History of Afghanistan (Times Online Article)

Lessons of history: Spirit of defiance lives on in a land no outsider has tamed.

Ben Macintyre
From The Times, September 26, 2009

In 1992, in the presidential palace in Kabul, I interviewed Mohammed Najibullah, the brutal former secret police chief who with Soviet backing had been installed as President of Afghanistan six years earlier. A huge man, nicknamed “the Ox of Kabul”, Najibullah was politely menacing and supremely confident. Resistance by the US-backed Mujahidin was petering out, he insisted. Afghanistan would soon be a land at peace.

Two months later he was ousted from power and took sanctuary in the UN compound. He would later be dragged out of hiding by the troops of the Taleban, tortured, castrated and hanged from a lamppost in the Kabul bazaar.
Afghan history has a way of humbling the men who would be king, those who try to rule and subdue it, and Afghanistan has provided a graveyard for successive foreign armies. Cue the Kipling:
When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains And the women come out, to cut up what remains Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains And go to your Gawd like a soldier.

The country has never been permanently conquered or colonised and no external power has held long-term sway here; then again, no internal power has ever controlled Afghanistan for long, either. Home to 50 ethnic or sub-tribal groups, 34 languages and 27 million people, the country’s internecine feuds and counterfeuds — ethnic, clannish and impenetrable to outsiders — run through Afghan society like veins through marble.
“The Pathan tribes are always engaged in private or public war,” wrote Winston Churchill, who had direct experience of Afghan hospitality and ferocity as part of Sir Bindon Blood’s expedition against the Pathans in 1897. “Every family cultivates its vendetta; every clan, its feud.”

The accident of geography and the scars of history have preserved an almost medieval attitude to honour, violence, tribe and family. For far too many, fighting is a way of life, and one of the only thriving Afghan industries, other than opium. Only when an invader appears do the Afghans combine, briefly, to throw him out. In 330BC Alexander the Great subdued Persia and entered Afghanistan, reaching as far as Samarkand, now in Uzbekistan, fighting the ferocious tribes all the way. Struck by an Afghan arrow, he barely got out alive, leaving behind his name, Kandahar, in Afghanistan’s second city, but little in the way of political control. After Alexander came the White Huns, the Persians, and the Mongols in 1219, under Genghis Khan, who laid waste to once-great cities, slaughtered fantastically and wrecked the country’s irrigation system, leaving permanent deserts.

By 1700, the Mughals had imposed their power on most of what is now Afghanistan, and in the 1740s Ahmad Shah Durrani extended his rule from Kabul to Peshawar and then on to Delhi, Kashmir and Sind. On his death the empire bloodily fragmented.
The first Briton of note to arrive, in 1808, was a Scot named Mountstuart Elphinstone. Clever, courageous and slightly bonkers, he was sent to coax the “King of Caubul” into an alliance against Napoleon. No one really expected him to return. His conclusions have an eerie modern resonance: “The societies into which the nation is divided possess within themselves a principle of repulsion and disunion too strong to be overcome.”   The empire of Queen Victoria, however, was not to be held back. Fearing Russian encroachment on India from the north, in 1839 it was decided to oust the incumbent Emir of Kabul and replace him with a puppet potentate. The Army of the Indus rolled in for what was expected to be a simple exercise in regime change: 9,500 soldiers of the Bengal Army, 9,000 Bombay or native troops under the once and future Afghan king Shah Shujah, and 38,000 followers. One brigadier needed 60 camels just to carry his personal belongings. Another took a pack of foxhounds. It was, said one observer, a “grand military promenade”. It was also a major gambit in what Kipling dubbed the Great Game, and it was an unmitigated disaster.

Installed in Kabul, the British formally declared “an end to the distractions by which, for so many years, the welfare and happiness of the Afghans have been impaired”. The tribes swiftly rebelled, resentment at foreign incursion compounded by the licentious British soldiery. According to the official military historian of the time, “the attractions of the women of Caubul they did not know how to resist”. The truth is, they didn’t try. In January 1842, the British were forced into pell-mell retreat with 16,000 soldiers, camp followers, women and children struggling through the icy passes in an attempt to reach the safety of Jalalabad. Those who survived the Afghan snipers starved or froze to death. Just one man staggered into Jalalabad, Dr William Brydon, with part of his skull removed by an Afghan sword. The Victorian press made Brydon a hero. The Afghans later claimed that he had been allowed to survive as a warning to the foreign invader: leave, and never return.

The warning was not heeded. The First Anglo-Afghan War was followed by a second, in 1878, when the emir refused to receive a British diplomatic mission. About 40,000 troops marched in and eventually installed Abdur Rahman Khan, who delegated conduct of foreign relations to Britain.

After yet another Anglo-Afghan war, in 1917, independence arrived in 1919. A period of relative tranquillity came with the accession of King Zahir Shah in 1933. He was deposed in 1973, leading to another period of political meltdown, culminating in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979: the New Great Game, the violent manipulation of Afghanistan for geopolitical gain, had returned with a vengeance.

The US responded by arming the insurgents. By 1985 a limited Soviet expeditionary force had swelled to an occupation army of 120,000 troops. A year later the CIA began supplying the Mujahidin with Stinger missiles, which they learnt to use with devastating effect. In February 1989 the Soviet forces pulled out; officially they left 15,000 dead, but the real figure was far higher. At least a million Afghans had perished, with about six million driven into exile. The warlords tore one another to pieces and a period of roiling anarchy came to an end only with the arrival of the black-robed Taleban. The world’s most repressive religious regime created peace, of a sort, but also a haven for terrorism. With the September 11 attacks, the wheel turned again: British and American military muscle propelled the Northern Alliance into Kabul and placed Hamid Karzai in the presidency.

In 2002, I interviewed Zahir Shah, the former King, in the same presidential palace where I had met the doomed Najibullah ten years earlier. After four decades of comfortable exile in Italy, the elderly Mr Shah had returned as “Father of the Nation”, a powerless figurehead of unity. It was a year after the invasion. Jumpy American bodyguards armed with machineguns patrolled the palace corridors. Mr Karzai’s power extended barely beyond the outskirts of Kabul.

Sitting in a room warmed by a single-bar electric heater, the former King talked of Afghanistan’s turbulent past and fragile present. At the age of 18 he saw his father assassinated. At 59 he was toppled from his throne by his cousin. At 88 he was back. The Taleban, he insisted, were a spent force; Osama bin Laden would soon be captured.

For alongside the other, grim aspects of Afghanistan’s past — the history of bloodletting, instability and fierce independence — is another national characteristic, imbued by centuries of hardship: a gritty, unshakeable optimism.

“When I came back to this palace, I passed a garden and there was little boy,” said the man who had been King. “He was charming. That gave me much hope.”

Understanding the conflict in Afghanistan...

For those without a masters degree in "Strategic Studies", I thought I would provide a clear illustration that concisely sums up the path towards Afghan stability and counter-insurgency operations....

Clear?

The Defence Base Act

What is the Defense Base Act?

Established in 1941, the primary goal of the Defense Base Act was to cover workers on military bases outside the United States. The act was amended to include public works contracts with the government for the building of non-military projects such as dams, schools, harbors, and roads abroad. A further amendment added a vast array of enterprises revolving around the national security of the United States and its allies. Today, almost any contract with an agency of the U.S. government, for work outside the U.S., whether military in nature or not, will likely require Defense Base Act coverage.

Defence Base Act History

The Defense Base Act, P.L.77-208, was enacted in 1941 and extended workers’compensation coverage under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) to persons working on American military bases that were either acquired by the United States from foreign countries or that were located outside of the continental United States. Coverage was extended to public works contractors working outside of the United States in 1942 with the enactment of the War Hazards Compensation Act, P.L. 77-784, which also established the War Hazards Compensation Act (WHCA) program. Themost significant amendments to the DBA were enacted in 1958 and extended coverage to non-citizens, to persons working on projects funded under the Mutual Security Act of 1954, and to persons working to provide morale and welfare services, such as through the United Service.

What are the consequences of not carrying DBA Coverage?

Failure to obtain DBA insurance carries stiff penalties. All government contracts contain a provision that requires bidding contractors to obtain necessary insurance. Failure to do so will result in fines and possible loss of contract. The additional and most severe penalty is that employers without DBA coverage are subject to suits under common law, wherein common law defenses are waived. In other words, the claimants or their heirs need only file suit and do not have to prove negligence. Lastly, all claims may be brought in Federal Court and are against the insured directly. According to Ashcraft & Gerel, LLP, the leading national law firm handling Defense Base Act cases for injured workers, these cases can be very costly, and should be a source of great concern for contractors operating overseas.

Who Requires DBA Coverage?


1. Any employee working on a military base or reservation outside the U.S.
2. Any employee engaged in U.S. government funded public works business outside the U.S.
3. Any employee engaged in a public works or military contract with a foreign government which has been deemed necessary to U.S. National Security.
4. Those employees that provide services funded by the U.S. government outside the realm of regular military issue or channels.
5. Any employees of any sub-contractors of the prime or letting contractor involved in a contract like numbers 1-4 above.

Defence Base Act Blog
Defence Base Act Compensation Blog

AFGHANISTAN BECOMES MORE DANGEROUS FOR CONTRACTORS

AFGHANISTAN BECOMES MORE DANGEROUS FOR CONTRACTORS
By Matt Kelley, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON, U.S. government contractor deaths in Afghanistan more than doubled last year as violence and American troop levels increased, federal government records show. The Labor Department received at least 141 insurance claims for contractor deaths in Afghanistan last year, up from 55 in 2008, department records show. U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan doubled to 311 last year.

The department collects the claims figures as part of a workers' compensation program that provides benefits for injuries or deaths at companies doing U.S. government work overseas. The program paid out about $200 million in 2008, up from $9.4 million in 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The increase in deaths in Afghanistan comes as tens of thousands more contractors are surging into the country while insurgent violence there spikes, said Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association, a trade group of companies that provide security and other services in war zones. The number of contractors for the U.S. military in Afghanistan rose by 50% last year to 107,000, according to the Pentagon's Central Command. A State Department report released this month said "all Westerners and Afghans associated with Westerners are targets" in Afghanistan.

"Things are getting more dangerous in Afghanistan because insurgents are getting more bold," Brooks said. "For contractors, Afghanistan used to be the place where you went on vacation, because it was safer than Iraq. Now it's turned around, and Iraq is relatively safe." Still, Iraq remains a dangerous place for contractors almost as risky as it is for U.S. troops. The number of contractors killed in Iraq declined only slightly. There were at least 146 death claims for contractors in Iraq last year, down from 174 the year before. Meanwhile, U.S. military deaths in Iraq were cut in half from 313 in 2008 to 148 last year. President Obama last year ordered more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to fight a resurgent Taliban insurgency and provide better security for Afghan civilians. Gen. David Petraeus, the head of Central Command, said last week that nearly half of the 30,000 new troops have arrived. There are currently about 99,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. The Pentagon plans to withdraw all but about 50,000 non-combat troops by the end of August. There is no way of knowing the exact number of overseas contractors working for the U.S., or precisely how many have been killed or injured.

DATABASE: A look at U.S. lives lost in Afghanistan

A 2008 law requires agencies to track information about overseas contractors, including statistics on casualties, but that database is not complete, John Hutton of the Government Accountability Office told Congress in March. Also, the Labor Department figures may underestimate the number of contractors killed because some firms, particularly subcontractors, may not report those casualties. The contractors provide a wide range of services, including building U.S.-funded reconstruction projects, guarding civilian officials and cooking meals for American troops. Deaths and injuries reported to the Labor Department include both war-related casualties such as from roadside bombs and other work-related incidents such as vehicle crashes. Contractors' survivors receive weekly payments equal to as much as two-thirds of the deceased's pay up to $64,740 per year. Disabled workers can get up to two-thirds of their previous wages, subject to the same cap.

Arrival in Kabul

There was some last minute dramas with my flight booking, that were swiftly resolved with some super-efficient actions from our department's travel coordinator.  It did result in a very rushed taxi ride to Dubai airport and, sadly, far too little time there to fully enjoy window shopping in the departure duty-free.

The SAFI Airways flight was not too bad...although the Boing 737 was cunningly retro-styled to give a true 1970's flight experience.  Stepping onto the aircraft was definately the translation point from the modern glitz of Dubai into the thread-bare necessity of Kabul.  Luckily, the flight was only 2 hours and 30 minutes and amazing views of the snow-capped Hindu Kush mountains were enough to keep my mind from being pre-occupied with the fact my arse was going totally numb on the too-hard seats. I thought the 'extra padding' I had acquired during my four 'fish-and-chip' months in the UK might have alleviated this, but alas no....

 The aircraft was mostly full of expatriate workers in a standard 'uniform' of khaki clothing and desert boots.  A few 'embassy' types wore chinos and starched blue shirts.  Guessing the occupation and backgrounds of my fellow passengers provided some interesting in-flight entertainment.  Some of the American's were the easiest, as they wore polo shirts that proudly advertised which government sponsored agency or programme they were involved with.  It also seems that goatee beards are the de-facto 'signifier' of counter-narcotics agents, in the same way that black suits, sunglasses and tiepins are synonmous with their homeland federal agencies.

The flight would have been a Walter Mitty wetdream, as it was easy to imagine that any of my fellow 'numb-bumed' travellers was a CIA operative or SAS 'Black Ops' super-trooper,....but judging from the resigned expressions on most people's faces, it seemed that most were simple expatriate workers who were looking forwards to an unspecified amount of time surrounded by dust, drudgery and lack of social stimulus...

The decent into Kabul Airport provided a great over-view of Kabul city, nestled around a solitary large rocky ridge on a vast and dusty plain.  The city had expanded greatly since I last studied it properly in 2001/2.

"Ah my boy...I remember when I was a lad.... all these buildings weren't here.... it was just green grass and MINEFIELDS..."

As I was later to discover, the bulk of the new infrastructure surrounding the airport districts seems to be the logistical and fuel compounds supporting the various military, NGO (Non-Governmental Agency) and UN operations at the airport.  Several of those large compounds belong to my company!

As the plane rolled up the runway, it was a very strange experience to view rows upon rows of military planes and helicopters.  Simular to the Farnborough Airshow, but with a 3rd world airport back-drop and a sense of 'purpose'.  The noise of C-130 Hercules, Blackhawk, Chinook and Russian Mi helicopters passing overhead is very much a part of the current Kabul 'experience'.  It was certainly a stark reminder that I wasn't in 'Kansas' any more!

Processing through Kabul immigration was a lot easier and painless than I had predicted it would be.  The luggage arrived swiftly (I only brought the bare essentials in my daysack) and it didn't take long to complete the necessary paperwork to recieve my  'Foreigner's Registration Card'.  I do hope that I can keep that document on departure... it would be a great addition to my scrapbook.

I left the airport with a little trepidation.  As I walked out of the gates, into the carpark area, I could see all the 'embassy types' being greeted by their heavily armed bodyguards and escorted into even heavier armored 4x4's.  Jealously,  I stood around like a proper tourist, randomly awaiting some clue about where my pick-up was meant to be.  To make things better, there was a brief but heavy rain shower...and I got to be the smug person, because I had my gore-tex rainjacket handy.

After a few minutes, I was approached by a local guy who wanted to be helpful.  I told him my companie's name and he said he knew where my driver was.  Apparently, I should have been in carpark C, but I had stopped in carpark B.  Disappointed that my psychic powers had failed me, I followed this random guy with a certain sense of fatality until he miraculously took me straight to the right person!  By this time I was feeling guilty for the deep suspicion I had felt for this helpful, welcoming man...and then I felt even more guilty that I had no dollars or afghanis with which to tip him.  With some shame I offered him the few Dubai Dirhams that I had in my pocket.  His obvious disappointment was tangible.  I do hope that I see the fella on my departure!

I met the company driver, who was conspicious by his complete lack of any company clothing, markings or identification, so I borrowed his mobile phone to ring the Kabul office and confirm that I wasn't about to willingly jump into the back of my own personal 'kidnap mobile'.

As we rattled our way out of the airport in a rather ordinary looking mini-van, I gazed with envy at the air-conditioned, well suspended and highly bulletproof SUVs accelerating past us.  However, I very soon settled into 'tourist mode', unwound the window and started snapping photos of unique commuter scenes of Kabul.  Of course, the old training is well ingrained...so I couldn't help but keep one eye open for the 'combat indicators' of modern middle-eastern terrorism.

 It didn't take long to realise that there was little point in observing for cars 'overladen' on the suspension, etc etc.... that was the norm for every vehicle.  It was also clear that Afghan drivers were just as lunatic as any motorist you might encounter in Manila, Delhi or Rome...so I was glad that after about 20 minutes fighting our way through the traffic, we got into the 'suburbs' of the district where our compounds are located.

There were still a lot of garishly decorated lorries hammering down the road (headed for Jalalabad, Bagram and the South), but there was less and less honking and more donkeys as the road became more potholed the further we moved from the city.  I was fascinated by the local sights... children playing football and the stereotypical mud-brick houses and clothing (often consisting of the distinctive kufi (hats) and a chapan (coats).

Of course, wherever we went there was a ubiquitous military presence... Afghan army and police armed with AK47's standing alongside Hummers at checkpoints and clustered around heavily sand-bagged gateways to various camps and compounds alongside the road.  Soon enough, we had arrived at our own heavily guarded gatehouse, that was reassuringly manned with Nepali (ex-gurka) private security personnel.  It took only a short time to be issued a temporary visitors pass and we drove forwards with the sound of the heavy steel gates clanging closed behind our mini-bus.

I was very much looking forward to meeting the team here and seeing what the accommodation standards were like!

Stop-over in Dubai

After a hasty departure from the UK, I spent a frantic 2 weeks at the corporate offices in Dubai.  There was a lot of information to absorb in a short time, but I managed to gain a decent appreciation of the company, the HR issues that would effect my job and I met a lot of new colleagues.  There were a lot of names and faces to remember.

On my first day, I was whisked away to a local medical center for my pre-deployment medical examination. I spent several hours in a jet-lagged haze, providing stool, urine and blood samples, chest x-ray and recieving all the inoculations I (didn't) need.  At least I now know that my previous 3 years in Asia didn't leave me with any nasty conditions...

One of the most interesting sights in Dubai is the new Burj Khalifa tower.  Officially the tallest building in the world, it sits on top of the world's biggest shopping mall and a massive aquarium. When I get a day off (and can be bothered to leave the hotel swimming pool), then I will do tourist thing and get some proper snaps..

The tower is visible from anywhere in Dubai and is one of the most impressive sights I have seen.  Appearing as a very harsh 'spike' jutting high above the other skyscrapers (which seem tiny clustered around its base), you would be forgiven for thinking that it was some supernatural construction from a fictional city in a fantasy or sci-fi novel.  Gandalf definitely lives there!

Dubai certainly is a luxurious place..... if anything, it could be described as the 'Vegas' of the Middle East.  Those folks certainly do love their architecture!

I did enjoy a couple of notable 'nights out on the town' during my fortnight.  I must say a big THANKS for the hospitality of the Desert Sports Diving Club (BSAC 1339) for the cold beer and enthusiastic conversations.  I promise I will get wet on the Musandam Pennisula next time I have a break in Dubai.  I was also invited to a 'corporate bash' evening of 'go-karting' at the Dubai Autodrome.  I thought I knew how to drive fast... but the presence of a former 3x Paris-Dakar Rally Champion soon dispelled any notions that I ever had about my skill behind the wheel. Truly humbled and impressed!  Following the driving, I had the chance to drown my sorrows at Mina Seyahi (Le Meridien), which is a classy place on Jumeriah Beach, near the Dubai Marina.  The free bar and delicious munchies saw me proud until the very early hours....

My only other excursion was for some evening window shopping at the Deira City Center mall. It felt quite homely, due to the large number of Filipino's there... I could almost have imagined that I was back in Makati. Sadly, I really couldn't fit anything else into my luggage...so the shopping frenzy will have to wait for my first holiday from Afghanistan, later in July.

My company accomodates its 'expats in-transit' in a decent hotel on the outskirts of Dubai, close to the new development area where our corporate offices are.  I must admit that the 'all-you-can-eat' breakfasts and generous meal allowances for lunch and dinner had a serious negative impact on my waistline!  By the end of the second week, I was shunning chips and mash...and sticking firmly to the side-salad options.  I did enjoy more than my fair share of t-bone steaks though. :)

Surprisingly, the hotel didn't offer any middle-eastern or Lebanese cuisine on its menu... which was a disappointment for me, as I am a complete Humus junkie.  I did manage to track some of the gunky beige stuff down in the staff canteen at the office though... big relief!

During my time at the corporate office, I did enjoy getting involved in some recruiting efforts.  Many of the jobs open at the company are simular to mine and involve lengthy deployments into countries such as Afghanistan.  Naturally, they are tailor-made for ex-military people with experience working in those environments, so it was a pleasure to spend time contacting the various military resettlement advisors and agencies to promote vacancies we have.

I am a firm supporter of the 'Hire a Hero' campaign being run in the UK.  I dread to think of fellow service veterans facing unemployment in the UK and other western countries, so if I can contribute to their career prospects then I am a happy HR person. The campaign seems to be going really well.

I am now looking forward to my first real work in Afghanistan...as I will soon be flying over to Kabul to conduct a recruiting 'drive' for Afghan citizens into our team.  My company has a commitment to the employment of local workers, as this provides a very tangible benefit to the local community and the overall strategic efforts of ISAF in Afghanistan.  Having identified numerous roles that would be suitable for local employees, I drafted a recruiting process that has had to include serious security concerns, the requirement for English comprehension assessments, along with all the 'usual' hurdles of running recruiting operations in a foreign and relatively unfamiliar country.  I really don't know what to expect in terms of candidate quality, but I am positive that it will be an interesting and educational experience for me.

Getting a business visa for Afghanistan required several (lengthy) visits to their embassy in Dubai.  Embassy visits can sometimes be interesting.  These ones weren't. The reception/waiting/service area of the Afghan embassy seemed very much like a road-side kebab (shwarma) house.  Spending several hours on a tacky plastic garden seat, under a corrogated roof with bare concrete walls,  I wasn't expecting to be offered any 'Ferrero Rocher' - and  I wasn't disappointed in that respect!  The man at the 'hatch' had an amazing ability to say "No" in a thousand ways, whilst still keeping a broad smile on his face.  Anyway... our legal/liaison team in Kabul eventually managed to get the right authorization letters sent from the correct Afghan Ministry beaurocrat to the right (anonomous) paper-pusher in the Embassy...so I now have a rather splendid (and relatively rare) Afghanistan entry visa in my passport.  It's only a 'single-entry, 30 day' affair, but I won't need a visa for later trips to Southern Afghanistan, as I will be stuck within the military bases (and definately not taking any touring holidays around Helmand Province).

For my time in the southern provinces, I will be 'disappeared'.... stamped out of the United Arab Emirates.. but not stamped into anywhere else.  I can predict raised eyebrows from a multitude of customs officials at airports in the future!

So, now I am waiting for a luxury 2.5 hour flight courtesy of 'SAFI Airlines' from Dubai to Kabul.  I am predicting a major cultural shift at either end of that short flight!