Give me 200 men on horses, Mazer-e-Sharif diary

15 oktober 2010

Mazar-e-Sharif, 15 October 2010

 

Give me 200 men on horses

 

From a war zone we land in a peacekeeping operation. We fly by military cargo plane from Kandahar in the South of Afghanistan to Mazer –e-Sharif in the North. The weather is bad, we are the only plane that comes in that day. The camp is quiet, well-organised, German-led. We can drink a glass of wine or beer here in the evening between 8 and 10.30. Everyone gets a coupon so he cannot drink more than two alcoholic beverages a night at the pleasant open-air bar.

There are 15 UN agencies working in the North, which comprises 9 provinces and appr. one third of the Afghan population. There is lots of construction going on. The per capita financial support to the North is lowest. Some provincial governors feel they are disadvantaged because they do well.

However, the security situation is rapidly deteriorating. Stable districts are becoming infested with insurgent and criminal activity. 15 districts are off-limits now, up 10 from last year. Only some NGOs still have access. Some people point at the frustration of the population with a corrupt Afghan government. The same story we hear over and over again on this trip. Others are sure Pakistan is behind the rise in insurgent activity. Pakistan has a masterplan and directs insurgents to spread their activities to the North. Officials express frustration at the fact that Afghan security forces are sent to the insecure South instead of protecting secure areas here.  In that way, good behavior is not rewarded. In military jargon, the North is an ‘economy of force” area. Yet, also here small counterinsurgency operations are going on. We cannot travel to the PRT as they are planning an operation …

For the first time on our trip we hear about gender concerns. Though the multi-ethnic North is more liberal than the South, domestic violence is a grave problem. Women are held in prison for zina (adultery) under the hudood (part of the sharia) laws. Often these women have been raped or are the victim of incest. They end up in prison while the perpetrator goes free. In prison, they are raped again and sold for prostitution. I know the problem from Nepal where I worked on this issue for UNICEF between 1996 and 1998.  

We have dinner with deputy governor Mohammed Zaher of Balkh province. Governor Atta for whom he deputizes is a fierce Tadjik warlord of the Northern Alliance who fought alongside General Masood and openly supported the opposition Presidential candidate in the last election. He is proud that he did not leave Afghanistan all these years. He recalls that Balkh was the province from where the Russians were defeated.  “It is a starting point for security in Afghanistan.” He is worried with signs of Taliban insurgency in the province and demands 200 men armed with AK 47s, horses and motorcycles, to defend himself. According to deputy governor Zaher, NATO is too heavy and not agile enough. With a small force consisting of 200 men on horseback and motorcycle, he can do a better job and defeat the Taliban. The German General won’t let him have it, fearing the arming of a private militia. Everyone is preparing for the post-Karzai, post-US period, given media reports about troop drawdown in July 2011 and the statement of the UK Prime Minister that we are only in Afghanistan for our own national security interests.

I sit opposite the deputy governor when an interesting discussion unfolds between him and the General. The deputy governor argues that if more had been invested in secure province, people in insecure provinces would have put pressure on the Taliban to get that too, in a good bit of inter-ethnic rivalry, or shifted their loyalties. We should have invested in secure provinces instead of risking secure provinces becoming insecure.  It sends the wrong message that insecurity is rewarded. Now a lot of villages are captured by the Taliban and there is no authority to react because “we must wait for forces from Kabul.” The General disagrees and argues that we cannot win this war with military means. We must win the hearts of the people, through providing governance and development, and strong police forces. Somehow, the mantra of the comprehensive approach sounds hollow.

We sleep well without the sound of helicopters flying overhead all night.