BAMIYAN, Afghanistan — Bamiyan is not Helmand province, raging with firefights. But it’s not yet an eco-tourist’s paradise, either.
This province in Afghanistan’s stunning central highlands has long been considered one of the safest regions in the country. The Shia Hazaras are the majority ethnic group here, and their memories of Taliban rule are still fresh. In 2001, Bamiyan Valley was the scene of the Taliban’s most dramatic act of vandalism: the destruction of the giant Buddha statues. This place is no haven for insurgents.
In terms of development, however, Bamiyan is pretty much off the grid. The province has a population of around half a million — definitive statistics are not available — spread over an area the size of Connecticut. Most families scratch out a living from subsistence farming. The roads are primitive, and many remote villages are completely isolated in the winter.
Since 2003, Bamiyan has been the base for the New Zealand–led Provincial Reconstruction Team, or PRT. The generally high level of security has allowed this small military contingent to take on an ambitious range of development schemes. According to Squadron Leader Dave Curry of the New Zealand Air Force, around 125 different projects are underway, with a total value of around $40 million. Some projects are modest in scale: flood protection walls, footbridges, school repairs, wells. More ambitious projects — road building and power generation projects funded in large part by the U.S. military — are supposed to help link Bamiyan with the rest of Afghanistan. International organizations and relief groups have a healthy presence here.
It’s a glimpse of what the rest of Afghanistan might look like — if the Taliban and their allies do not succeed in making a comeback.
That’s why a place like Bamiyan is worth watching. Group Capt. Greg Elliot, the Bamiyan PRT commander, said the province has seen an “uptick in kinetic activity” over the past few months: roadside bombs, a recent firefight at a police outpost. It’s nowhere near the levels of violence seen in southern Helmand Province or the Korengal Valley, but the incidents are a reminder that all of Afghanistan is vulnerable.
Most of the recent incidents have been confined to the northeast of Bamiyan, where the province borders Baghlan province. Elliot described the trouble as coming from “insurgents with links to Taliban” crossing over to stage attacks. Wardak province, to the southeast, is another problem area.
Good relations with the population of Bamiyan work to the advantage of the PRT: Local residents, in several instances, have tipped off the Kiwis when roadside bombs were planted. But there are other potential flashpoints. The Hazaras in the past have come into conflict with ethnic Tajiks. The rivalry reached a bloody climax in the early 1990s, when armed parties representing both ethnic groups fought vicious turf wars here and in Kabul.
New Zealand’s military is, in many ways, wired for this mission. By U.S. standards, New Zealand’s armed forces are tiny: It has a total active force of less than 10,000. The U.S. military probably has more trombonists in uniform than the entire New Zealand army has soldiers. The country's military expenditure for 2008 was around $1.2 billion, a sum that would cover perhaps five or six F-22 Raptors.
But New Zealand punches above its weight in peacekeeping operations. New Zealand troops are currently deployed on peacekeeping operations and U.N. missions in around a dozen countries, including East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Kosovo. Afghanistan, considered a counterinsurgency mission, now rivals East Timor as the single biggest commitment for the Kiwis. This is the 14th rotation to Afghanistan for the New Zealand contingent. The New Zealand government recently extended its commitment in Afghanistan to September 2010.
The constant rotation cycle, however, makes it hard to build lasting relationships: a classic pitfall of armed social work. Echoing Vietnam-era pacification guru John Paul Vann — “We don’t have 12 years’ experience in Vietnam. We have one year’s experience twelve times over.” — Elliot said, “We haven’t been here six years; we’ve been here one year six times over.”
Photo: Nathan Hodge
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