We heart Afghan people

At least in principle, if not in practice in Afghanistan, coalition forces and the Taliban agree on one thing: they can’t win the war if they don’t protect and help the civilian population.

“Every Afghan civilian death diminishes our cause,” the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, said in a recent directive to the troops re-emphasizing the military’s counterinsurgency strategy.

The Taliban themselves began distributing a booklet updating codes of conduct for Taliban fighters.

“The Taliban must treat civilians according to Islamic norms and morality and win over the hearts and minds of the people,” the booklet read.

In this battle however, it will likely be deeds, not words, that ultimately convince the population one way or another. Sometimes that means capitalizing on unexpected opportunities.

In one case, Zabul’s Provincial Governor Alhai Mohammad Ashraf Naseri and the coalition’s Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) were able to do just that — using recent flash floods in eastern Zabul Province to project a sense of concern and responsiveness on behalf of the Afghan government into a region which sees it, aside from Afghan army and police units, very rarely.

“It’s a tragedy to me. I’m feeling very upset and I’m with the people,” Naseri said during a recent visit to the village of Shin Kay to see the damage. “I like to reach out to them and respond to their problems. But it will be impossible without the help of the international community.”

The flooding itself seemed somewhat modest. There was water damage to shops and their inventory as well as flooded fruit orchards. Houses here didn’t seem to be affected and people went about their daily business.

But walking through the village marketplace, flanked by Afghan National Police and Afghan Army soldiers, the tall, striking governor, wearing a white shalwar kamese and clean white sneakers, adopted a page out of former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s political playbook, speaking to reporters in English about how he felt the pain of the local people and how he would work hard to get them some kind of relief package.

“I will knock on both doors, the international donor community and the central government,” Naseri said. “I want to get support from both of them.”

Residents here appeared pleased to see their governor. They said they were grateful for his visit and concern. This was his third visit to the region since taking office.

Naseri also appeared intent on not allowing his visit to simply be a political dog and pony show. He spent about an hour and a half in the village both observing the damage and speaking and listening to the people.

He also made an effort to inspect recent Provincial Reconstruction Team projects, which are the military-civilian joint efforts in each Afghan province to rebuild both civil infrastructure and society.

At a village school, built only a year ago, he noticed the frame and foundation beginning to crumble. He picked away some of the “concrete” used in it’s construction, rubbed it between his hands and watched it turned to dust.

He said the school was badly constructed with substandard materials and is a danger to the students who use it. He pressed U.S. civilian and military advisers traveling with him to look into ways of holding the contractor accountable.

Without a phalanx of bodyguards and the assistance of Afghan security forces and the U.S. military —the governor would not be able to visit this village, but his presence here demonstrated a willingness by the regional government to respond, whatever the motives.

James Dayringer is with the U.S. State Department and the senior civilian adviser for the Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team. While he believes damage from the rains were limited, he said he would recommend some sort of assistance package for the region — an obvious way to help the Afghan government win over hearts and minds here.

“This is an isolated incident, it’s not spread out over a large geographic area,” Dayringer said. “But I think it’s important for the Afghan government to jump in and help the community out, which they’re doing.”