ANA CONDUCT THEIR OWN HUMANITARIAN MISSION

A few weeks ago I wrote about our recon of a village in downtown Kabul that we deemed too dangerous to stop and assist. The more I thought about those people, the more I realized that we couldn't abandon them just because it wasn't safe for U.S. personnel. Those people were in desperate need of assistance. Something had to be done.

I considered the fact that the village was discovered by my Afghan National Army (ANA) counterpart in the first place. He had visited it many times and had compiled a detailed list of their needs. Then it hit me. He could visit the village any time he wanted. He wasn't worried about security. After all, isn't this his country? Shouldn't he be handing out relief supplies, helping his own people and creating good will for the Afghan Army?

So that's what we decided to do. The ANA loaded up all of the food, some clothing and they performed their own humanitarian mission. As far as we know, this is the first of its kind to come out of the Kabul Military Training Center. It was even more unique because it wasn't managed by a public affairs officer. Instead, it was organized by my counterpart, who is a colonel in the law department.

My counterpart tells me that the mission was a great success. I've seen some of their pictures that they took, but I wasn't able to get copies yet. The people were indeed needy and it looks like the ANA did a great job.

This needs to be a recurring theme. We should give the Afghans the goods and let them distribute them. Although they don't have the resources such as abundant food and clothing, they do want to help their fellow citizens. We should therefore strive to let them organize the mission and conduct the delivery more often in the future.

This will generate good will among the Afghan population towards their own Army. If their Army has popular support, it will be able to stand on its own.

Then we can all come home.