Jalalabad and Micro Hydro

I went to the airport early Saturday afternoon to fly to Jalalabad. Eleven of us were weighed, together with our baggage, and boarded a Russian MI-8/MI-17 helicopter along with a crew of five and at least 2,000 pounds of luggage. The engines screamed, the rotor blades whirled and the aircraft lumbered into a ten foot hover. We climbed to the base of the clouds and proceeded Southeast at about the level of the mountain peaks in that area. After about 20 minutes, we came upon a mountain pass. The clouds were just above us, the mountains of the pass poked solidly into them, and the pass itself was obscured by fog, mist and scattered clouds. The pilot took a good look at the situation and returned to Kabul. He could have attempted to "scud run" through the pass but he did not. My formative opinion of the professionalism of the aviation service went up. Time will tell, but I am now prepared to be happier with this air transport operation than I had expected to be.

On Sunday the young lady that is the Embassy’s project manager for our operation came for lunch. I’d guess that she is a couple years short of 30, but she has had two previous foreign postings. I met her boss, who I think is close to 40, last week. I feel like a dinosaur. It is interesting, though, that I see a fair number of "grey-beards" among the contractors as I go from place to place around Kabul. The group I was with on the MI-8, however, contained only one person over 45 (besides me). They all looked to be in their early 30s and almost all of them carried at least two weapons. Another new IA arrived today, and he too is a Vietnam vet a few years younger than me.

Monday I went again to the airport and boarded the MI-8 at 0830. This time we had 19 persons aboard and about 2.500 pounds of baggage. No problem for the MI-8, as the ugly beast has a useful load capability of over 8,000 pounds – a pretty impressive machine. The Thai military recently announced that they are purchasing some MI-8s because they can get three of them for the price of one H-60 Blackhawk. The weather was clear and we proceeded to Jalalabad. The countryside en route looks much like central Nevada – mostly desert mountains with isolated patches of green. The green areas are usually well-defined small fields that appear to have dikes around them. Some are terraced. As we came closer to Jalalabad the green areas became more frequent and larger. The terrain became rolling and the valley quite broad. Near the city, it is mostly farmland. Tora Bora is in the mountain range just to the South and the Pakistan boarder is quite near. The resident IA, a dynamic young Italian, together with the security supervisor, a former Sergeant Major from Masadonia, met me. We filled the rest of the day with familiarization and orientation, including a lunch visit to the Jalalabad Air Force Base, which is a large American installation.

Tuesday I continueded familiarization with the site and the job, and Wednesday we visited two Micro Hydro projects. Let me tell you about Micro Hydro.

Basically, you can instal a water turbine, connected to a generator, anywhere you have rapidly flowing water e.g., an irrigation canal. If it is a place where the water flow exists anyway, there is virtually no downside. The water continues downstream to whoever will ultimately use it without any loss. To be efficient, you need to channel the water out from the source, but you put it back in within 50 or 60 yards. No loss and, depending on the volume and the speed, you can turn a generator that will service a village of 200 - 500 families. This province has become the poster child for Micro Hydro over the past few years and CNAT has been involved in most of them so far because of it’s application to helping find alternative likelihoods for farm villages that would otherwise be growing poppies. The electricity goes to schools, sewing machines, carpet weaving machines, etc. Jalalabad CNAT has a couple engineers in the group and is involved in nearly fifty of these projects with over half of them now completed. At least one neighboring village has decided to pool their money and build one on their own. The turbine is a waterwheel-like design inside a casing that looks like a barrel. The water flows perpendicular to the shaft which extends from the casing to a belt pulley that connects to the generator. The villagers know that the project funding is from the American Embassy so at the first site we visited (as a grey haired American) I was mistaken for the person that provides the money. They made a fuss and insisted that I be thanked profussly. It is intersting that the older men were very friendly with smiles and waves -- the young men, though, were expressionless and did not at all project a sense of welcoming.

Thursday is the staff meeting. (Gender Affairs, Public Information, Alternative Livelihoods, Moitoring/Verification. All the CNAT members told what they had done during the past week and what their plans are for the next week. All had planning and tracking documents to project on the screen showing the activity, location, purpose and beneficiaries, status, cost and percentage spent, and next milestone with target date. There was lively discussion of each project. This CNAT team has the reputation of being very well organized and effective.

Friday is the Afghan holy day and everyone but the guards are off. The senior IA will work on the weekly report (that's not me). I'll see if I can get rid of some of the glitches that have invaded this blog. There has been an 18 inch blank gap between the heading at the top and the first posting. I figured that one out in a mere two hours. Next I hope to discover why the posts are each in one big paragraph. When I type them and publish them they are each in several smaller paragraphs. Oh well, I have no idea why any of this works in the first place - every time something comes out right, it kind of startles me.

That's it for now. Tomorrow I expect to go to a volly ball match in the country. CNAT has provided uniforms with counter narcotics messages on them and helped organize a tournament.

Learning the Job -- Around Kabul

On Tuesday we received the proper licensing for the hard cars. I was, therefor, able to go the the Ministry of Counter Narcotics and observe a meeting there (on the left, you see me ready to go to the meeting). I first put on my body armor (the battle helmet was not required) and proceeded to the hard car. I received a briefing from the head of our security element, a former soldier in the British Army, about what to do if we came under attack or encountered an improvised explosive device (IED). The basic instructions are to remain low in the armoured vehicle while the guards repel the attack, wait for the other armoured car to extract me if mine is disabled, and move within the phalanx of the guards if it becomes necessary to go to cover away from the vehicles. The Chief IA and I were then driven to the meeting spot in a two car convoy with four armed guards headed by the Brit. I felt like a Sultan, though it escapes me as to why I am not issued a weapon.

The meeting was like all government meetings. Some useful information and a lot of bogging down about things that would seem fairly easy to deal with. This meeting flailed around for fifty minutes about who, and under what criteria, would pay for tractors that are destroyed or damaged while engaging in poppy eradication (they sort of plow up the poppy fields with a cultivator on the back of a tractor). Anyway, the people with tractors want compensation if they get torn up or blown up, and the funding folks don't want a lot of junky tractors declared total losses in the poppy fields and compensated at new tractor prices.

The next day, I attended the closing ceremony for a week of counter narcotic public information training that had been provided by the Colombo Plan folks from Siri Lanka. There were some speeches and they presented graduation certificates to about 150 student, including ten or twelve mullahs who can now go back to their provinces and make convincing arguments against the use and manufacture of drugs.

Thursday I visited the local variety store and found a pleasant surprise. There was a very good stock of western snacks, toiletries, and other convenience items. I saw several things, including the 2 in 1 shampoo I prefer, like a decent non-anti perspirant deodorant, Planters peanuts, and Grape Nuts cereal, that I can not even find in Thailand. It seems incongruous, somehow, to put on body armour, drive in an armoured car with body guards through crowded potholed muddy streets replete with cars, guards, soldiers, humvees, pedestrians, push carts, donkey carts, wheelbarrows, beggars, etc. to a large store that has more Western convenience items than can be found in on of the best developed of the emerging countries. By the way, the low fat Coffemate was from Thailand and had to Thai writing on it just like in Bangkok.

I have finished my familiarization here in Kabul. Tomorrow (Saturday) I'm off to Jalalbad on a strange looking Russian helicopter.

On the job, Kabul Afghanistan

I departed BKK Wed. night at 9 PM. We flew to Dubai on an Emirates Airline Eurobus 380 -- a flying cruise ship. the upper deck has a first class section of around 15 persons (with two shower rooms), and the business class section holds around 75. with the crew members there are nearly 500 persons on board.


Arrived in Dubai to find that my onward flight on Safi had been cancelled. Safi says they had not received payment for the ticket, so the cancelled it 48 hours before departure. I was unable to use the local phone system, so I purchased a new ticket with my credit card.


Arrived in Kabul at 0700 and was met by a company employee. Kabul is a very dreary place with light misty rain, muddy streets, and barbed wire, guns, and walled compounds everywhere. I traveled to my company's compound in an armoured SUV with an armed guard and learned that, by contract, that is the only way I am allowed surface travel in Afghanistan. Have not decided if that is a good policy or if it just paints me as a target.


My first night in Kabul, there was a large bomb attack and shoot out at a hotel and guest house about a mile away. It occurred at about 0630, and I slept through it. It was fairly serious, though with more than 15 people killed. The buildings contained mostly Indian medical personnel who are providing services for local hospitals. The Taliban claim credit. It is thought that they are reacting to two things: 1. The large NATO operation that is occurring down in Helmand province, and 2. the resumption of talks between India and Pakistan.



In the early morning hours of my third night in Kabul, there was a 5.5 earthquake. I slept through it too.

The place I am staying is comfortable and the food is OK. As I mentioned, however, no one is allowed to go off the compound unless is a "hard car" (armoured car), so sightseeing and shopping is severely limited. To add to the dilemma, most of the hard cars were brought in early in the conflict (for all the contractors) and were operated with a kind of "wink and nod" without proper licencing or proper tags. Now the local police are starting to seize them and the DoS is making slow progress on getting them the correct credentials. Both of ours dare not leave the compound for fear of being seized.



I have learned a couple interesting things about the job:

1. There are seven counter narcotics advisory teams (CNAT) in seven different provinces. I will be assigned to one of them. They are 100% Afghan. I am their "international advisor." They have a team leader, office manager, public affairs officer, gender affairs officer (to work with women), alternative livelihood officers (to help find alternatives to poppy growing), a couple members to monitor poppy planting and verify eradication or change of crop, and an officer that coordinates with a UK funded project. They have no law enforcement function and are focused on moving the farmers from poppy growing to other livelihoods. They are located in the Provincial Governors compound of the provinces they serve and have ongoing advisory liaison with the governor, district chiefs, village chiefs, etc. CNAT has no money to provide their clients, but they are very active in acquiring funding for various self-help and capability-building projects to help provide livelihood for the Afghans. They then monitor the use of these funds. Therefore, they are highly regarded as being non-corrupt and honest brokers of assistance funding. I will give what advice I can and also serve as a conduit for information and liaison with other foreign organizations and the military where, because of security concerns, it is usually difficult for the Afghan team members to gain access to them. The CNAT team members report to the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics. The US Embassy has agreed with the Afghan government to provide logistical and administrative support as well as an International Advisor (me).

2. Most of the transportation my company is provided by a large government contractor who has a fleet of aging airplanes and helicopters (many, maybe most, of Soviet origin) piloted by foreign (and American) pilots. If the aviation contract is to the DOD, these planes will likely be operated to military standards. I am fearful, however, that it may be a DoS contract and that the aircraft may be operated as US "public use" aircraft -- which permits government agencies to pretty much establish their own safety standards. I have had a great deal of exposure to the "public use" concept in the past. It often means that there are virtually no standards at all, or that they change from day to day -- until there is an accident serious enough to bring outside scrutiny to the situation. I will try to get more information in the next few days.

The "Jungle Hmong" tragedy

I worked with the Hmong when I was with Air America and related companies in Laos (1968 - 1974) The sad situation that has befallen them has nothing to do with the subject of this journal, although the Golden Triangle was to the world’s opium supply what Afghanistan is today. They were good soldiers, good fighters, and valuable allies, however, and their story needs to be told.

This section has been moved to a stand alone page which can be accessed on the upper left side of the blog.

Becoming a Government Contract Employee

In August, 2009, I applied to a government law enforcement contractor. I filled out a number of forms, was fingerprinted, and acquired a physical and dental examination. All this under a semi-urgent attitude by the company -- usually "this must be completed within 48 hours."

In late September I was deemed qualified by both the company and the State Department (DofSt.), and I was offered the position, subject to State Dept. final approval of my background. I filled out an abbreviated background statement (SF-85 -- a mere 28 pages) showing where I was and what I did for the past seven years, military history, police record, etc. The company had already done a very thorough background check, but the DofSt. insists on also going through the SF-85 process. It turns out that what the DofSt. requires for my position is not really another D ofSt. background check -- It amounts to a statement that they have no objection to my being hired. You would think this would happen quite quickly. You would be wrong.

The company said they expected it to be done in two to six weeks and was fairly insistent that I be ready to deploy in early Dec. The company was also wrong. My SSF-85 was complete in early Oct. I got the notice that the St. Dept. had approved me (no objection) on Jan. 6th (almost 90 days). As far as I have been able to determine, they did not contact a single person I mentioned in the SF-85. Go figure. Not a big inconvenience to me since I have a comfortable retirement annuity and am spending my waiting time in Thailand -- good weather, good food, good golfing, and friendly people. But, had I known, I could have taken that golfing trip to New Zealand, studied Thai or one of the Afghan languages, or signed up for that ballet class that I've always wanted to attend (this last one is an attempt at humor).

Anyway, I'm now ready to travel to Afghanistan, right? Wrong. Now my employer has to request a letter of authorization (to travel) from the DofSt. While we are waiting for that authorization, we learn that I can no longer get the proper visa in Dubai. Conferences occur about this situation and, in late Jan., it is determined that I will definitely not be able to get a visa there. On Jan 28th I apply for a second passport at the US Consulate in Chiang Mai.

The second passport was granted but has to be printed in the USA. I applied on Thursday the 28th of January and had the passpot in my hand the next Tues., the 2nd of Feb. This is the same agency that took nearly ninty days to decide that they had no objection to my background.


I sent the passport by UPS to my company on Tuesday, and they had it in hand Friday. Their visa service promises two day service. I'm almost there, right? Wrong. The big blizzard has hit the East coast and the Afghan embassy shut down. About a week after the passport arrived at the company, their passport service got it to the Afghan embassy. They expect to have it back to me in about a week, and I will travel to Afghanistan the 24th.


By the way, Chiang Mai, Thailand, where I am waiting, is close to the "Golden Triangle" -- the area where Thailand, Burma, and Laos come together. The Golden Triangle used to be the primary local for production of the world's opium supply -- that local is now Afghanistan. How the poppy crop here was reduce may contain lessons useful in Afghanistan -- and likely the counter narcotics people there are aware of those lessons. I requested a meeting with the DEA here in Chiang Mai to help educate myself, but they did not respond.

Anyway, I have my visa and my tickets. While I'm waiting I will prepare a blog post about the sad sad situation of the repatriation of the "Jungle Hmong" from Thailand to an almost certain brutal reception back in Laos.