Meeting the Locals in Badakshan Province

For the most part, the local people we came into contact with during our trip were very friendly and very curious about us. Their needs are huge - no roads, no hospitals, decaying buildings, no electrity, no work. Most of the area survives as an agrarian economy. I've seen more donkeys here in a week than I've seen in my entire life before I came here. Lots of livestock - mostly sheep and goats and donkeys wandering the roads and fields. The Afghans I met were grateful for our help and genuinely recognized we were there to assist them. The problem is, sprinkled amongst the population are die hard religious radicals who are determined to keep this Country in the middle ages, only with modern weapons - Ak-47's, IED's, and Rocket Propelled Grenades. And you never know when one of them is going to step around the corner and take a pot shot at you - so you always have to stay on your guard.

Our S-2 (Intelligence Officer), LTC Wayne Dick, with his back to the camera, is talking to some of the local population in one of the villages we went through. Jawanshir, our translator, is facing the camera. You can see the curiousity of the local people when we'd get out to talk with them reflected in the faces of the crowd that would inevitably gather around us. LTC Dick was soaking it in and would stop often to speak with people as American intelligence knew almost nothing about the area we were in so he wanted to learn as much as he could. He's already prompted me to plan another excursion in early November before the snows come.

In photo two we are in the courtyard of the local Afghan police station we'll be tearing down and rebuilding in Jurm. We're talking with the local police commander (in the brown cap facing the camera) to coordinate the work for the Spring. He had a very impressive air about him and I very quickly got a good gut feeling about the guy. He also expressed his gratitude to us - he said he knew we had left our homes and families 1000's of miles behind in order to come here and help his country. Shortly before the photo was taken I'd been outside the compound on the street chatting with some of the Afghan police when MSG dragged me back inside the courtyard - he'd glimpsed a man down the street carrying an automatic weapon on a tripod eyeing us and told me to get my ass back inside. "Yes Master Sergeant!!"

Photo three is of some of the local police force in Jurm. The building behind them is their barracks - no windows, no electricity, no plumbing, no heat, no A/C. The condition of the building on the outside is better than it is on the inside and I think you can see from the picture the outside ain't so great. In our country this would be a condemned building. Here's it's all that they have. Made me glad that I'm going to be instrumental in giving these men probably the nicest facilities they've ever seen in their lives.