James Donally

The PM....and more spam

It is an unusual day in the lives of Musa Qalans when the UK Prime Minister (literally) descends on them. In addition to the obvious morale boost for British forces based in Musa Qala it was an important opportunity for the PM to hear first hand from Afghans about the successes and challenges in their district. Exactly one year ago Musa Qala was returned to Afghan government control and a reconciled Taliban commander is now the District Governor and another is the District Chief of Police. The fact that the PM could sit and chat with gentlemen such as these and other elders from the district was quite a feat in itself. Of course such “surprise” visits don’t just take place on a whim – much preparation and rehearsal is needed.

For security reasons it was not possible to inform our local partners who the visitor was or when he was arriving until the last minute, but the vagaries of Afghan time-keeping mean that people are used to hanging about for hours sipping tea. And in a region without TV or newspapers it is unlikely they fully understood who they were talking to. However, they do like “England” (as they call it) so were happy to receive a distinguished visitor from there. Fortunately, minimal coaching was required for the local leadership since the story they have to tell is real and reasonably positive.

Reading about the PM’s press conference later I think he got their message that better security in Musa Qala means the government can improve the lives of its people in this remote outpost. Meanwhile, back in “real” life in the camp the Christmas tree has gone up, real bacon has been removed from the menu and our favourite spam is back for every meal. But this morning there was an orange for breakfast.

Posted at 16:30 14 December 2008 by James Donally  |  Comments[1]