James Donally

Christmas Festivities and New Year Plans

The festive season in Musa Qala is passing relatively peacefully and so we have been able to enjoy a little Christmas cheer in the camp. Christmas Eve saw my military stabilisation team colleagues and I introducing our Afghan friends and colleagues to the traditions of a British Christmas - Santa, gifts, turkey and alcohol-free beer.  Our local friends had located some turkeys and the District Governor's cook was tasked to "halal" the birds and cooked them into some sort of brown curry-type meal. It was delicious. Thanks to our various families' welfare parcels we were able to pool our goodies to show our friends such delights as mince pies, etc. And on the day itself the army chefs did us proud with real turkey and real ham, all without a hint of spam.

And what hopes do we have for the coming year? Firstly, 2009 will be election year in Afghanistan and we are busy now beginning the process of voter registration in Musa Qala. Linked to this must be our drive to reassure the local population through the improved security situation and the commitment of the Afghan government and security forces to stay the course in this part of Helmand. Later in the spring Musa Qala will have the chance to obtain some large-scale investment by the Afghan government in the form of the Afghan Social Outreach Programme. But that depends on the performance of the local authorities here so my primary task must be to mentor them through that process.

On the domestic front there has been talk of an upgrade in our living conditions here in camp with the arrival of some portakabins in place of our concrete cell, but this may be one of those things that remains just talk.

And spring 2009 will see the departure of this Battle Group and the arrival of the next one, which will be my third. The Gurkhas will be a  hard act to follow.

So here's to a peaceful and prosperous 2009 in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Posted at 21:10 08 January 2009 by James Donally  |  Comments[2]

Cakes, biscuits and security

Welcome to my blog. And welcome to Musa Qala, a small market town situated in Northern Helmand province, Afghanistan. I arrived here three months ago to begin my work as a stabilisation advisor and so I feel I may have learnt enough by now to be able to share my experiences through this blog. Musa Qala was the scene of heavy fighting last December when Afghan Government forces retook the town from the Taliban with the aid of British and other NATO forces. The two civilian Musa Qala stabilisation advisors live and work with the UK military, currently led by the 2nd Battalion of Royal Gurkha Rifles, in their camp in the town centre. Despite being the only civilians in a camp of around 400 soldiers we are well received, supported and, I believe, fully integrated into the work and plans of the Battle Group. The most confusing thing for all concerned is the collision and melding of the Whitehall and military acronyms which feature heavily in our day-to-day work.

The post of Stabilisation Advisor is relatively new out here (created in the last year or so) and its functions are certainly multifaceted. The main stabilisation “advice” I provide is to the District Governor of Musa Qala and other local officials. The governor is an extremely interesting character with a long history of providing tribal, military and spiritual leadership in the Musa Qala region. Much of my day consists of working with him to help deliver effective governance to Musa Qala. As a former fighter he is, as he freely admits, new to civilian politics and needs a certain amount of mentoring. As well as the stabilisation advisors (STABADs – a new acronym for you) we provide the governor with a civil secretariat who are two very committed and talented young locals whose job it is to interpret (in all senses) what STABADs and others are putting to the governor. Being of a more traditional bent (his first comment upon meeting me was “how can you be my advisor when you have no beard”), the governor is not always immediately open to new ways of working. But he is always ready to talk and it is my job to listen and to provide the liaison between him and the UK forces here.

As I begin this blog I have just returned to Musa Qala from delivering the governor to Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, for meetings with his provincial-level bosses and counterparts. This means that I’ll have a bit more time to work on other matters and with other Afghan partners during the governor’s absence from Musa Qala. Problems awaiting me range from the curious – a letter from students on our electricians’ vocational training course accusing their teacher of stealing their cakes and biscuits – to the more serious – a deputation of villagers concerned about the security situation in their locality. However, what both of these examples prove is that the local population is unafraid of approaching us and is confident that we will listen to them. And so I don’t mind leaving the relative luxury of Lashkar Gah and returning to my portion of (surprisingly tasty) Spam curry in Musa Qala.

Posted at 15:36 07 November 2008 by James Donally  |  Comments[0]