Once More into the Breach

I have been back in Afghanistan for a little over a week now.  I arrived back in Kunar last Thursday afternoon.  I sat down with my executive officer and sergeant major for about an hour and received a quick update before retiring to my room to settle down to a long winter's nap.  I started fresh the next morning after the best sleep in a week after traveling from Seattle to Atlanta to Kuwait to Bagram to Jalalabad to Asadabad.  The next day I was back at it.

When I started my travel, I wondered how I would feel coming back.  To spend five months in this place, then go home for a short time knowing all along I would have to come back, was a little strange while I was home.  But once I arrived it was just like riding a bike.  This place, after all, is where I work.  This is my job and I have committed to seeing it through.  For the first few days of course I heard "welcome back" over and over and answered the questions about how my leave was and how the family was.  I didn't mind it, and actually appreciated it, but did not feel completely back into it until that eventually subsided.  It was great to see all the members of the team and I was excited to start working to put a dent in this difficult mission.

By the second full day I was jumping on a helicopter to take a very short trip to another FOB so that I could walk over to the Governor's compound to attend a large gathering.  Since our guys already had training scheduled on the FOB, Abe (our Rule of Law guy) and I decided to catch a quick flight so we could attend without disrupting the schedule of the guys who would normally drive us over.  The meeting was the culmination of an effort that had been going on for years to bring to an end a major feud between two families in Kunar.  As the story goes it started over a woman over 35 years ago.  Ever since then they had been at war with each other.  The two families are from the same tribe and both are prominent in the province.  One family was headed by Malik Zarin who was the top elder in Kunar until a child with a suicide vest killed him back in April.  The other family includes a member of Parliament.  So there was quite a bit of power and it was in everyone's best interest to end the feud.

So, about three months ago a 45 man jirga was appointed and started in earnest on brokering a peace agreement.  They created a document that both families would be required to sign and honor.  The agreement included compensation on both sides for injustices that may have taken place over the years.  Throughout the feud at least 20 family members had been killed with many more injured or caught in the crossfire.  A jirga (I knew you were wondering) is a group of elders that decide on legal or tribal issues. Pashtunwali is the code that all Pashtuns live by with a very specific set of principles that cover everything that includes providing shelter to strangers, revenge, honor, loyalty, etc.  Because this jirga had come up with the agreement and because the heads of the two families signed it, the feud is now over.  Everyone we spoke to said that the entire families would respect the agreement and no more blood would be spilled.  They would now live as brothers.  The meeting was attended my parliamentarians and ministers from Kabul and what seemed like every elder in Kunar.  The shura hall probably held 300 people and the courtyard in the governor's compound was full of hundreds more listening to the speeches.  The culminating event was literally bringing family members up on the stage to hug each other in a show of brotherhood.  Thirty-five years of strife ended in one day and sealed with hugs.

So, I am back in the grind.  My XO headed home for his leave (which means I am busier than usual) and I have settled back into the same battle rhythm I was in before I went home.  Now, it is time to put a dent in this mission we have been tasked with and get this team home on time.