Thoughts on the Kabul Experience

The problem of the day, the next crises, or the past sin to resolve.  Everyday day working here brings new challenges and keeps you on your feet seeking the best solution.

As a second assignment with the Agency, I think it was really one of the best choices for exercising all that I learned of my work in the prior four years.  The responsibility of the portfolios are enormous and the types and degree of problems vary to the extent that one might see more than what many other would see in an entire normal 4 year tour.

"Afghanistan is a great place to learn, but the worst place to train"

This post definitely requires one to know their stuff.  Knowledge of regulations, procedures, development programming, and managing the bureaucracy are paramount to effectively implementing programs.  But with those key fundamentals, one can come and understand the problems and develop a solution.  In infrastructure, for example, no matter how much money was spent for a good design or plan, the conditions on the ground and implementation of the work almost always will experience deviations requiring creative solutions and negotiations to resolve.  Throw in political considerations that may foil the most rational or best business decision, and then you really need to put on your thinking cap and work with the team to keep things moving forward.  I don't think I could have such an interesting work portfolio and thankful for the colleagues and supervisors that make things manageable.

But despite the long days working, you'll meet a lot of people and really form some good friendships.  Plainly, the budget is large and the number of staff is commensurate.  And as people are cycling in and out for one year tours, you'll have met and worked with a good number of people in a short period of time.

In normal posts, everyone has an expiration date as they arrive and then move on to their next assignment.  This system tends to accelerate the pace you get to know people and creates an environment where people are just more friendly as they consistently must work to establish their social network for where they live.  This is especially true in Kabul where you work with the same people whom you'll eat with everyday and with whom you'll hang out with.  It's like a summer camp but for adults.

The makeup of people working here are especially interesting.  There is a wide variety of people with equally varied backgrounds, stories, and motivations for how they come to work in Afghanistan.  That would be an interesting book, I think:  The stories of the people of US Embassy Afghanistan.

I still have a long way to go till finishing my time in Kabul and it gets depressing sometimes thinking about how much longer I have.  I sometimes feel especially jealous of those whom are able to bring their spouses to work at the Mission as they are then able to live a comparatively normal life together vs. those whom are separated.  But all in all, I think this will be valuable experience in the long-run and hopefully I won't have to serve in an assignment like this for long time in the future.

Lots of stream of conscience in this post.  This is really a place one must visit to really understand.

View of Kabul.  A city I've yet to really know.

Mabuhay from the Philippines and Whale Sharks - First Kabul R&R Destination

Traveling, sightseeing, and adventuring.  The holidays have been great.

For my first trip outside of Kabul, we made a short Asia tour first to Manila and Cebu in the Philippines, then Jakarta, Indonesia, over to Hong Kong, and an unplanned return to Jakarta (will have to explain this one in a future post).  This may seem like a pretty exhausting trip with this much travel to different places over two weeks, but I think we timed our stays in each destination sufficiently so avoid travel burnout.

My wife had a work meeting in the Philippines so we decided to start my first break out of Kabul in Manila so we could have the chance to explore the country and check it off the list.  Manila, in many ways, reminded me of other Southeast Asian countries we've been too in terms of the look and feel.   However, comparing Manila to places like Jakarta and Bangkok, we never felt quite as safe from things like petty crime that we do in other places.  Poverty is extensive and, similar to other SE Asian countries, there are extensive gaps between the rich and the poor.

My favorite sight of Manila was exploring Fort Santiago in the area within Manila called Intramuros.  We were recommended to do a tour with Carlos Celdran and were very glad we did.  When we travel and sight-see, I've come to more and more often hire tour guides as it provides much more context and information than we would have otherwise and they are usually very inexpensive sometimes only requiring a gratuity at the end.  Carlos' commitment to the development of his country was very evident and his passion for a better Philippines was inspiring.  Through his stores and guided tours, he is able to fund his organization's causes (social entrepreneur), which I think, is the ideal method for sustainable NGOs rather than the seeking of donor and grant money like so many others operate.  I learned a lot about a country I previously knew very little about and hope there are many others in the country working toward a better future for their people.

After just a few days in Manila, we headed to a popular resort island of the the Philippines called Cebu.  We stayed at a very nice resort and spent the time relaxing.  The highlight of the stay was a day trip to the Southern Point of the island to swim with whale sharks!  Whale sharks are huge and having the opportunity to swim with them was simply amazing.  There are though some ethical concerns about the local operators continually feeding the whale sharks to attract them for the tourist business but if the sharks are well cared for, I think it's alright as a tourist destination.  We recently springed for a new GoPro camera so we'd finally have the ability to take pictures underwater and I'm glad we did.  Looking back, we've missed so many great photo opportunities from places we've been to without having one.

That concludes part one of the first R&R.  Next up, Jakarta and Hong Kong.

The World is the Traveler's Inn

Life on a compound is quite different.  To me, reminiscent in some ways to a college campus in a small college town.  And from what I hear, leaving this compound usually means just going to another compound, so really, unless that changes, I suppose I'm content to having the partners we work with just come to us for meetings.  But I definitely would like to somehow get out and see some of our projects in the country, if feasible.

The normal day?  Things in Kabul revolve around work.  Six day work-weeks from Saturday to Thursday with long hours each day.  Lots to do but interesting and challenging work.  Though a bit intimidating right now as I learn my new portfolio and quirks to how this Mission operates different than other Missions.  Friday's are truly treasured here in Kabul.

But things here really aren't so bad, at least, better than I thought it would be.  While we have regular drills or testing for various emergency scenarios, you have to take efforts to avoid becoming complacent to any security threats as you can easily forget the possibility of any danger.  There are cafeterias, gyms, weekend bazaars to go shopping, and a variety of activities and events going on each day for one to participate it.  And with a large embassy population, you're bound to find people you already know or whom you can become friends.  The occasional "duck and cover" alarm though tends to bring back the reality of the environment pretty quickly.

Benefits of working here are pretty nice though.  Cafeterias are free and the food is actually pretty decent.  Financial compensation is at least a 70% bump due to danger and hardship differentials and we can take up to five trips out of country each year as R&Rs (rest and recuperation) or RRBs (regional rest breaks).

I think the hardest part is the separation from family as they are not allowed to come.  However, there are a lot of job opportunities for spouses whom would be allowed to come with their significant others if they take one of the positions.

Over the past few weeks, I'm starting to settle into a routine of work, gym/exercise classes, hanging out with people I've met, and then video calling family in the evenings.  Also have plenty of time to self-teach myself Thai, improve on playing the guitar, and read books.  Activities I look forward to each week include spin classes (when I'm able to pull myself out of bed for the 6AM class), quiz night/trivia every other week, meeting up to play board/card games, and then the impromptu fun events people put together.  Here's to home for the next two years.

A winning medal from the compound olympics

Training and Preparing for a High Threat Environment

Do I understand the USG's objectives and USAID's role in the Afghanistan?  Am I mentally and physically resilient for the stresses of the work, the environment, and the separation from loved ones?  And do I know how to react and respond to events of duress or trauma for the safety and security of myself or my colleagues?

Over the past few weeks, I've been in training specific to address these questions.  USAID and other  agencies invest a considerable amount of resources to prepare their staff for assignments to high threat posts overseas.  A high threat environment is a post where there are risk considerations not present in other conventional posts.

A House bill defines these posts as:

(2) High risk, high threat post.--The term `high risk, high threat post' means a United States diplomatic or consular post, as determined by the Secretary, that, among other factors, is--
``(A) located in a country--
``(i) with high to critical levels of political violence and terrorism; and
``(ii) the government of which lacks the ability or willingness to provide adequate security; and

``(B) with mission physical security platforms that fall below the Department of State's established standards.

The training has been interesting and very engaging.  In some ways, reminiscent to DLI orientation training from before but specifically focused on select countries and with participants on at least their second tours (or much more) overseas.  Training also includes the "Crash Bang" course which was the most hands-on and immersing training I've experienced yet in my Foreign Service career.

A good amount of time has been spent on the topic of resiliency to ensure we are physically and mentally prepared for this type of hardship environment.  This includes having healthy habits and practices to have a successful tour and the plans for maintaining relationships at a distance.  I've known for quite some time Afghanistan would be my ongoing post, but sometimes, particularly when friends and family express their concern, I wonder if I should be more worried than I am.  But we decided on this assignment based on what was best for our family at the time and for the future.  Serving in Afghanistan will definitely be a unique lifetime experience and opportunity seek to make a difference in one of the most impoverished nations in the world.

Here's to the next big adventure.

An extra large dose of Emerson inspiration.