Sunday, August 10, 2014

Afghan Fish Needs Water Too!!


During my time in Afghanistan I worked with various  actors to stop Taliban's and insurgence's violence and curb their ideology and influence. The players in Shindand included the US, Italian and Afghan military and security forces plus the Afghan local government and the Afghan people.

When I got to Shindand in 2009, I met with some of the citizens of the district, who showed me the first set of development projects that the Coalition Forces had implemented for them. The purpose of these projects was to improve the  lives of the Afghans. Unfortunately, most  of them were either destroyed, incomplete or empty! The projects included a clinic, a women center, a raisin  farm and a village-level raisin packaging plant. But the most curious project I saw was a fishery farm in the village of Changan. The purpose of this fishery was to provide food security, healthy nutrition and employment to the local population.

Changan is a village located in the Zawol area of Shindand District and close to the Shindand Air Force base. Its inhabitants are generally mistrusted by other villages because they have build a reputation for either fighting, arguing, stealing, smuggling or kidnapping! During the Taliban regime, the Changan people because of their less refined ways were recruited to be part of the local Taliban government in Shindand Town. Though the reality was that Changanis like any other people in Shindand had to do what they needed to do to survive and they were not as bad as they were portrayed.

In Afghanistan if you needed to get attention and eventually resources you had to be in a place where there was insecurity and things would get blown up! After that in order to stabilize your area the Coalition Forces would rush in and bring resources to you. And if you were nice and quiet you would be left alone and would live in peace and poverty!

The intentions of the Coalition Forces was good! Most units would spend six to nine months in Shindand. During this time they had to perform and show something on the ground, either in terms of security, training of their Afghan counterparts or development projects for the local population. An important part of their mission amongst the local population was winning "Hearts and Minds". Their best approach was to do development and humanitarian projects in villages and be seen as partners in fighting the insurgence and strengthening the Afghan government.

The truth is that doing work that has any effect whether long term or short term in Afghanistan required real local knowledge on the ground, understanding the functioning of local government and cultural institutions, tribal dynamics and all the patience you could muster! Most importantly, it also required that the Coalition Forces work well amongst themselves. Putting together a Civ-Mil Team that communicated regularly, shared information about the district, utilized each other's resources and build on each other's strength. Once that was done then create links with the local actors outside the base and make them your partners. Because of this lack of coordination, cooperation and relationship amongst the Coalition Forces and between the Coalition Forces and the local communities and institutions projects were ineffective and at times bizarre!

So back to Changan...One day I was met with two people who came to the base and asked to talk to me. They were Nabi Jan and Zarif. Nabi Jan had fought the Soviets when he was just a kid, and later on had been recruited by the Taliban to be part of the local government. He eventually ran away and left Afghanistan as he could not support or stomach the Taliban policies. Zarif was a teacher who had quit his job and was working for the Coalition Forces at the Shindand Airbase. He wanted an Afghanistan where people could lead normal lives, with good schools for both girls and boys and most of all peace and security.



They said the reason for their visit was to inquire about a fishery that the Americans had build for them that was not functioning. I asked which Americans? They did not know! Though they did know who the contractor for the project was. It was an Afghan who lived in Herat City. Basically, the American military unit had asked for bids on the project, they had identified the company, given the company the money and told them to build the fishery. If they (the military unit) had the time they would go to the village and check on the project otherwise they would simply ask the contractor to take some photos and send it as proof of completion of work!! Having asked around I heard the military unit had already left!



I asked Nabi jan and Zarif to take me to the site of the project and find out and see what the issues were with the project.

A few days later I went to the village of Changan and saw the project first hand. There was a dried up pool, with few broken pipes around it. And I looked around and as my eyes could see, I could not find any water source...So I turned to Zarif and said where is the water? and he said "it is there" pointing to a dried up gutter! I said, "but there is no water" and Zarif said, "yes there is no water because this part of the village gets water once a week. Here the water is divided once a week amongst the different parts of the village, which is used mainly for our farms." So where is the water for the fish pool? I inquired and Nabi Jan replied, "the water that we use for our agriculture (the once-a-week water!!) will come through these pipes(pointing to the broken pipes) and go to the fish pool" Basically the fish would have to live on one day's worth of water per week!!



Six days air, one day water for the Afghan fish! Apparently, no one told the outside world, "Afghan Fish Needs Water Too!!"








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