreign - said that "things were bad" down in Kandahar. The taxi driver who took me to the airport offered to drive me back to my guesthouse in Kabul for free... And a private security guard at a bar I went to last night in Kabul gave me his card and, with a serious nod of his head, told me that "he knew people who could help me if the shit hits the fan..." Gulp. But I was determined to go because there are numerous civilians in Kandahar who are suffering so much from the fighting. And their stories need to be told.

My first stop was Kandahar Air Field (KAF) where I met with a government official who accompanies military forces into remote parts of the southern provinces and organizes stabilization projects. His stories were shocking. He described finding one young woman who had, he was told, been a sex slave to the Taliban. She had been raped, mutilated and killed. Such stories suggest that there are horrific atrocities committed against civilians that are hard to document and verify. Many of the regions in this part of Afghanistan are controlled by the Taliban and other Anti-Government Elements (AGEs) and are completely inaccessible to most NGOs.

Field-Trip to Kandahar City: Location of Significant Civilian Casualties

July 18, 2008
I am leaving tomorrow for Kandahar city with a team from the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). Kandahar city is in the south-east of Afghanistan. The NGOs based in this city tend to cover all of the southern provinces, including Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul and Nimroz. This is a part of Afghanistan that is ravaged by fierce battles between the insurgents and coalition forces. Civilians are frequently caught in the middle and even deliberately targeted. A June 2008 BBC report described the vulnerable situation in Kandahar and the large numbers of villagers who are fleeing to the city to avoid the fighting. The Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) noted in an August 2008 publication that: “In the south, south-east and east of the country insurgents are mounting an increasingly vigorous, systematic terror campaign of threats, abductions and executions aimed against members of the civilian population.”

Arriving in Afghanistan

JULY 16, 2008 Was I scared arriving in Afghanistan this morning? Hell, yes! I had to get to the airport in Dubai at 5am and discovered that flights to "dodgy" places in the world such as Kabul and Bahgdad go from a terminal that is distinctly less fancy and is a 20 minute drive from the main terminal (I went to the wrong place...)

I sat in the terminal staring at crowds of Afghan men. These were the people who have dominated the media for the past few years - flat caps, scarves wrapped in turban style on their heads, waistcoats... And then there were "tough guys" - American and European men dressed in military fatigues. I guessed these were mainly private security contractors working in Afghanistan. There were very, very few women in this terminal...

I was full of apprehension but excited about my work in Afghanistan - I will be conducting interviews with civilians around the country to try to lobby for a better system of compensation payments for war-affected civilians. I am working with my friend Erica, who is a field-staff member for CIVIC (http://civicworldwide.org). We were both at Harvard Law together.