Sherard Cowper-Coles

Back from decompression

I have been in Kabul just over four months now, and got back here on Saturday from my second breather break in the UK. We work roughly six weeks on, and two weeks off. It is all pretty intense, both the time here, and then the intervals back in London on what the Foreign Office calls officially decompression! The breaks are spent frantically catching up with family, and friends, and films (I had time only for “Atonement” this last time), and then being called into Whitehall for meetings.

“DECOMPRESSION”
Both my last breaks have involved plenty of meetings with our new Ministers. All three Cabinet Ministers mainly responsible for policy towards Afghanistan (David Miliband, Des Browne, and Douglas Alexander) have been out in the past few weeks. Now they are making officials think through policy, till our brains hurt: an unusual experience, but very good for us, and, I hope, for Britain and for Afghanistan. Lots of cool talk about mind maps and decision trees. But I also found myself sorting out our house in Clapham, as our stuff is still not completely unpacked since we got back from Saudi Arabia in March. I also gave two of the the winners of the raffle at inaugural Kabul Embassy Charity Ball in August their prize: a personal tour of the Foreign Office building, followed by dinner: they seemed to appreciate the history, especially seeing the Foreign Secretary’s office, and the stuffed anaconda in the old, but now very high-tech, Colonial Office library.

SOLDIERS
One of the things I like about this job is that there is plenty to do with the military, and it’s for real. None of theoretical discussions about wiring diagrams for NATO command structures that I used to debate doing pol-mil work in Paris, or on the NATO desk at the Foreign Office as the Warsaw Pact disintegrated. This a real campaign, with real soldiers, and a real alliance of Afghans, Americans, Brits, and lots of other Allies too: all very serious. It brings out the sad tank-spotter in me, but also all those history lessons about integrating civil and military effort.

DOWN SOUTH
So on the first day back I flew down to Helmand to see the Kajaki dam project, at the northern end of the Helmand river valley. The Americans originally built the dam and installed the turbines in the mid-70s, providing the irrigation which makes the valley so fertile, for so many crops, including poppy. Now USAID plans to put in a third turbine, to provide power for the whole of southern Afghanistan, much of which is still without electricity. But first the Taleban have to be pushed back, and the road secured, so that the parts can be brought up. I wanted to see it for myself.

To get there you have to fly to Camp Bastion, the main British base in Helmand, by RAF Hercules. Generally the crew invite me to sit in the cockpit, which enables me to read, but also to see spectacular views over the plains and mountains of Afghanistan. But autumn is well under way here, and this time it was misty, making the landing – when I am allowed to stand behind the pilot - a bit trickier than usual. Then it was straight into a Chinook, flying low over the desert, first to a base where we dropped off a pallet of diesel in jerry cans, and then to the landing pad at Kajaki, between high cliffs in the river valley below the dam.

We were met by the Royal Anglians – the Vikings as they call themselves – who gave us a ride on their Long Range Desert Group-style Land Rovers, up to their base for a briefing. They have pushed the security perimeter out enough for serious work to get under way, to the delight of the Afghan engineers whose life is the power station. I met the Afghan district administrator - uluswal, in Pashto – beside the ancient wooden bridge across the Helmand. He was full of gratitude for what our troops were doing. Even though he was fasting for Ramadan, he wanted to offer me tea in his house, but I really couldn’t accept. Yet, despite the progress, and the high hopes, everyone there knows there is a long way to go...

Posted at 17:07 26 September 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[4]