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| Training for the Civilian Surge to Afghanistan |
| 2009-12-19 |
| A former mental hospital in the woods is the staging ground for one of the biggest deployments of U.S. civilians since the Vietnam War. Dozens of U.S. agriculturists, legal experts and development-aid administrators pass through elaborate mock-ups of foreign courtrooms and bazaars here each week -- part of training for nation-building work in some of Afghanistan's most unruly provinces. The White House hopes to have 1,000 State Department, Treasury and Department of Agriculture personnel in Afghanistan by next month, up from 300 a year ago. "We want civilian representation in every military deployment" across Afghanistan, said Paul Jones, deputy to Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's point man on Afghanistan. "Our mission is defined by how we build Afghan capacity." The Obama administration set up the one-week training course to prepare civilian personnel for hazardous duty, as well as expose them to Afghan culture and practices, U.S. officials said. The civilians are often paired with members of the Indiana National Guard, who are preparing for their own deployment in Afghanistan. Trainees spend a week on a make-believe forward operating base in the forest, where they go through military operations with the National Guard as if they were already deployed in Afghanistan. The civilian recruits learn to perform their own security functions. And they get schooled on Afghan language, politics and culture. Congress has authorized the State Department to spend $6 billion in Afghanistan through 2010, but U.S. officials said executing the White House's civilian surge has been a challenge. The State Department and U.S. development agencies are short of employees conversant in Dari, Pashto and other languages spoken in Afghanistan. Civilian agencies in Washington also have less flexibility than the Pentagon to mobilize staff -- such as diplomats and farming experts -- for duty in war zones. More seasoned U.S. bureaucrats also are wary to part from their families for prolonged overseas missions, said U.S. officials. As a result, the civilians taking part in security and cultural exercises at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center are often private contractors with extensive experience working overseas. One such person is Harry Wheeler, 58 years old. He was running a nonprofit development organization in Washington before he was recruited by contacts in the U.S. Agency for International Development. Mr. Wheeler has worked in such countries as Indonesia and Haiti, so he is accustomed to sometimes dangerous environments. His expertise in developing small-scale businesses and farming enterprises for rural populations is in line with the Obama administration's goal of creating jobs for Afghans. "I'm getting more confident as we train with the military," said Mr. Wheeler over lunch at Muscatatuck, where he was under the constant threat of a mock attack or kidnapping by program trainers. "Once you're in development, it's in your blood." Mr. Wheeler is scheduled to deploy as a general-development officer with a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan's south or east. PRTs are normally made up of between 60 and 100 U.S. soldiers, with one to three civilians. The Obama administration, however, hopes to increase the civilian component and potentially allow the PRTs to be headed by nonmilitary personnel. Donna Moll and her husband, David, are among the growing number of married couples recruited in recent months. They are farmers plucked from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Athens, Ga., to help devise irrigation systems, alternative crops and new produce markets for Afghan villagers. Like a number of other civilian volunteers, Mr. Moll, 59, served multiple tours in the Vietnam War. "Our family is supportive, but a little worried," said Mrs. Moll. She and her husband have six children. An important part of the training involves Americans acting out crisis scenarios they might face in Afghanistan. The Afghan participants in these "vignettes" are either drawn from expatriate populations in the U.S., or from Kabul. Included are Afghan bureaucrats and a man with an uncanny resemblance to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. On a recent afternoon, Mr. Wheeler and Mrs. Moll sat in a dilapidated room with a gathering of ersatz Afghan tribal leaders. The Americans were told to meet with their Afghan counterparts following a bombing in a remote Afghan village that killed a teenager. The Americans offered compensation to the village leaders for the loss of life. "Money cannot buy the blood of the individual," an Afghan elder barked at the Americans, slamming his fist on a table. "We can't trust you people anymore!" Such emotionally fraught scenarios are meant to simulate the sorts of crises soldiers routinely encounter in the field, but civilian bureaucrats seldom face. American military personnel have complained in the past that State Department staff stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan were ill-equipped to operate in areas outside of Baghdad or Kabul. U.S. diplomats, meanwhile, have argued that the Pentagon in recent years has developed a disproportionate influence over U.S. foreign policy. To bulk up the capacities of civilian personnel, the program gives trainees a taste of "what they experience in the field," said Jim McKellar, an administrator of the Muscatatuck course. Trainees should arrive in Afghanistan feeling "very, very comfortable," he said. |
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| #1 Trainees should arrive in Afghanistan feeling "very, very comfortable," How many nanoseconds will those comfortable feelings last? |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-12-19 15:41 |