Sherard Cowper-Coles

The End of The Blog

It's Tuesday morning, very early, and by Thursday afternoon I will be back home, in Clapham, buying chocolate digestive biscuits at Tesco.

And the blog will be over. It has been fun, though a burden. For the last instalment, I have tried to put together a video picture of a Life in the Day of an Ambassador, starting with me going the Embassy gym at 7 am, and ending with me hosting a dinner.

Typically, and, if I am lucky, I get up at six or thereabouts, to go through the "box": endless emails and other papers, printed off and sorted by my excellent Private Secretary, Alex. I read the main UK papers on the internet, and always Google "Afghanistan" to check for breaking stories. Then, it's (on good days) the Embassy gym, with my bodyguard, and iPod, for 20 minutes (not enough), followed by breakfast (a bowl of porridge) at 7.30, and over to the Embassy as soon as I can manage thereafter. Between 8 and 9 is spent catching up with the overnight email and cable traffic from London, Washington, our NATO delegation, and other posts. Then, at 9, it's the morning meeting: team leaders and a few others, from Sunday to Wednesday, and then the whole Embassy, in our canteen (the only space big enough) on Thursdays.

The rest of the day is taken up with calls, visits and meetings. Typically lunch out, or in the Residence, with an Afghan Minister or politician (this week it will have been the former Finance Minister, Ashraf Ghani, and the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Farouk Wardak). Often there are internal Embassy meetings, or briefings, with the different teams: DFID, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the military, and so on. A big feature of life here are video conferences, with London, and with our team down in Helmand.

Most weeks there are journalists or other visitors from Britain to see, usually at the Residence. In the evening, I often host a dinner (four this week), or go out to some official engagement. A free evening is very rare when I am in Kabul.

This is the best job I have ever had. But it is also the most difficult. The blog has helped me, and I hope you, put it in a bit of perspective. Over now to the next Ambassador....

 A Day in the Life of Sherard

Written Transcript

(Sherard) OK, well it's 9 o'clock in the morning and it's the Embassy daily meeting with the team from all the different sections around the Embassy and as usual we're going to start with someone from the political team, in this case Chris Kealey, telling us what's in the overnight cable traffic.

(Chris) Well, there's three in, reporting issues on Iraq, one reporting the Neighbours meeting, which is taking place in Istanbul but also two recording the Secretary of State for Defence's visit to Baghdad, Irbal and Basra.

(Sherard) Hi, it's 11 o'clock in the morning and I've called on Dr Abdullah Abdullah, the former Afghan Foreign Minister and the former Foreign Minister of the Northern Alliance of the Mujahideen and I'm sitting with him in his garden in western Kabul. Dr Abdullah is also the chairman of the Afghan side of the Loya Jurga, the Grand Assembly between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Abdullah.

(Dr Abdullah Abdullah)Thank you Ambassador. In a situation like this where Afghanistan had this opportunity of support from the international community, we have started the process together and Great Britain played the most important role in the whole process. My first words would be words of thanks to the British people, British Government for what they have done and what they are doing.

(Sherard) Hi, I'm in the west of Kabul in the area devastated by fighting during the time of the Mujahideen with the former Afghan Finance Minister and the former Chancellor of Kabul University and one of the architects of the Bonn Agreement, Ashraf Ghani, and he has invited me to lunch at his family home where we've been taking stock, as they say, of the situation. Ashraf, would you like to say a few words for the Foreign Office blog?

(Ashraf Ghani) Of course. First of all I am delighted to welcome you. Second, thank the British people, the British Government, for their very principled support for the Afghan cause; and thirdly, it's winnable but it requires a script and an agreement on the solution of the problem that we can all cooperate.

(Sherard) Yes, well I couldn't agree more and the British Government needs to work with the international community to get its act together and you've got some very interesting ideas on that and we need to work with the Afghan Government to raise our game collectively.

(Sherard) I'm with probably the second most important politician in Afghanistan after the President, the Speaker of the Lower House, the Walesi Jurga, a very prominent national politician, Mr Qanuni, who has just been to the United States and is about to visit Britain as the Speaker of the Afghan Parliament and I'd like to ask Mr Qanuni just to say a word of greeting for the Foreign Office blog.

(Sherard) Well, I understand enough Dari to know that Mr Qanuni was paying Britain and me or the British Government through me a series of extravagant compliments which is too embarrassing to translate.

Posted at 15:12 06 November 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[5]

Parliamentary Enquiry

Friday.  Nothing.  No appointments, no engagements, no meetings.  Plenty of reading, of course.  Lots of catching up.  But another beautiful day, with the sun on the mountains beyond.  It's a week since President Karzai and I got back from London.  The visit seems a world away, though people keep coming up to me and saying that they hear it was a huge success.  The second question seems almost always to be about Rory Stewart's tartan trews, in the photo on the blog: no-one understands Scottish  tribal dress.

I have seen President Karzai three times this week.  Twice on matters of war and peace, in Helmand and elsewhere, but once with the House of Commons Select Committee on Development, chaired by the Liberal Democrat Malcolm Bruce.  They had a full and frank, but entirely friendly, exchange with the President, covering everything from women's rights to poppy eradication.  

The DFID team here had been preparing for the Committee's visit for some weeks, in a mood of nervous anticipation.  In the end they need not have worried.  The Committee took a close and constructive interest in both Afghanistan's problems, and in what HMG in general, and DFID in particular, are doing to address them.  The MPs' openness, their intelligent curiosity, their willingness to engage, was a real morale boost for everyone who met them.

I'm going on breather break next week, and counting the days.  I've enjoyed doing the blog, but it weighs on me, and I'll be glad when I finish next week, having extended by a couple of weeks. Watch this space.


Writtten Transcript

(Sherard) We're outside the President's palace in the centre of Kabul and the Committee has just been with President Karzai and I'm going to ask them for one or two impressions.

(Malcolm Bruce)Well, the President is chatty I have to say is his style and I think we managed to press him on a number of points. He, on the other hand, was keen to point out why some of these things were rather more difficult than perhaps the Committee had understood, although we do appreciate they are very complicated. But I hope at the same time he understands that people are looking to see things happen in a material way. A lot is happening and a lot more needs to happen. Maybe the difference is who can wait for how long for actually getting results. Patience is needed but patience also has to be rewarded elsewhere if the international community is going to stick with it.

(Sherard) Any comments from the other members?

(Committee member) Afghanistan faces enormous problems and moving forward on many fronts but they clearly need support, continuing support, from the international community and I hope our country will do just that.

(Committee member) I think it's fair to say that we're leaving more optimistic than when we arrived.

(Sherard) Good. Well, that's a view from the Liberal Democrat Party, a view from the Conservative Party. What about a Labour view?

(Committee member) Well, I personally found Mr Karzai a very thoughtful and capable leader and I feel more reassured about Afghanistan's future having met him but we have to be in here for the long haul. It's not going to be easy, it's not going to be quick.

(Sherard) It's a marathon, not a sprint.

(Committee member) And I think make a key point about how much damage was done to the country and how much there is to rebuild.

(Committee member) I think as the international community we need to remember the marginalised within Afghan society, particularly women and children and I still do have concerns that Afghanistan needs to live up to its international obligations as much as it has to deal with the security challenges which occur.

(Committee member) I think the great thing about that meeting was that we were able to understand that we are all heading in the same direction but we were able to challenge and be challenged on a number of points and I think it was a useful meeting. It's been a very very valuable visit for us and thanks both to DfID and to the Foreign Office for all their help in the course of this visit.

(Sherard) Good. Well thank you, we had better end the blog there.


Written Transcript

(Sherard) I'm with the International Development Committee of the Houe of Commons, the Select Committee on Development, chaired by Malcolm Bruce MP, on a visit to Afghanistan to one of the projects of the National Solidarity Programme financed by the Department for International Development and we have here the head of the programme and the chairman of the Committee with a class of girls at a school just north of Kabul. Malcolm Bruce.

(Malcolm Bruce) Well, we've just arrived here actually so we've been asking the girls what they enjoy learning. They enjoy Dari, mathematics and Islamic studies and I gather they have sessions in the morning and sessions in the afternoon but it's great to see a functioning school full of girls and I think contributions from the international community towards the salaries of teachers, so you build a school but you need to have teachers as well. Frankly, empty schools are not much use.

(Sherard) We're now ten miles further north in the Shamali Plain, north of Kabul with the International Development Committee of the House of Commons and Malcolm Bruce MP, the Chairman, meeting a Community Development Council under the auspices of the National Solidarity Programme and I'm going to ask Malcolm Bruce just to say a few words about his impressions of the visit so far today.

(Malcolm Bruce) I think what has been really interesting to us is the role of these CDCs which we've established in recent years. They not only decide what projects to build but they also clearly create a social mechanism where people in the community can talk and resolve other issues so that I think we're quite clear about is that these CDCs are an important part of decision-making in the country and we think good for the future although decisions have to be made as to how they're going to be incorporated in future government but I think we certainly see these as a very interesting programme.

(Afghan gentleman)This is community hall. People use this for their ordinary meeting here, councils, and also literacy courses for females and also old men and also who do not have acces to the school, they take benefit of this building for establishing such kinds of workshops, seminars and also literacy courses for people at the community level.

(Sherard) Shakram. That's the end of today's blog from the Shamali Plain, north of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Posted at 08:01 02 November 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[1]

Mr Karzai Comes To Town

It's Thursday morning, early.  By the time you read this, President Karzai should be on his way back to Kabul. It has been a memorable visit

We flew over last Sunday: a small and excited party, consisting of the President, and his Foreign Minister, his National Security Adviser, and me, plus half a dozen other helpers and advisers -  a pretty small party by the standards of most Heads of State and Government. 

Thanks to the generosity and imagination of The Prince of Wales, we were able to make it a visit of two halves.  A first part spent with Prince Charles near Balmoral, with just Mr Karzai's Private Secretary in attendance. .The Prince of Wales took Mr Karzai on a wonderful walk  - his favourite recreation, but one which he can't indulge too much these days, except for his daily walk round the presidential palace grounds in Kabul.  The Prince of Wales was kind enough to invite the Chief Executive of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation in Kabul, Rory Stewart, and me to join the party for dinner. Rory is a remarkable character, with a deep love and knowledge of Afghanistan.  His Foundation, which is one of The Prince of Wales's charities, is supporting the teaching of traditional Afghan crafts, from calligraphy to carpentry, and is also restoring, and creating jobs and hope, in part of old Kabul.  A remarkable story, far from finished.

After the overnight stay in Scotland, I flew South with President Karzai: back to London, and reality: an audience of Her Majesty The Queen, meetings with the Prime Minister, the Defence and International Development Secretaries (David Miliband is out of town), a lunch at Lancaster House given for the President by the Government, and hosted by Lord Malloch-Brown. 

Another chance to relax came in a day trip to Oxford, when, abandoning the motorcade, President Karzai was able to walk through the historic centre of the City and University.  He had been welcomed by the President of Magdalen College, Professor David Clary, and by the President of the Oxford Union, Luke Tryl, who is an undergraduate at Magdalen, and who later hosted President Karzai's speech at the Union.  There he was in his element, speaking with charm and force, and dealing skilfully with a range of questions from interested and engaged questioners from many different countries and perspectives.  All in all a visit to remember, put together by the Visits Section of the Foreign Office, working closely with the Afghanistan Group at the FCO and the respective Embassies in Kabul and London.  Political theatre of a kind, but very important, given the interests Britain has at stake in Afghanistan.

President Karzai at Magdalen College

Written Transcript

(Sherard) Hi, this is another instalment of the Foreign Office blog. I am with President Karzai of Afghanistan on an official visit to Britain. He has been at Balmoral with His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, he has an audience with Her Majesty The Queen this afternoon and is seeing the Prime Minister tomorrow. But we are at Magdalen College Oxford with the President of Magdalen College Oxford, David Clary, and the President of the Oxford Union, so three Presidents and the President of the Oxford Union, Luke Tryl, is an undergraduate here at Magdalen College Oxford. I am going to ask President Karzai just to say a few words for the viewers of the Foreign Office blog.

(President Karzai) Well you don't feel the power of Presidents until you are here at Magdalen College and see President Clary, Professor Clary I should say is a better way of putting it. I have from my younger days been someone who always fancied being an academic and visiting this place today I wish I had fulfilled it. I ended up in the wrong place.

(Sherard) One of the things about President Karzai is his huge intellectual curiosity, interested in books, he was quoting Tennyson to me yesterday, with the Prince of Wales talking about British agriculture, Scottish agriculture.

(President Karzai) Scottish agriculture, yes, and the love for English poetry comes from Simla which was the summer capital of the British in India.

(Sherard) Thank you President Karzai, Your Excellency, and thank you Professor Clary and Luke Tryl and that's all from the Foreign Office blog today.

Behind the scenes at an official visit

Written Transcript

(Sherard) Hi, I'm sitting in the Churchill Hotel in Portman Square in London, which is where the Foreign Office puts up many of Britain's official visitors. The last time I was here was four years ago with Prime Minister Sharon of Israel when I was Ambassador there. Now I'm here with President Karzai of Afghanistan. But an official visit isn't all glamorous events, a Buckingham Palace or the Oxford Union. Most of the work of an official visit is done by a team from the Visits Section of the Foreign Office and by a team from the Embassy of the visitor's country. And with me this afternoon is Farid Popal of the Embassy who is going to talk a little bit about his work and then Cathy Kerry is going to talk a little bit about her work in the Visits Section. So Farid, over to you first of all.

(Farid) Salam aleikum. How are you? This is to my office and British colleagues here in London. We are absolutely delighted by the positive and very generous hospitality of the British Government and we just enjoy hearing the positive news coming out of this visit. It will end up on a very positive note and the website looks fantastic. I am a big fan of this. David Miliband, the Secretary, has done a fantastic job and to all members of the Embassy, hi from London.

(Sherard) Good, thank you. Cathy. Can you just say a word for the blog?

(Cathy) Hi there, my name's Cathy Kerry and I'm Visits Officer in Visits Section in Protocol Directorate, currently involved in this visit of the President of Afghanistan. And it really is a team effort. It involves Visits Section and our drivers, who are Murray chauffeurs, and also the protection officers and obviously the Embassy, the Afghan Embassy and all those people who work together to bring this visit to a successful conclusion and it really has so far turned out to be a spectacular visit.

(Sherard) Good, thank you Cathy, thank you Farid. And that's the end of today's blog from the party accompanying President Karzai of Afghanistan on his official visit to Britain.

Posted at 16:34 25 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[3]

CEREMONIAL DUTIES

Part of an Ambassador's job is to look after British communities in the country in which s/he works.  Particularly in tough situations, they look to the Ambassador and the Embassy for guidance and support.  The Foreign Office has got much better in recent years in keeping in touch with Brits abroad, with computerised data bases, and, in many countries, systems of text message alerts for warning British citizens of security and other problems. 

But there is also a ceremonial side to the job.  So this week the doyen of the British community in Kabul, Dominic Medley, organised a Trafalgar Night dinner, at which the Commandant General of the Royal Marines, Major General Garry Robison (who also happens to be the Senior British Officer in Afghanistan);  the Embassy Strategy Director, Commodore Steve Jermy RN; a leading member of the Embassy Counter Narcotics Team, Lieutenant Nicholas Lockwood, RN (retd); and I, spoke: about Nelson and Trafalgar, of course, but also, in my case, about Britain's commitment to Afghanistan.  In naval fashion, we drank the health of Her Majesty The Queen, seated, and toasted the Immortal Memory of Admiral Lord Nelson.  All rather strange in a landlocked country, but a good morale-booster for Brits and Afghan and other friends.  The Guest of Honour was my friend the Canadian Ambassador, Arif Lalani, wearing what he told someone was his school swimming medal, but I am sure was some very distinguished Canadian decoration.  Canada does a lot here, and we are real partners in the Afghanistan reconstruction project.

The following evening there was another, completely different, party, which I also had to attend in an official capacity.   The Embassy, including the Department for International Development, employ large numbers of Gurkha guards from Nepal, provided by the British company, ArmorGroup.  This week was the last day of the Hindu festival of Dasain, celebrating the Goddess Durga's victory over a demon.  I was invited to present prizes to the best invidual Gurkha and guard teams, and, along with the Head of DFID-Afghanistan (Marshall Elliott), the Embassy's Counsellor, Drugs and Justice (Anna Aquilina), and our Chief Security Manager (John Windham), watched a cultural display by the Gurkhas, before being dragged by them on to the dance floor!  Another Afghan experience.

Posted at 16:34 22 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  | 

HEAT AND DUST AND HELMAND

Written Transcription

(Sherard) Hi, I'm in Lashkar Gah in Helmand with Mark Malloch-Brown, Lord Malloch-Brown, the Minister for Asia at the Foreign Office, with David Slinn, the head of our Provincial Reconstruction Team, and the Chairman of the Helmand Provincial Council, and some of the counsellors and I'm going to ask Mark Malloch-Brown to say a few words for the blog.

(Mark Malloch-Brown) Well, this is a very important meeting because we've been hearing from the elected representatives of Helmand about their concerns, their concerns about security, their concerns that there isn't enough development, that there are not proper alternatives to opium, to poppy production, a list of very important problems which, if we are to succeed here in Helmand, and by we I mean the Government of Afghanistan and the international community, we need to hear these problems and work out through the mechanism of the PRTs and our coordination committees with the Afghan authorities how we're going to address them.

(Sherard) Good. I'm just going to ask the Chairman of the Council just to say a very quick word for the Foreign Office blog. Would you like to say something?

(Translator) The Provincial Council Chairman just addressed a warm welcome to the honourable guest, Minister and David Slinn from PRT and Ambassador from Kabul down in Helmand and said thank you for coming to our office to know what's going on in Helmand and to discuss issues going on in Helmand; and once again we would like from the British Government to bring a different or diversities into their military formations and coordination with Afghan counterparts at provincial levels and also at country level.

This week has been Malloch-Brown week.  Our new Minister for Asia (and therefore Afghanistan), former Deputy Secretary General of the UN, former head of UNDP, came to town, on his first official visit as a British Minister.  Mark Malloch Brown's previous two visits to Afghanistan were on behalf of the UN, in 1989 (when President Najibullah had sat unconcernedly through incoming mujahideen rocket fire during a meeting with Mark), and in 2001, before the fall of  the Taleban.  So the Minister noticed more than a few changes for the better.

After a day or so in Kabul, we always try to take our Ministerial visitors down to Helmand, to see what the Task Force and the Provincial Reconstruction Team are about.  In this case, the visit was particularly useful for me, as a new Brigade (52, from Edinburgh, with the Castle on their shoulder flashes), and Brigadier (Andrew Mackay, also from Scotland), have just taken over, and it was good to hear their appreciation of the situation.  Before leaving Kabul, Lord Malloch-Brown had called on President Karzai, but had also met the Governor of Helmand, Asadullah Wafa, at my house.  In the province itself, the PRT team leader, the redoubtable David Slinn (ex-Pristina, ex-Pyonyang) took  the Minister to meet the Helmand Provincial Council (filmed for the blog by Gina Popat, Mark's Assistant Private Secretary), and for an equally lively exchange with local journalists.  The latter included a representative of the BBC Pashto Service, which, with its Dari equivalent, is the most trusted source of news for Afghans, with 60% audience penetration.  

We returned from Lashkar Gah via the big British base at Camp Bastion in Helmand, where we had a wonderful military supper in a new canteen  (why is Army food SO much better than ours in the Embassy?), surrounded by Danish soldiers of the Royal Danish Lifeguards, who are about to take over as Battle Group Centre in Helmand. A serious contribution from a country which understands what needs to be done here, in both military and civil terms.  And Mark Malloch Brown ended the day by visiting the British military field hospital at Bastion: along with good food (and prompt mail deliveries), good medical care is vital for morale.  And the Royal Army Medical Corps, with contributions from the Royal Navy and the RAF, surpass themselves in Helmand, with successful treatment rates better than the NHS.  But the most moving sight was a tiny little Afghan girl, who cannot have been more than three, sitting on her bed in one of the wards, recovering from burns suffered in a suicide bomb attack.  That, and a short visit to the new memorial at Bastion to the British soldiers, sailors and airmen, who have fallen in Helmand, put it all in perspective.

Posted at 17:23 18 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[1]

BY BLACKHAWK TO BAGRAM

Most of my trips outside Kabul are to Helmand, where much of the British military and civil effort is concentrated.  But it is important also to have an idea of what is happening in other parts of this vast country, and to see how other nations are tackling the problems of how best to support the Afghan authorities in meeting the huge security and development challenges they face.  Thus, a few weeks ago I was with the Swedish Provincial Reconstruction Team in Mazar-e-Sharif in the North, on the plains stretching down to the Oxus river and Central Asia.  And, on Sunday, I flew with my American friend and colleague, Ambassador Bill Wood, to see the American PRT in the Panshir Valley, and then on to the vast Bagram air base for a briefing on the work of Regional Command (East).  RC (E) is essentially the area of operations of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  Its area of responsibilities is the size of France, including getting on for 600 miles of border with Pakistan.  It commander, Major General Dave Rodriguez, is far from the popular caricature of a "kinetic" American general.  He and his men, spread across 12 PRTs, understand better than most that countering the insurgency is about building up governance and about development, at least as much as it is about security.

Earlier Bill and I had called on the Governor of Panshir, the former mujahideen commander, Bahlol Bahij, and heard of his concern that "safe and secure" provinces like his should be not be penalised for their success, with resources being channelled to more difficult areas.  Answering this, Bill made clear that our task was to help relieve and prevent suffering wherever it occurred across Afghanistan.  Another day, another slice of Afghan life.

Written Transcript

(Sherard) I am in the Panshir with my friend and colleague Bill Wood with the Governor of Panshir, a former Mujahid and I'm going to ask the Ambassador to say a few words.

(Bill Wood) I can only say that we are here in this beautiful valley with this extraordinary Governor who holds an extraordinary record as a war commander and as a civil administrator and it gives me hope and optimism for the whole country to be here.

(Governor of Panshir) He says I am very happy today that I have all my new friends up here in the valley even in the 8 years that we are celebrating and it's really a pleasure for me that  have met these guys.

Posted at 17:57 14 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[3]

EID PICNIC

Today - Friday - we headed north out of Kabul, across the Shomali plain, and then West, into the foothills of the Hindu Kush, to the village of  Istalif.  Almost a sort of Afghan Tuscany, it is full of shops selling pottery, and was a summer resort town, away from the heat of the plains.  The old King, Zaher Shah, used to go there.  We had a picnic - apples and sugared almonds - with a group of Afghan policemen, celebrating the first day of the Eid.  On the way down, we met a French Army ISAF patrol.  The soldiers were very keen to be filmed or photographed, but their rather timid sergeant said they weren't allowed to appear.  So they asked me about rugby instead: << Allez Les Bleus>>.

Posted at 15:53 12 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[2]

Le blog

Written Transcript (translation)

Hello, I am in the north of Afghanistan with a unit of the French Army, the cavalry from the south of France.  You can see that France also has a presence in Afghanistan - the very brave French soldiers.  There is only one subject of conversation, a rugby match in the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday.  That is the end of this blog from Afghanistan.  Au revoir to all of France.

Posted at 13:24 12 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[1]

EID AL IFTAR

Another Friday, another chance to pause for breath after a non-stop week. The crescent moon of the new month was spotted  last night, marking the start of the new month, the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan, and the beginning of the Eid al-Iftar.   In Arabic, iftar means break-fast, and is the evening meal with which Muslims mark at sunset the end of that day's fasting.  We held two Iftar meals at my house this week: one for our Afghan staff, and one for members of both houses of the Afghan Parliament.  Here the tradition is to break the fast with water, dates and a bowl of vegetable soup.  Then the sunset prayers, for which we laid out rugs in the garden for the men, and upstairs for the ladies, followed by the meal.  We had traditional Afghan lamb and rice, with aubergine and youghurt, followed by fruit salad and ice cream, and then coffee and tea.  Everyone piled his plate high.   The chief guest at the parliamentary iftar was Pir Sibghatullah Mojaddedi. He is the speaker of the Upper House, and a leading Sufi and religious scholar. He was briefly President of Afghanistan following the fall of the Communist regime in 1992, and is a much revered figure.  He heads the commission charged by President Karzai with persuading Taleban to reconcile with the government.  As he was educated at Al Azhar in Cairo, he speaks beautiful Arabic - which is the language I use to talk to him.  He led the prayers in our garden.  In many ways, Pir Mojaddedi is the grandfather of the Afghan nation.  I sat beside him at the Iftar, and we had a good talk about the situation here, and the prospects for the future....

Written Transcript

Hi. This blog comes to you from about 80 kilometres north of Kabul, the village of Istalif, which was the rest house of the old Kings of Afghanistan, the summer resort. We're here with a group of Afghan police, celebrating the first day of the great festival of the Eid al-Iftar, marking the end of Ramadan, the breaking of the fast. As the camera swings round to the north, you can see the great Shamali Plain with the hill villages in the foothills of the Hindu Kush. It's a cross between Tuscany and an Afghan version of Salisbury Plain. As the camera swings back round across our picnic where we're eating apples and sugared almonds, you can see some of the damage done by the Taleban as they attacked this hill station in the fighting in 1996, as they pressed north, taking, pushing the Tajiks back. And that's the end of this blog from Istalif, north of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Posted at 12:15 12 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  | 

CUSTOMS & ELECTRICITY

Monday was a funny day. It started more or less with porridge and sausages and bacon for breakfast (the best meal of the day) in the Embassy canteen with my excellent Deputy, Michael Ryder, mainly to talk about his visit to Helmand over the weekend, and ended with drinks for the FCO Diversity trainers who are out from London, giving three days of training to our staff, both UK-based and Locally Engaged. The first of three Diversity courses was, by all accounts, a huge success, with Afghan and British staff from across the Embassy taking part in scenarios and role-playing exercises, and learning a lot. Later in the morning, I went out to see one of our training teams from HM Revenue & Customs in action, mentoring Afghan Counter Narcotics Police searching vehicles at one of the "gates" of Kabul. It is dangerous works, so the HMRC teams are accompaned by a close protection team, and wear body armour. And they seldom stay long at one location. Nothing was found this morning, but I had an excellent briefing on HMRC's work here, as they carefully checked a series of cars and minibuses, with the drivers and passengers being treated with great politeness.

On return to the Embassy, I had an even stranger task: to inaugurate our suite of four huge generators for the Embassy. We have to make our own electricity here. I did so with my Bulgarian colleague, Valery, from whose government we rent the plot on which our offices are. To clinch the deal, four years ago we built a new Bulgarian Embassy building at the end of the plot. But our original generators were just over the fence from the Bulgarian Ambassador's flat and garden, and the noise and fumes made his life quite difficult at times. So we asked him along to today's ceremony. He and I cut the ribbon, and then saw the amazing switchgear associated with this sort of plant. Every day in Kabul is different.

Written Transcript

Hi, this is another instalment of the Kabul blog.  This time I'm just north of Kabul at one of the gateways into the city, where HM Revenue and Customs mentor mobile detection teams from the counter narcotics police of Afghanistan.  With me is a senior British Customs officer, Nick, and he's going to tell us a little bit about what is going on at this vehicle search point.

What we've got here today is a 4-wheel drive vehicle just pulled over on the road by the enforcement agencies, by the police and a team of up to six British Customs officers trained in search and trained in interview and how to train other people to do their job.  We are just introducing British techniques to Afghan society.

Good, well thank you Nick.  It's dangerous work so the teams who come out here have their close protection.  You're wearing body armour and you tend to move from gate to gate.

We try to make our movements as unpredictable as possible for two reasons: the security issue and also drug smugglers find out where we are so we don't want them to know that. We like them to be surprised where we are.

Thank you very much Nick and that's the end of today's blog from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Posted at 10:11 09 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[2]

FRIDAY IN THE PANSHIR

Written Transcript

Hi, I'm in the Panshir Valley about 100 kilometres north of Kabul.  We've come here for a picnic lunch.  The Panshir was the heart of the resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.  It was also the home of Ahmad Shah Masood, the Lion of Panshir, who led the resistance to the Russians.  The valley floor is still littered with wrecked Soviet equipment.  Thirteen times the Russians tried to take this valley, thirteen times they failed.  Up here on this hilltop is the tomb of Ahmad Shah Masood who was murdered by two suicide bombers two days before 9/11 by agents of Al Qaida, who came here from a neighbouring valley to kill him.  And it's now the scene of pilgrimage for Afghans, not only the Tajiks who live here in north eastern Afghanistan but also people from all over the country who remember one of their country's great national heroes.  And that's the end of this blog from the Panshir Valley, northern Afghanistan.

It's Friday evening in Kabul, and it's back to work tomorrow. Today, I went up to the Panshir Valley North and East of Kabul, for a picnic.

Although this is an unaccompanied posting, we are allowed to have friends and family out to visit, provided we give all sorts of undertakings and indemnities to the Foreign Office.

A few weeks ago one of my sons was out.This week my wife is here, for the first time, so we went up to one of the most beautiful and peaceful places in Aghanistan, the Panshir.

The Panshir was the home of the legendary Tajik Mujahed leader, Ahmad Shah Masood, who is said to have defeated 13 separate attempts by the Soviet forces to take the valley. Today the floor of the valley, and the river bed, are still littered with the carcasses of Soviet armoured fighting vehicles. Masood was killed on 9 September 2001, in a suicide attack by two Al Qaida operatives disguised as a Moroccan television crew coming to interview him. He is still revered today, and his photograph is to be seen all over Afghanistan: the "Lion of the Panshir".

But what makes the Panshir so exciting to visit is the combination of the river, the clean mountain air, the beauty of the fields and trees, and the sense of peace and safety. In other circumstances, it could and should be one of the world's great tourist destinations.

One of the best bits of today's trip was spotting an Afghan fighting partridge, which its proud owner showed off to us.

If the Panshir was the high point of the week, the most difficult was the Sixth Meeting of the Joint Co-ordination and Monitoring Board, set up jointly between the Afghan Government and the international community to oversee the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact, signed in London in January last year.

Keeping going during Ramadan was tough, especially for the Muslim participants. But we did make progress, particularly on plans for stepping up Afghanistan's role as what my American friend and colleague, Bill Wood, called in his speech a land bridge between the countries of South West Asia.

The Americans have put their money where their mouth is by financing a $35m bridge across the Oxus from Afghanistan to Tajikistan.

Written Transcript

Here we are in the Panshir Valley again with some of the men who fought with Ahmad Shah Masood fighting the Russians, fighting the thirteen attempts by the Red Army to take this valley, thirteen failed attempts.  We're in the upper reaches of the Panshir Valley.  Behind us the maize fields now being harvested before the winter sets in and the mulberry trees gradually turning from green to yellow and the temperature falls [indistinct] 9,000 feet up in the foothills of the Himalayas and this is a blog from the Panshir Valley and the brave fighting Tajiks of the Lion of Panshir, Ahmad Shah Masood.

Posted at 18:20 05 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[4]

RAMADAN REFLECTIONS

One of the decisions taken by those who drafted Afghanistan's new constitution was that this would be the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. And, especially in the Holy Month of Ramadan, Islam is everywhere. The muezzin of the mosque next door calls the faithful to prayer five times a day, starting at dawn. Everywhere one sees individuals in the streets unfolding their prayer mats, turning to Mecca, and praying. Every Afghan I meet is fasting, and looking forward with eager anticipation to break-fast, or iftar, at sundown. As the afternoon wears on, the delicious smells of the evening meal being prepared make keeping the fast even more challenging - and rewarding. Last night, I attended an iftar at the Indian Embassy, and next week we are giving one of our own.

 And yet, for all that, Afghanistan is a more secular country than some in the Muslim world - certainly more so than my last posting, in Saudi Arabia, the land of the Two Holy Mosques. Here, there is, or was, a strong tradition of secular socialism and communism among some in the urban elite. But, as in so many different parts of the umma - the people of Islam -, the tide of faith, which may have ebbed a bit in the 60s and 70s, has flowed again in recent years, perhaps as a response to the challenges which devout Muslims see as confronting Islam. And in Afghanistan we in the West did our bit to support that trend, by backing in the 1980s some of the more fanatically religious elements in the jihad against the Soviet occupiers, because we thought they would fight better. At least that is what a prominent Afghan jihadi, who fought with a moderate centrist group, claimed to me rather sadly. Afghanistan sometimes seems to more a victim of the Law of Unintended Consequences than most places on earth.

Yesterday, I saw something of a quite different Afganistan, the new and vibrant written and electronic media that have flourished in recent years, and are one of the most encouraging aspects of change here. The Embassy spokesman, Daniel Sherry, and I visited Tolo TV, to meet some of the young Afghan journalists, men and women, working together there to put Afghanistan's most watched television channels, in Dari and Pashtu. There we met the station's owner, Saad Mohseni, who has returned from exile abroad to invest here, and one of the leading foreign supporters of the Afghan media revolution, Dominic Medley. And you can see the short video clip we made there, in the Tolo TV newsroom. Dominic has written an excellent guide to Kabul, and we have added a link to the Survival Guide website, which he runs, to this blog.

Written Transcript

Good morning.  Salam aleikum.  I am at Tolo TV in Kabul.  One of the most exciting things about the changes in Afghanistan over the past few years has been the emergence of an independent media.  Tolo TV is Afghanistan's most watched television station.  It has a Dari channel, a Pashto channel and its own radio channel and I have with me Fatima, Mujahid and Mariam, who are the team, some of the team of presenters and editors, here in the control room at Tolo TV.  Would you like to say a few words Mujahid to viewers of the FCO blog?

As you mentioned Mr Ambassador, we have two stations in name of Tolo and Naman.  Tolo is the main popular TV channel in Afghanistan and also we have a Pashto TV channel in the name of Naman, which is also very popular in the Pashto areas, especially in the south of Afghanistan and currently every hour we have a news bulletin and today already we have a very busy day.  We started with today's bomb attack in Kabul.  And that's it.

Well thank you very much.  Today is a very sad day.  It is Ramadan, the holy month of Ramadan but we have the terrible news this morning of a suicide bombing on the second successive day with up to 30 Afghan police officers killed.

So we'll end with just a quick shot of the control room here at Tolo TV in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Posted at 09:41 03 October 2007 by admin  |  Comments[1]

Sherard Cowper-Coles and Brigadier John Lorimer

Written Transcript

Hi.  I'm in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan visiting Task Force Helmand, the British forces here down in the south fighting the Taliban.  With me is a man who's become a friend over the past four months, Brigadier John Lorimer, late of the Parachute Regiment and the outgoing Commander of Task Force Helmand.  John is an Arabist and is a man who's conducted the operations here with great distinction and I'd like him to give you a few thoughts as he hands over command.

Thank you Ambassador.  I think at the end of our six months we can look back on our period in Helmand with a degree of satisfaction.  I think there are areas that we have undoubtedly made good progress.  I think our relationships with the local Afghans, particularly with the Governor and some of his line Ministers within Helmand and Lashkar Gar is much improved.  Definitely within the provincial reconstruction team in Lashkar Gar are the way that we have been working in close harmony with the other Government Departments has been a real step forward and my relationship with David Slinn and all my team's cooperation with members of DfID and the FCO I think is a real step forward, a comprehensive approach is epitomised down in Lashkar Gar.  On the purely military side, the aim has always been to say goodbye to the enemy and that's what we've done and we have beaten them many many times during the last six months.

With great success.  John, it has been a real pleasure working with you at the Foreign Office and the DfID team and the other Government Departments represented in Lashkar Gar all have enjoyed working with you and your staff.  We wish you well in the future.  I hope our paths cross again.  OK.

Posted at 17:06 02 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  | 

TUESDAY BLUES

24 hours later, and I am again, sitting in the study of my small flat, catching up on papers (or rather emails printed out on paper ) which I wasn't able to deal with yesterday.

The trip to Helmand was serious, as everything down there is, but (I admit to myself) fun. We flew in an RAF Hercules via Kandahar, where we picked up passengers while keeping the engines running. Usually I sit in the cockpit, but this time I rode in the noisy gloom of the hold. The light is just good enough to read, and a handful of military intellectuals on the flight did so, rather ostentatiously. But most just slept, or listened to their iPods.

We landed at a desert airstrip, and were taken to a nearby base for a briefing, a chance to meet and talk to Afghan troops being trained and mentored by the British Army, and, best of all, a British Army lunch: hamburger, chips and beans, washed down by a curious maroon fluid which the Parachute Regiment officers present claimed was a Regimental drink of some kind.

I was very impressed by the Afghan officers and men in training: I inflicted my broken Pashtu on them, to general amusement, but also heard their views on what was going on in Helmand, and across the country. They love working with the British Army.

A nice surprise in Helmand was that the outgoing Task Force Helmand Commander, Brigadier John Lorimer, an ex-Para who is also, improbably, a Cambridge Arabist, and the great-grandson of the author of some the best works on Pashtu and the North West Frontier, "the" Major J G Lorimer. I persuaded him to do an interview for the blog, which, connexions permitting, I will send to London. But we had a good talk about the situation in Helmand, and about co-operation with the Foreign Office-led Provincial Reconstruction Team co-located in his headquarters. After six months here, John and his Brigade (12 Mechanised) are leaving, to be replaced by Brigadier Andrew Mackay and the Edinburgh-based 52 Brigade, whose shoulder flash - now appearing across Helmand - is of the Castle.

What is most heartening about our military is that they understand in ways that few others do that the problems here will not be solved by the application of military force alone. My - our - problem is helping deliver all those other lines of activity, Afghan and international, essential for stabilisation. Not easy. Not quick.

I flew back to Kabul in the evening. My hyper-efficient Private Secretary, Alex Hill, had lined up a series of meetings and phone calls (to London) for me as soon as I got in the door. Alex was a bit nervous about taking on the new job, but has taken to it like a duck to water. I am pleased and relieved she has decided to extend her tour: the turnover of staff here on short tours is a source of concern to London and me. We have to balance the need for professional understanding of this complicated country with our duty of care to individuals who come out to work in very tough conditions.

And then it was back home to give dinner to the Afghan Defence Minister, General Wardak. After (non-alcoholic - it is Ramadan) drinks with the Embassy politico-military team, General Wardak and I had dinner alone. We spoke about the present situation, of course, but most interesting for me were his reminiscences of earlier times, including when he fought with distinction in the jihad against the Russians. The moderate Islamic centrist Royalist coalition of which he was part did not receive the international support that others, who were seen as more fanatical, and therefore better fighters, did. Once again, in this long-suffering land, the law of unintended consequences at work.

Posted at 09:24 02 October 2007 by admin  | 

Video: Introducing the British Embassy in Kabul

Written Transcript

Hi, this is Sherard Cowper-Coles in the second clip from Kabul, Afghanistan. In the centre of the shot you should be able to see the British Embassy with the satellite dishes on the roof. It's in an old converted block of flats belonging to the Bulgarian Embassy. By the time in December we finish the upgrade to the Embassy, we'll have 128 UK-based diplomatic staff, making us one of the largest embassies in the world. If you look beyond the Embassy you can see Kabul Airport where we have RAF aircraft base, American aircraft, a big NATO and British supply base and beyond that the beginnings of the mountains of the Hindu Kush stretching right away up eventually into the Himalayas. And coming back round and I am very grateful to Captain Dougie Hutchison of the Royal Military Police, who is my CP team leader but also my temporary cameraman. Behind me see Matt my CP team from the Royal Military Police and Kev from the Royal Air Force Police and a couple of the armoured Toyota 4 x 4 vehicles which we use for getting around Afghanistan. Behind me because it's a Friday here in Afghanistan I can see a kite flying as Afghans are able to relax in a way they were not able to do under the dark years of the Taliban. And that's the end of this second clip from Kabul.

Posted at 14:18 01 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[1]