As we interviewed more of Napoleon’s soldiers (and some American counterparts who worked with him), we began to form a true picture of him. Although he appeared well put together, he was actually a terrible leader and supervisor. Screaming and hitting his troops were his methods of giving instructions. In the Afghan military, corporal punishment is allowed, so technically he was not breaking rules by kicking or slapping lower-ranking soldiers. However, most of us know that this is not the most effective leadership style.
In addition to his dictatorship ways, other disturbing information about Napoleon began to emerge. The Afghan soldiers assigned to Napoleon’s unit had also been under his command at their basic training academy in Kabul. A few of them reported concerns to me that Napoleon carried multiple SIM cards for his cell phone and frequently switched them out. He refused to make phone calls when others were nearby and he disappeared for hours at a time, with no explanation. In addition, a bus of Afghan soldiers was attacked in Kabul on day when Napoleon should have been with him. However, just prior to the bus' departure from base, Napoleon made an excuse to visit the hospital for some sort of medical treatment. All of this information was only circumstantial but was obviously enough to raise the eyebrows of his fellow soldiers. For them to take a risk and come forward with this information told me they were serious and concerned.
As time progressed, even more derogatory information came to light, also based on accounts from Afghan soldiers in the unit. Several soldiers explained a recent scenario to me, about Napoleon. I realize the story could have been fabricated by them, but their accounts were very detailed and they all matched. The incident was described to me on several occasions, during interviews, many days or weeks apart. Therefore, I believe the story to be fairly accurate.
Reportedly, fifteen or so members of this Afghan military unit left the base one day in a convoy of three vehicles. For whatever reason, they were not paired with a U.S. military unit that day and were sent on a mission alone. Being the company Executive Officer, Napoleon was in charge of the convoy and mission. According to several other soldiers who participated in the mission, Napoleon directed all three vehicles to a mosque approximately thirty minutes away from the base. Once there, he dismounted his vehicle and entered the mosque alone. He instructed the other soldiers and vehicles to guard the perimeter of the mosque. No one accompanied him inside. Napoleon apparently remained inside the mosque for twenty minutes or so and exited with two unknown men. The men left in civilian cars and Napoleon returned to his military vehicle. He did not tell anyone who he had met with or what his business at the mosque was. The unit continued the assigned mission and later returned to base.
This type of action is nearly unheard of in Afghanistan. Some mosques are meeting sites and hideouts for insurgent members. Insurgents know the American military will not enter a mosque, or fire upon it, out of respect for the Muslim religion. In addition, no soldier, American or Afghan, in their right mind, would venture out of his vehicle alone and on foot into any public building. It was just plain dangerous and the account of Napoleon’s actions stunk of conspiracy. Obviously, Napoleon knew who he was meeting that day and it clearly was not part of the assigned military mission. Otherwise, he would not have been secretive about it and other members of the unit would have known of the meeting. In addition, he arrived and left unscathed, indicating he was friendly with the men at the mosque.
Unfortunately, the story did not end there. As the convoy made its way back to base, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded alongside the road. The IED caused some minor damage to one of the vehicles, but no one was injured and the soldiers were able to drive the vehicle back to base. Incidentally, Napoleon’s vehicle was not in close proximity to the IED when it detonated. No one but Napoleon knew whether the meeting at the mosque and the IED were linked, but I had my suspicions. One might question why Afghans would attack their fellow countrymen but many insurgents viewed the Afghan security forces as sinners because they were helping the “infidels” (NATO and Coalition Forces). Therefore, they could justify attacking and killing them. The issue at hand was whether this Company’s Executive Officer was actually an imbedded insurgent. I was not interested in waiting any longer to find out the truth.
With the information from his soldiers, his unauthorized cell phone, failed lie detector test, and other classified information, I wrote a recommendation for Napoleon’s immediate removal from our base. His American counterpart agreed wholeheartedly, and had him transferred to an Afghan-only military base. Although this was some consolation, I was still bothered that he was working for their military. However, any threat by him towards Americans had hopefully been thwarted.
Napoleon left me with a negative impression, but he was one of the few. Although most Afghan military members I spoke with had limited intelligence and worldly experience, they still impressed me with their life stories of heartbreak and courage. I met only two men, in my entire time in Afghanistan, who had served in the Northern Alliance, fighting The Taliban in the late 1990’s. I believe one reason my interaction with former Northern Alliance members was so limited was because most of these former members resided in the Northeastern area of the country, quite a ways from where I was assigned. Most of the Pashtun-Afghans from the eastern and southern parts of the country had never had any affiliation with the Northern Alliance.
Many Afghans have conflicting viewpoints on the Northern Alliance and their leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud, now deceased. Personally, I had the utmost respect for the group and their leader as they attempted to keep the Taliban out of Afghanistan and negotiate for cease fires. I feel they truly had the interest of the Afghan citizens at heart in their quest for peace.
I was always interested to talk to the Afghan soldiers about their opinions of the war. They obviously had a unique viewpoint and involvement in the ongoing battle against the insurgency. They all had grown up in a society of chaos and turmoil and had witnessed the major transitions of their country over the past decade. In addition, they were fighting the insurgency on the front lines of the war.
Despite this, I was quite surprised to discover that a majority had no opinion as to whether the war was worthwhile. This was not a situation of an unwillingness to form an opinion, as I found amongst most Pashtuns. None had an opinion because they were uninformed and completely ignorant of the events leading up to the war.
The more soldiers I interviewed, the more bothered I became as I discovered very few had any realistic understanding of the war or Afghan current events. Many were in their late teens or early twenties and, therefore, had only been children, when the 9/11 attacks occurred. Most of these young soldiers had no recollection of the attacks, not only because of their young age at the time, but also because of the lack of news reporting in Afghanistan. I would venture to say probably less than one percent of these soldiers’ families had a television or radio in 2001 and only learned of current goings on through word of mouth. Even if a family had a television or radio at the time, The Taliban controlled the content of programming and likely prohibited accurate information about the 9/11 attacks from being circulated.
These soldiers’ ignorance prior to the joining the Afghan Army was understandable. What amazed me was that few had any knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, even after graduating from military basic training. Prior to talking with these men, I assumed Afghan soldiers would be somewhat educated on the history leading up to the formation of the military they were now a part of. In addition, I imagined every basic training academy would at least include elementary courses in Afghan history and politics, the Taliban, and the 9/11 attacks. I was completely wrong. No such education was provided for these soldiers. They were taught basic weapons training, driving, physical fitness and other basic soldiering skills. But, most of the soldiers I spoke with had not one clue as to why the Afghan Army existed or what its real purpose was. This was simply a job for them, viewed the same as any other job that would provide a paycheck.
It was
clear most of these soldiers cared only about two things: their next paycheck, and when they could go home to visit their family. I saw little devotion or loyalty towards their country and fellow soldiers. Having been in the military myself, I remembered the sense of allegiance and patriotism that had accompanied every team and unit of soldiers I worked with. Witnessing the lack of these characteristics amongst another country’s military was saddening. None of these Afghan soldiers seemed to care about promotions, education or generally bettering themselves. No one cared to maintain their physical fitness which had been a requirement in basic training. Very few could provide me an answer as to what it might take to win, and end, the war and no one seemed to really care if the war continued to drag on.
A question I always asked these soldiers was their opinion on why the American military originally came to their country. Many would shrug their shoulders in response to this question and tell me they did not know. I would ask them if they had heard of the 9/11 attacks and, again, I often received a glassy stare. It was a wonder to me that these young soldiers did not even care to understand the true purpose of their job or the history behind the Afghan Army’s formation. It apparently never even crossed their minds to question such things.
Most Afghan soldiers admitted to me they had joined the military for no other reason than the consistent paycheck. Very few told me they joined to serve their country or make Afghanistan a better place. A couple of men told me they had joined against their parents’ wishes. As I mentioned earlier, some mothers and fathers felt the job was “too dangerous”. Scores of the local Afghans I interviewed told me a similar tale, explaining that their parents forbid them from joining the Army or police. I was shocked that a young man’s parents would not support their son in fighting for his country and helping to attain peace. It also made me angry that so many Afghan citizens were content to sit by and let someone else (NATO and Coalition forces) fight for their independence and freedom. It did not bother them in the least that our soldiers were dying for their country and they were too scared to fight alongside them.
I recall one soldier who told me he joined for the uniform. At first, I thought he was referring to the pride of wearing the military attire. However, he then explained that he had contemplated joining both the military and the police. Ultimately, he decided to join the Army, instead of the police because he “did not like the police uniforms”. It was a comical and unexpected reason for enlisting in the military, which I only heard this one time. I figured no matter his reason for joining the military, at least he was serving his country.
Personally, I believe the one enormous problem plaguing the Afghan military is the illiteracy rate. Most soldiers cannot read or write and have very little, if any, formal education. I suspect this lack of education is the gateway that leads to other problems including desertion, drug use and “Green-on-Blue” incidents. Furthermore, from my experience, I noticed a fairly low morale rate amongst the Afghan soldiers I interviewed. Most told me they felt like prisoners on our base, as they were not allowed to roam away from their living area, without being escorted by American soldiers. I will admit this practice did not foster any trust between the two “allied” military groups. When they were not on a mission, training for a mission, praying at the mosque or eating at the chow hall, the Afghan soldiers were confined to their barracks. I am not sure what they did to pass the time as they did not have access to televisions, radios or computers. Complacency and lethargy had clearly set in. I know the situation was a struggle for the commanders involved. Not allowing our “Afghan partners” the same freedoms we allowed our own soldiers, was surely offensive to them. But, with the increasing number of “friendly fire” incidents, I am not sure the (American) base commander had any other choice. His priority was the safety of all American troops on the base, but he certainly had some tough decisions to make to make the balance between safety of the American and respect for the Afghans. I would not have wanted to be in his shoes.
One young man, in particular, played my heart strings one day, during an interview. He worked for the Afghan guard force on our base and I interviewed him at least twice during my time in country. I remembered after the first interview noticing he had a severe limp when he walked. He had not mentioned it to me, but it was quite pronounced. When he was back in my office six months later, for another of his bi-annual interviews, I asked him about him limp. He initially told me that one of his legs was significantly longer than the other. As we spoke more about it, he felt comfortable enough to admit that, not only did he suffer problems with his legs and feet, but also with one of his arms. He demonstrated that he could not straighten his right arm, or lift it above his head. I asked him if he had ever been injured in some way. He stated he had not. He told me he remembered the problems starting when he was a child of maybe eight or nine years old. He recalled falling sick and being taken to the doctor. The doctor provided him medication, but had obviously misdiagnosed the boy’s condition. The medication did nothing for the boy, although he eventually recovered on his own. However, he was left with these disabling physical problems.
This young man told me how badly he wanted to join the Afghan National Army, to serve his country. However, he had been denied entrance because of his physical limitations. It was sad to hear this, but I understood why the military made the decision. This man could have been a danger to himself and other soldiers, as there was no way he could run fast and his arm interfered with the proper handling of a rifle. He settled on a job with the guard force because it was somewhat like being in the military and he felt he was still serving his country. I shook my head in amazement, thinking of the partially disabled man sitting before me, so badly wanting to a soldier. This was in contrast to hundreds of other local men who told me the Army was too dangerous for them. It was such an ironic situation.
Still, I wondered if there wasn’t something an American doctor could do for this man. He told me he had always dreamed of being seen by an American doctor, but never had the opportunity to do so. Glad to have the prospect of leaving a positive impression with this man, I made an appointment for him at our clinic on base. Although I had a hunch the man’s disabilities were permanent, he was thrilled at the prospect of visiting one of our doctors. Unfortunately, my suspicions were correct. At his appointment, the doctor informed him that he had likely suffered from Polio as a child. Obviously, it had gone untreated, causing the deformities throughout the man’s body. In reality, he was lucky to be alive. Many people who suffered from untreated Polio died from the disease. The medical personnel told him that the only hope at this stage of his life for partial recovery would be several invasive surgeries. Although the man was hopeful and eager for the surgery, it was not meant to be. The U.S. military was not willing to provide those operations for him. This, I understood. The medical needs of the thousands of American soldiers and citizens serving in Afghanistan were the priority. Also, because this man’s impairments were not life-threatening, they could not justify performing surgery on him. He was understandably disappointed, but I will never forget his grin and wave he gave me, every time we saw each other. In my mind, he was more courageous than many actual Afghan soldiers I met. He was a hero in his own way.
THE TALIBAN
The Taliban, though an independent insurgent group, is quite similar to the al-Qaeda terrorist group, previously headed by Osama bin Laden. Their name is derived from the Arabic word for student, or “taleb”. A majority of Taliban members are of Pashtun-Afghan descent, but also control large parts of western Pakistan, specifically the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas. The Taliban’s anti-democratic version of law is called Sharia and is characterized by a very inaccurate interpretation of the Koran, as well as, male dominance and female oppression.
The Taliban formed during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the late 1980’s. The invasion left millions of parentless, child refugees, many of whom were schooled in the extreme, religious schools called Madrassas, located in Paki
stan. The name Taliban seemed a natural fit based off the student population, who comprised the majority of the Taliban members. Initially, the group formed to restore peace and stability to Afghanistan, and enforce the Sharia law. Soon after the group’s inception, the infamous Mullah Omar rose up to become the leader of the Taliban. Reportedly, Omar directed and committed heinous acts against women and girls, and anyone who did not follow his command. Over time, the rest of the Taliban followed suit. In 1994, the Taliban gained power over a majority of Afghanistan, leading a sort of genocide campaign, over Shiite-Muslims along the way. Mullah Omar is still at large and on the FBI’s most wanted list and is thought to be in hiding in Pakistan.
During their rule over the Afghanistan, the Taliban were recognized as a legitimate government by only three other countries: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. I believe, as many others do, that the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) funded and supported the Taliban during their regime. For those unfamiliar with the ISI, they claim to be a legitimate government intelligence-gathering organization, similar to the Central Intelligence Agency in the United States. However, the ISI often has very unique ways of “gathering intelligence”. And, their motives do not always line up with traditional goals sought by most intelligence agencies. In addition, there is much evidence that the ISI continues to provide logistics and money to The Taliban, to this day.
Following their rise to power in 1994, for the next seven years, the Taliban wreaked havoc across Afghanistan. They shut down schools, tortured men for not growing beards, raped women and shoved the country under a blanket of fear. Music, dancing and non-religious radio and television broadcasts were forbidden. Women were banished to the home, forbidden from leaving without the company of a male and head-to-toe burqas, a loose, black, robe-like article of clothing. The Taliban’s only adequately manned and armed foe was The Northern Alliance, led by Ahmad Shah Massoud. It was Massoud, and his followers, who were partially credited with driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan in 1989. From 1996 to 2001, under Massoud’s command, The Northern Alliance managed to defeat the Taliban in the northern areas of Afghanistan and keep them at bay. Massoud was assassinated by two suicide attackers, believed to be al-Qaeda members, on September 9, 2001, two days prior to the 9/11 attacks. It is believed Massoud’s assassination was strategically planned by Osama bin Laden and directly linked to the 9/11 attacks. It is surmised that bin Laden knew the death of Massoud would deal a blow to a U.S.-backed invasion of Afghanistan.
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