As the holidays approach

As the holidays approach and I hear chatter about sending and receiving gifts, my thoughts quickly drift to the children of Afghanistan. These children, many without a warm blanket or pillow, really are the ones who need a gift or two. We are so fortunate to have a warm home to sleep in during the winter, running water and a kitchen filled with choices beyond the scope of what many Afghans will ever see or taste. So, this Christmas, lets think more like Jesus Christ and find a way to give to the needy, whether it be a new winter cap to a homeless man living in Colorado, making care packages of food at your local shelter, offering a lonely person in to your home for a home cooked meal, giving time out of your life for someone who really needs it as a teacher, mentor or a coach. I want to turn Christmas in to a time where we re-learn how to give of ourselves to better society, improve the world through kind acts instead of blank stares, homes filled with possessions that will only fill with dust once we're gone, a heart that is wasted on a few instead of the expanse of the world that needs love. This Christmas, I will spend with orphans, with refugees, with people who deserve a better life. Make a difference now before you close your eyes for one last time..I promise it feels amazing for both people involved. Tis the season...

Germans in the North...and Swedes and Finns

Traveling from one corner of Afghanistan to the other opens your eyes up to a new culture, not only a new Afghan culture but also a new International culture. It's amazing how diverse our military forces are here in Afghanistan. As I stepped on to a plane in Kabul headed towards Mazar-e-Shariff, I quickly realized that I was on a German aircraft with German pilots and mostly German soldiers. Very clean and orderly aircraft, as was the military based headed by the Germans as we arrived. Before staying in Mazar-e-Shariff, we flew on to Kunduz Province. I was asked to fly in the cockpit with the 3 crew and I did with pleasure:) They shot off a few flairs during the flight and pointed out different parts of the country as it drifted by. Such beauty in Afghanistan, pure, untouched magnificence of landscape. Once we landed it was off to the Provisional Reconstruction Team (PRT) base for a meeting, dinner and a nice walk back to our lodging. The next day we packed up and flew back to RC North HQ in Mazar-e-Shariff for meetings but we also enjoyed meeting new people along the way. Our next stop was at the PRT in Mazar where the Swedish and Finnish provide construction and development support to 4 Afghan Provinces. During the visit, there was a celebration for two new shops in the bazaar they have on base. Both were women-owned shops and of course I shopped a little. Both women were smiling with pure joy for having these new businesses and I could feel their happiness as people entered the shop and as they departed.
Our adventure back to the RC North HQ was fun...we headed back with the Swedish drivers in uparmored jeeps and the road felt like we were driving on a gigantic washboard!! Fun, fun:) And it sounded as if something was about to fall off the vehicle but we didn't question it b/c they knew the way. We also enjoyed a bit of a German tradition: Oktoberfest! There was a gathering of over 100 people at a large dance hall and the music was loud, the people were laughing and the food was great - Bavarian pretzels and mustard, sauerkraut, turkey legs and lots of sausage. Yummmmmy.

Made it back to Kabul safely, glad to escape to Europe for a few days!!

Kabul's King and Queen's Palaces

I didn't realize that the former King and Queen of Afghanistan had there own separate palaces...they are within sight of each other but still a good 1.5 miles away. Both buildings are damaged from the Taliban's wonderful destruction rampage across Afghanistan in the 90's. Despite their appearance up close, they sit in a very beautiful part of Kabul, nestled in valleys between rolling hills and wide-arched mountains. And the flowers are truly amazing here and at most locations here in Afghanistan. Discovered the rose's origin is here in Afghanistan and boy do they grow in some of the most interesting places...
We took a few hours to walk up to an old Russian Officer's club that was also near the palaces and from the top of the club we could see for miles over the gorgeous landscape.
Enjoy the photos and let them tell the rest of the story:)

Western Afghanistan Herat is home to the Italian and Spanish forces

With over 42 countries currently serving in Afghanistan, I was excited to visit RC West in Herat which is home to majority of the Italian and Spanish military forces. It was almost as if I had stepped off the plane in Naples, Italy as I was welcomed by the Italian Air Force, not to mention the VIP seat I had from Kabul to Herat...sat in the cockpit with the Italian pilots:) From the coffee breaks to the wonderful, authentic Italian meals, the only missing items were a glass of red wine, fine music and the ocean waves rolling in. Now the base is segregated by country: Spaniards on one side and the Italians on the other...but they do work together during the week. As I stepped over to the Spanish side of the base, there were mysteriously large metal containers that looked very similar to the containers used to brew beer. A brewery in Afghanistan? Could it be? Hopeful wishing but they ended up being used for water storage...or so they say. Other items of note included the wonderful tour I had of the city of Herat. I believe that Herat is more beautiful than Kabul b/c there are more trees, less smog in the air and the women dress in colorful burkas and scarves. During the tour of city, which included to Italian journalists, we visited a new Pediatric Hospital, the Herat Governor's office, a woman's detention center (more details to follow on this) and a holy mosque to speak to a religious mullah. The hospital was simply amazing, rooms large enough to give patients some privacy, equipment and medicene that can treat 100s of children at a time and a staff of caring Afghan and Intl Doctors, nurses and assistants. I'll expand on the women's detention center in a future blog.
By the end of this visit to Herat Province, I realized how challenging our mission is to support the Afghans. Challenges to include differing languages among the NATO nations, differing viewpoints on how each country views their military/civilian support to Afghanistan - many european countries tell their national publics that their soldiers are conducting "Peacekeeping" operations while others say, "Reconstruction and Development." Other challenges we face are the decentralized nature of our joint/global military and civilian presence in Afghanistan. Synchronization is vital to ensuring we are not duplicating efforts and to increase our ability to create a sustainable socio-economic environment for the current and future people of Afghanistan. Yet, we often see each country's defense department placing additional regulations on their nation's forces, thereby limiting their ability to fully support the counterinsurgency objectives of the commander of all forces in Afghanisan.
I'll expand on this in greater detail soon..take care all