Hello from LT Miller Sep 21

Hello all from Afghanistan.
We are coming to the end of the 120 days of wind. The dust storms have died down and the temperatures have moderated to around 100 daytime with nighttime temps in the 60's. Like everything in Afghanistan there is a trade off, now the flies are swarming. A common expression in Afghanistan is "we have problems" and I see why because it is always something.

We have a satellite now for the base so we can get some American programming like CNN, Fox News, ESPN and various mixed in prime time TV shows from last year. I was able to watch the Bears beat/spank the Packers, definitely worth staying up to 4:30 AM. It is interesting to see what Americans are seeing. The news stories are mostly truthful when they are not editorials but not necessarily the complete story. The stories tend to start out that an American got killed then work down into how bad the war is going. That kind of reporting actually feeds into the enemy because the highlight of the story points out that they are killing Americans, which is their goal. It is almost like the whole story and focus is on body counts. It is actually kind of sickening to us. How about some stories on the fact that nothing is being done to stop the drug trade? Absolutely nothing else matters until we get that stopped. That is the prime source of the enemy funding. Or a story on how brutal the enemy is to its own people, or that these people like to shoot at ambulances and medics, or that there are more children in Afghan schools than ever before or that GITMO looks like a resort compared to the living conditions here.

We have found it rather interesting the past few days over the uproar about the Pope. The Afghan government asked for an apology from the Pope. I found that request quite ironic coming from a country that punishes Christians by death. This is not some random act from clerics. It is written in the Afghan constitution that it is illegal for a Muslim to become a Christian; the punishment for doing so is death. When we were first coming over here an Afghan politician that admitted to becoming a Christian was sentenced to death. George Bush had to request from the Afghan president a way out, so the individual was declared insane (Afghan law does not allow the insane to be executed, which rules out half the population) and he was allowed to leave the country. Briefly made the news in the U.S. and no outrage by Christians throughout the world. Go figure.

The latest village we have been working with is a Pashtun village that was created by the Taliban to try to settle this area with pro Taliban people. They have avoided the Americans so we arranged a meeting with the elders to see if we could help them out. Their first request was of course water since we have been working on wells with other nearby villages. They were very friendly and I enjoyed interacting with the children. Since this is a village that was (is?) sympathetic to the Taliban, women are treated very poorly. When I was handing out candy the little girls were not allowed any and were pushed back by the elders and in some cases hit rather hard. It took a lot of restraint not to knock one of these men up side the head but I have to remember we cannot change this culture overnight. I made a deal with the little boys that if they did not take candy, paper and pencils to the girls that I would not give the boys any. They agreed and the little girls immediately ate the candy because they knew it would be taken away from them as soon as we left. The elders have asked for help in starting a school for the girls and boys so they are starting to move away from the Taliban ways. Girls in school is a mighty big change in the way of thinking for these people. Like most villages they will go to whoever will help them so by the Americans helping we hope they will shift their loyalties. In reality I just hope they learn to get along as a country and a people. My goal is to teach each person I have to work with how to function independently so that we can get out of here. Now if I could just convince the Army of this.

The funny or in this case the stupidity for this update is with the Afghan National Police (ANP) reminds me of the old grocery store (I may be showing my age on that one). We have about 20 older Ford Ranger pickup trucks that we are trying to get rid of. They are in good shape and run well. So when we heard that the ANP was having trouble patrolling because of a shortage of vehicles we offered them our old ones. They said great. A few days latter they came out to pick up the trucks. When I took them out to the trucks they just looked at me and shook their heads and I asked what is the problem. They said that they only wanted new trucks. I asked my interpreter how do you say are you shi??ng me in Dari. They were serious and would not accept used trucks. I guess beggars can be choosey.

Take care and keep in touch.
LT John Miller US NARMY