Close Encounter with an Afghan Village Mullah

David James, Kabul. http://www.mountainunity.org/
It’s a beautiful bright winter morning. The sun is hanging low in the sky casting an astonishing golden glow which makes the snow crystals gleam like polished diamonds. A glacial stream babbles at our feet as we cross from a wooded glade to the terraced hillside on the opposite bank.

The local villagers we pass exchange polite greetings with us, some inviting us to eat and drink at their homes, but we are enjoying being outside too much and gratefully decline.

I am walking with my friends in a setting that wouldn’t look out of place in some of the more remote parts of the Lake District. However these pleasant rolling foothills that teem with pastoral and agricultural life are framed by the backdrop of the massive and forbidding Hindu Kush mountains. The melodic refrain of a Koranic recital from a nearby village reminds us this is Afghanistan not Ambleside.

It is a great affirmation for us to be out amongst the beautiful Afghan scenery and hospitable people. After the attacks in Kabul and the constant barrage of reporting that Afghanistan is a lost cause and that there’s no hope it is heartening to remind ourselves that there is. It just depends where you look and what you focus on.

There is something ancient and magical in the air as we follow the stream and the call to prayer towards the nearby village. The dry stone walls, terracing and stone and mud buildings are the only human marks on the landscape. Life in these hills probably hasn’t changed too much in the last 500 years. The men in their turbans and shawls look as though they could have stepped out of any period of Afghan history.

We are not the only ones enjoying the sun and the snow. As we near the village two boys are snowballing. A reminder that in a country known only for war and suffering there is still time for moments of fun.

Of course you can’t go anywhere in Afghanistan and naively assume nothing bad could happen but if you aren’t willing to take a measured risk to make some friends all you’ll have is enemies. As we walk up the muddy street through the village bazaar we are acutely aware we are entirely dependent on the goodwill of the people for our security. We greet everyone we pass and extend as much respect as we can manage with our limited Dari to the elders we encounter.

We don’t ignore anyone who speaks to us, even if we don’t understand and take the time to at least exchange the traditional salutations.

As we pass the teahouse we are invited in and having been out in the cold for some time and having wet feet we gratefully accept the chance for a hot drink and to sit by the wood burning stove.

The tea house is sparsely furnished with a concrete floor and a raised carpeted platform to sit upon. Golden sunlight streams through the windows illuminating photographs of local commanders and a row of brightly coloured teapots. The elderly owner accepts our greetings and begins heating a large kettle over a gas picnic stove.

The only other customer is an ancient man sitting cross legged who looks like he hasn’t moved in a decade. He places his hand on his heart and slowly bows his head in acknowledgement of our presence but makes no other move or sound. It is like he is Afghanistan and we are the international community, we come, we stay awhile, chatter excitedly amongst ourselves and then we leave whilst life for Afghanistan goes on much as it did before.

The beautiful melody of the Koranic recital has come to an end and there is a flurry of new comers as the nearby Mosque empties. At their head is a man we take to be the Mullah because he is followed by an earnest attendant who is carrying the holy Koran wrapped in finely embodied cloth. The Koran is placed with some gravitas upon a small table. I try to gauge how this new dynamic might affect our situation but don’t have time to come to any conclusions before the Mullah greets with a smile that is as warm and welcoming as the dancing sunlight.

I can’t say I’ve met many village Mullahs but this one certainly doesn’t fit the stereotype. He asks us about our health, our families and if we would like anything to eat. He is interested without prying, hospitable without being overbearing, engaging whilst giving us the space to enjoy our own conversation. This is the fine art of Afghan hospitality. Once upon a time the Afghan kindness to guests was as famous as their more notorious savagery towards enemies. It seems to me Afghan society is like a myriad of mirror shards if you arrive open handed as a respectful guest you can find a thousand friends. If you come with fists clenched you’ll find a thousand enemies.

With the tea drunk and our bodies warmed we rise to pay and continue our adventure. There is a sudden clamour of protestations and I wonder if we have committed some inadvertent cultural faux pas. The issue, it becomes clear, is that there is no question of us paying. We are guests, uninvited guests but guests none the less, and in Afghanistan guests don’t pay. The Mullah slaps his own money down and dismisses us with a wave, making it entirely clear that was the end of the matter.

We can give nothing but thanks which are heartfelt and genuine.

On the way home bouncing along the dirt roads in our four-by-four I stare out the window at this other Afghanistan. I feel privileged for the opportunities I get to engage with the real Afghan people, opportunities which are denied to most expats by their security protocols. Often it is only the armed forces that get to move amongst the local people.

I can only imagine the different response we might have provoked if we’d arrived in the village bazaar with two 80 ton armoured vehicles and 50 calibre machine guns.

The exact Afghan population and the number of Taliban fighters can only be estimated but whoever you listen to there are around 30 million Afghans and 30,000 Taliban. That makes the Taliban about 0.1% of the population. Now we shouldn’t underestimate the bad that 0.1% of the population can do if so motivated but also we should consider the good that the other 99.9% could achieve.

I couldn’t for a second suggest that Afghanistan isn’t a country with tremendous difficulties, conflict and suffering but we need to remind ourselves that it is not the whole story.

David James is the Director of Mountain Unity International. Please get in touch if you would like him to write an article for your publication or speak at your event.

Global Security Agree Afghan Economy Key

MU: More and more analysts and experts are recognising that it is the Afghan economy that is key to success in the country. Below is an extract from Global Security.org's recent article. You can read the full article by Ed Corcoran here.



Tipping Afghanistan in a positive direction requires a significant deemphasis of military operations and a significant reemphasis on economic development in areas where NATO forces are welcomed. It is the blossoming of such areas that will undermine any residual Taliban claim to legitimacy. NATO efforts need to focus not on victory, but on growth, building prosperity in Afghanistan province by province. There needs to be a shift not only in operations, but in reporting and publicity, a new focus on spreading the word of development and of the South Korean parallel, on getting individual Afghans enthused about their own economic potential, demonstrating that NATO forces are actively supporting Afghan development in accordance with their own priorities.

A burgeoning Afghan economy can sweep the Taliban aside in a wave of modernization, spreading prosperity with a new sense of possibilities. Countries and companies which establish an early presence will be in a position to benefit the most from this economic expansion. An active Afghan development program could demonstrate the positive impact of grass roots empowerment and become a model not only for the Muslim World, but for the entire spectrum of developing nations – the core strategic challenge for the XXI Century.

International Women's Day in Kabul

We had the great privilege of taking some pictures of the Women for Women International's organised Meet Me on the Bridge event for International Women's Day in Kabul.

What an extraordinary group of women. Please support them in events around the world tomorrow (8th March)

Visit http://www.womenforwomen.org/ for more information about your local event.

Enterprise for Peace – Building the Afghan Brand

What?

Developing and implementing a new marketing strategy to make Afghan goods competitive on the global market.

Why?

Insurgency & terrorism require a recruiting pool and at least the tacit support of a significant portion of the population. People with jobs and businesses have something to lose and will make a stand against those that threaten their livelihoods.

According to international military and law enforcement organizations engaged in Afghanistan the country requires a 170,000 strong national army and a 134,000 strong police force to provide security. Even without other public expenditures such as basic healthcare provision, education and infrastructure development Afghanistan doesn’t, and won’t for the foreseeable future, have a tax base to pay for it. Therefore the Afghan government will be dependent, focused and accountable to their international donors and not the taxpaying Afghan electorate.

You want democracy? Then get the electorate to pay the bills. They will hold the government to account.

Additionally it is only a matter of time until international dollars get focused elsewhere and without a tax base the government will collapse.

Opium accounts for a third of Afghanistan’s GDP. Afghanistan is the second least developed country in the world. The economic and social impact of eradication prior to the establishment of alternative livelihoods will fuel discontent and the insurgency.

Those involved in opium do so because it provides them the best opportunity to improve their financial situation. Given a more lucrative alternative – along with increasing the risk to involvement in the opium trade – those involved would have a simple decision to make; ‘Do I want to earn more money, or do I want to risk jail/ruin?’

The opium trade demonstrates that Afghans are capable of organizing and running vertically integrated businesses with complex supply, finance and distribution systems to meet a global demand.

What is required is a new global demand for licit Afghan products.

Why Aren’t Current Interventions Working

Too much development effort has been focused on what Afghans can produce not what they can sell. No market, no point.

Afghan goods are of a poorer quality and more expensive than the equivalent products from other developing nations. Competing on a commodity (price/quality) basis is not viable.

The only way to become price competitive in a Global hyper-competitive market would be massive long term investment in infrastructure, training, education, communications, finance and building investor confidence. Even in more favorable economic conditions the international community’s governments could not invest enough, fast enough to make Afghan goods competitive against private sector investment in countries like India, China and Brazil.

Even if the long term investment were possible Afghanistan is a landlocked country surrounded by nations with their own security, economic and infrastructure issues.

So What is the Solution?

Building the Afghan mark and associated brands with enough brand equity to negate the price and quality disadvantage.

This means building brands that consumers will pay more for than the unbranded equivalent.

An example is the Swiss mark and Tag Heuer watches and Lindt chocolate.

This may not appear to be a good example because the Swiss mark is based on high quality design and engineering.

But if you imagine the Afghan mark to be built around history, tradition, exploration, the exotic, the rare, the unique you can see the potential.

Afghanistan has considerable untapped brand potential with the opportunity to leverage well known icons such as:

• Alexander the Great

• Marco Polo

• The Great Game

• The works and characters of Rudyard Kippling

• The Hindu Kush mountains

• The Silk Road

• The death mask of Tutankhamen (made from Afghan lapis lazuli)

• The Buddhas at Bamiyan

Consumers will pay above the odds for something special. Something no one else has. Something that can start, or stop, conversations.

Are you more likely to be the centre of the dinner party conversation by wearing the latest necklace from Versace or the Hindu Kush?

With the right strategy and execution it would only take Angelina Jolie to attend the latest premier wearing an Afghan necklace to make them the ‘must-have’ A-list accessory.

Made in Afghanistan - Re-positioning Afghan products in the minds of consumers.

Currently there is a media created perception amongst the public in the US and other western nations that we are at war with Afghanistan, not helping the Afghan’s defeat the Taliban and build a better future.

If that’s the perception why would anyone want to buy or be associated with Afghan goods?
But what if you knew that by buying Afghan goods you’d save the lives of our troops and get them home sooner? That you’d have to pay less tax. That you could play a vital part in getting the Afghans standing on their own two feet so that they wouldn’t need handouts. That you could help stop the violence, the extremism, the threat to your own security.

That’s much easier to sell.

Pay more for Afghan dried fruit but pay less tax.

Buy an Afghan carpet so your son doesn’t have to serve in the same place as your husband in five years time.

How?

• Identify Afghan products with the potential to compete in the international market – low bulk, high value and robust. Carpets, jewelry and dried fruit have already been identified but what else is there? We understand that a number of organizations have already carried out this vital work which we could draw upon.

• Identifying markets for Afghan products – military towns, A-list celebrities (and wannabes), creative communities, small businesses selling ethnic and fair trade goods and readers of ‘Three Cups of Tea’ for example.

• Matching the product to the market and building the right brand endorsed by the Afghan mark. Example: Greg Mortenson’s new book ‘Stones into Schools’ is focused on the Wakhan in north east Afghanistan. There is a NGO project teaching the local women to make jewelry in the area. It would not be difficult to develop a brand and marketing strategy to sell this jewelry to the millions of Greg’s readers, especially if he endorsed it….

• Changing the news. The mainstream media has already decided Afghanistan is a lost cause and are doing what they can to make the story a reality. However there are scores of local media, specialist publications and online outlets who would love quirky, well produced, stories of exotic products, local heroes and the latest thing. These can be as diverse as fashion, farming, business, history, travel, foreign policy and educational magazines, websites, radio and TV outlets.

Example: The story of a girl taught at one of Greg Mortenson’s schools has graduated and is now undergoing vocational training in jewelry design and manufacture. She has just sold her first piece to the US Ambassador’s wife who will wear it to the opening of…. Great story, great pictures. Might not make the front page of the Washington Post but it could be a multi-page spread in Cosmopolitan.

• Building international small business to small business relationships. Afghanistan is a small business environment. Building large enterprises is difficult because of the limitations of infrastructure, communications and the instability of relationships between stakeholders.
We would propose that linking small businesses in Afghanistan with small, specialist retail outlets in the US and other developed nations would be the best method of building a viable distribution channel. This would help build and maintain the Afghan mark of rarity and uniqueness.

Additionally it would be the perfect way of breaking down barriers and building relationships between the people of the US (and other nations) and Afghanistan. The two peoples would have a common interest and shared goals.

• Strategic, Focused and Effective Donor Support. We can build a demand but the Afghans must be able to meet it in the right quality, quantity, timeframe and price. To do this businesses identified by the marketing strategy will need support to improve their business functions, particularly product design, quality control, finance and distribution. By focusing support on those businesses where there is already an identified market; donor investment will be supporting something that will grow and become self-sustaining. One small, high profile, success could be enough to build investor interest and confidence. Strategic success is always delivered at the tactical level.

Turning a Concept into Reality

The next step towards turning this concept into a successful reality is a short research, analysis and strategy development project.

'A stand can be made against mighty armies but not an idea whose time has come'. Victor Hugo

email me at davidjamesemail@googlemail.com

Still Optimistic in Kabul

After nine years of being optimistic about Afghanistan I keep wondering if I'm being naive or misguided.

I'm definitely swimming against the tide of public perception but my experiences in Afghanistan keep reinforcing that this is an amazing country and that there is still a hope that refuses to die.

Yesterday I met Rashid Ghyasi he is a young entrepreneur and the co-owner of the Wakhan Cafe in Kabul. One of the many tucked away cafes and restaurants that provide good food, great service and a chance to check your emails. There is a growing number of young, well educated, ambitious and internet savy entrepreneurs throughout Afghanistan driving an economy that desperately deserves more international support.

I also met some of the ex-patriates who have been working for the NGO International Assistance Mission who has been operating in Afghanistan almost continuously since 1966. The workers have lived in amongst the Afghan people even during the Soviet and Taliban eras and tell amazing stories of their hospitality and generosity.

Today I met Yousaf Zaland. In 2003 he started with an $800 contract to do some painting. Seven years later he is the President of the Zurmat Group of companies that provides construction, logistics, business consulting and other services throughout Afghanistan.

I've been getting around town using the excellent Afghan Logistics and Tours mini cab service. Today I was unable to get back to the car as the roads were closed for President Karzai's motorcade. I found myself befriended by Wafiq, the sales and marketing director for Toyota in Afghanistan and we ducked into a air conditioned shopping centre to get out of the heat.

I have to say I was nervous about returning to Kabul because I, along with everyone else, gets bombarded with the media and political messages that Afghanistan has gone to hell and there's nothing we can do about it. However having been back just a few days has reconfirmed to me that there is a whole other side to Afghanistan that is never reported and is actually the route to success.

I had two depressing experiences since I've been back. The first was a conversation with an Afghan consultant working for a Washington based firm. He told me about his work in Bamiyan, which he claims has gone six years without a single shot fired. The local people there were asking him if they should start blowing things up so they could get some of the investment that Helmand is receiving.

The second was with a diplomat from one of the international coalition countries who basically confirmed that we weren't going to get any funding because we weren't in Helmand and effectively all the money is going to be spent on insurgents.

My thinking about Afghanistan is consolidating around a number of short phrases, soundbites if you like:

• No jobs. No peace.
• "It's the economy stupid."
• Buy Afghan goods.
• Focus on winning the peace not the war.

...and a quote from the greatest counter insurgency strategists of the modern age

• "What did the Romans [NATO] ever do for us?"

Wakhan Harvest

During the short growing season the Wakhi people must grow an entire year's worth of food. The main crops are wheat for bread and peas. If the harvest has been poor food will run out during the long winer months and the people will starve. This life and death reality brings the community together with families helping each other gather in the harvest.

A number of trekkers are beginning to return to this area bringing with them a chance for the local people to earn some desperately needed cash.

Mountain Unity is supporting a number of economic development projects to help the Wakhi people take control of their own lives. Find out more at http://www.mountainunity.org/.