There wasn’t the level of discipline he had seen in the Balkans or Yemen where men had been expected to show intitiative at all times, and were closely observed by their peers. However, it wasn’t for him to criticize his Taleb comrades or to make their lives difficult and he had to be constantly careful what he said. In most respects his own situation had improved immensely in recent weeks: they let him get on with his work and training sessions and there was plenty of food.
He’d also noticed that the locals were now treating him as one of them. His “Kaali”, or dress, was important as he had lost his Pakistani clothing and adopted the Pashtun headgear. He had therefore arrived as a jangalay. But he wondered where the future would lead even if they did manage to smash the enemy forces, or if those forces would leave of their own volition in the next few years, ground down by the constant effects of IEDs and repeated deployments.
He knew that he and his Afghan comrades had what the foreign armies would never have: time. Of more concern was what would come after ISAF forces had left and whether the ANA would present a real challenge. For now, his comrades could pick their battles at their own time of choosing.
***
Khalil and Saira were met at the entrance by Jeff’s smiling wife Catherine who placed their coats on a rail in the impressive hallway and then walked them across polished timber floors to the reception room. Khalil noted that the hall had probably been decorated by a skilled amateur rather than a professional which surprised him as he would have thought Jeff would have employed a professional – especially for the entrance area. ‘Maybe he did it himself – I’ll ask Saira what she thinks later on.’
At dinner Khalil was keen to listen to Jeff’s thoughts on the political establishment’s efforts with regards to the political situation generally and they talked for a while. Saira was busy with Catherine talking about the wedding plans.
“Saira I’m sorry but we haven’t even mentioned your amazing bump yet. How long is it now?”
“Oh yes: I have got rather good at avoiding the issue but yes we have a lot on our plate with this one coming. It’s just over six months left. We need to get the wedding out of the way of course. Then I can devote all my energy to the baby.”
“Well you look amazing.”
After coffee Jeff took Khalil into his study for a brandy and a chat; Khalil winking at Saira as he got up from the table.
“I hope you don’t think that I’m being presumptuous, but I would like to pick your mind over some issues, Khalil.”
“That’s fine, Jeff; fire away.”
“I’ve had this theory for a while now and I’d like to test it out on you. Feel free to correct me at any point. The theory is this: give a man a reason, the right circumstances and the means to do it and he will become a radical whoever he is: Christian, Muslim, black, white, you name it.”
“I totally agree,” replied Khalil.
“But give him a grudge and a modus operandi, and he becomes something else entirely; usually a threat to society. That’s why I’m all for giving young people whatever it takes to help them into training and employment, and put them in the right direction; away from radicalism.”
“Again I understand what you’re saying, Jeff.”
“OK we’re singing from the same sheet, Khalil; so there’s no point in us wasting our time when we know each other’s thoughts. Let’s talk about those things about which we don’t know what the other is thinking; then we’ll get a better idea of where our collective strengths are.”
“Fine; I’m OK with that as well.”
“There have been some great reforming movements in this country and most have been based on firm religious foundations: Puritans, Nonconformists, Wesley’s Methodists, Chartism etcetera. But the current situation is atrocious; if I was in my late teens now there is no way I could have afforded the fees that colleges are charging. I’m from a poor London background myself. It’s criminal. What are the politicians thinking of? The point I am making here is who exactly is standing against this unholy alliance of socialist and capitalist politicians and financiers? Where is that great tradition of radicalism and non-conformism?”
“I’m with you so far,” replied Khalil.
“The politicians have renounced four hundred years of constant egalitarian reform, from Cromwell until the present day: this generation of charlatans has to be overthrown. There are no honest brokers amongst them.”
“I guess I was attracted to the reformist streak in the party myself,” said Khalil. “But I didn’t realize it ran so deep with you, Jeff.”
“It runs like the blood in my veins. I feel that within this party I’m often dealing with children, especially the older ones who don’t seem to grasp what I’m saying most of the time. But with you I know that you get everything I say. We cannot lose this generation of young people, Khalil. But we need to be far more active: it’s a finely balanced equation, but it may also call for civil disobedience. I need to know if we can recruit such people.”
“Is that why you think I may be useful?”
“Possibly. What I like about you is your strength and individuality. People like you are salt; you can help purify the rest of the party.”
“I’m not sure what you mean exactly but I can see that you may be dicing with danger there a bit, Jeff. Please don’t assume that I have contacts that can raise hell, or whatever the expression is. I’m not that kind of man.”
“I know that you’re fundamentally honest and that is why I’m talking to you. Because I’m worried about the future and we have to do something.” Jeff dipped his voice slightly. “We need to use tougher tactics Khalil.”
Khalil thought for a moment and then he dismissed the idea that Jeff was using some kind of artful power-play in order to manipulate him. He realised that there wasn’t an ounce of insincerity in the man and that he actually meant what he was saying. He looked at the tablecloth and then heard Saira and Catherine chatting and laughing. He looked back at Jeff who continued.
“You know that there are only two areas of England where revolutions and civil conflict have really ever started: East Anglia and Yorkshire. And do you also know that every single general election is decided in those two regions. That is where all the political pundits go to gather the first results, because they know that if Basildon falls to the Tories then the rest of the country will follow and the same with certain parts of Yorkshire. And guess what: they are also the two counties where people are not scared to speak their minds. Traditions do not change much, Khalil.”
Khalil looked at the ceiling and wondered if he was sat with a madman or a genius. What on Earth is this man getting at? That they would have to work with certain dark forces or convince white van men to vote for them?
“So what you are saying is – let me get this right – that we as a party have to harness some of these ‘non-conformist’ forces if we are to succeed?”
“That is spot on.”
“And how precisely do we do that, Jeff?” Khalil asked quizzically.
“I don’t know exactly. Maybe we can find out; the sooner the better.”
***
The following day Saira had taken the morning off in order to wait for the delivery of a new bed. She had turned the radio on as she ate her breakfast.
“Hi, this is Vicky’s hour on Republic FM, and we have Jeff Katz from the British Justice Party on the phone. So Jeff what do you make of the new Europe?” Saira turned the radio up.
“What do I think? Well it’s not any different now to the situation we found ourselves in during the 1930s, except in some ways it’s even more dangerous: Europe’s being run by a bunch of corrupt central European autocrats who have no interest in the well-being of other countries; especially those on the periphery of Europe.”
“How’s that come about then, Jeff: can you back these claims up?”
“Yes I can. The ‘New Europe’ has been set up to benefit Germany and her European friends in just about every sense – they’re the st
rongest economy and jealously protect their own manufacturing industries. They have maintained their productivity at everybody else’s expense; when was the last time VW, Audi or BMW built a factory here in the UK, I mean a fully functioning factory? The answer is never. But what does everyone buy? What else: VW, BMW, Audi. The Germans know that they can sustain themselves this way without any concern for the impact economically on other economies. And it’s not just cars; it extends to white goods, engineering machinery, batteries, you name it. This situation is draining many economies, importing German goods without exporting anything back and it’s why the Greeks and others have gone under. They have become mere satellite states of the Germans. All those euro economies outside of central Europe are being drained by over fifty million euros a day. And that includes us Vicky.”
“Wow; you really have been doing your homework, haven’t you, Jeff? And I am guessing you don’t really like Germans?”
“Maybe I don’t; but the greater questions are about Europe not Germany.”
“So how do you see it all panning out in the next few years?”
“The Liberal Party here are tied up with all this. Their leader is the new Neville Chamberlain. He conveniently ignores the fact that Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ireland could all go under. The Germans and their allies don’t even care, as the Germans will effectively ‘own’ these economies for decades as a result of debt repayments. They will become outposts of a new empire. And we could be dragged in as well, especially if these unelected types have their way; they are led by the ‘New Europeans’ like the satellite emperors of the Roman Empire.
The favourite method of these people is to keep forcing nations to have referenda until they get the answer they want, so that we all have to bow to Brussels and Strasbourg. It’s the same mechanism that Hitler used in the 1930s to justify his policies by pretending they had a veneer of democracy with the use of a referendum. They were called the ‘Ja und Nein’- the ‘Yes and No’ plebiscites. Their use is extremely dangerous and misleading and that is what these new Germans and their liberal allies here have in store for us. We have to be wary in our own country of so-called politicians who receive high political office without ever being elected; this is the cornerstone of the new European project.”
“These are harsh judgements: surely we’re outside all that? And what about Poland and the rest of Europe?”
“They provide all the cheap labour and much of the skilled as well. We have over three million Europeans here anyway. If we pulled out we would be more competitive and still be able to attract skilled migrants, but in a way that benefited us, like the Germans do, with certain restrictions. The way it is now we’re not benefiting at all from membership of the EU.”
“Interesting to hear Jeff Katz there from the Justice Party - giving the smaller parties a proper voice. You heard it first here on Republic FM.”
CHAPTER TEN
“It’s blowing a gale out there,” said Jez.
“Yeah, I know; it’s not good,” replied Joe. “We may have to walk back from ‘Little Heathrow’ in this if the flight is cancelled again.”
“Fuck that shit,” replied Jez.
They piled their kit into the small white pick-up and headed off to the helipads of “Little Heathrow”.
As they sat in the ISO container waiting for the helicopter, Joe overheard the conversation next to him. A corporal was reading The Bible aloud to his two young colleagues.
“..Christians and Muslims believe in all these biblical characters; especially Moses, David and Jesus Christ. Don’t forget that out here,” he re-iterated. “They don’t like atheists.”
Half an hour later Jez, Joe and Cam were flying over Helmand Province in a Sea King helicopter heading for Patrol Base 2 in the area known as NES South. They would be around that area for over a week doing a range of tasks.
Joe was on the right side of the aircraft and could see out of the porthole opposite; the land and Helmand River below lit up by the moon – wider and more impressive than he had remembered from his previous time in Helmand Province. They seemed to climb high and then hang over the river basin. He could see the flat river landscape below, but now there were flashes as some parachute flares lit up the river. They must have been coming from a PB below; the area they were heading for. The aircraft turned and descended sharply flying fast and straight – within a minute they were coming in to land at PB 2. There was no longer any sign of activity.
***
Az had finished his conversation with the local elder; the three charges of HME were in place and connected as instructed. However, he had a constant nagging feeling that they would need checking, as he didn’t trust the expertise of the local men. Most of them didn’t seem too bothered about the technical problems and solutions; they just cared about getting paid.
There had been that recent disaster with an IED detonating accidentally as the two boys were about to leave a location. Az now knew that they had revealed too much under interrogation. The British forensic teams would be onto his group although he had been careful to reduce his own contact with the main charges and wiring.
A year ago he would have carried on and regarded it as the will of Allah if he had been captured or traced back to the UK. Now he didn’t see the point; even if he left Afghanistan he could go into hiding for a while and then use his services in some other operation. It wasn’t just about Afghanistan. He was now in control of his own life and in charge of his own future. Who cared about the senior Taleban commanders? They wouldn’t put themselves out – it was him and the locals under him who were taking the risks. The commanders may have had the cash and contacts, but many of them didn’t know how to put an IED together or explain the basics of locating one and digging it in.
It had taken Az many weeks of getting past language barriers and local customs to get the respect of the locals, but the general communication problems would always be there. And the Taleb commanders were not much help when it came to the local people as they displayed too much hot air and too little knowledge of the area. He had ceased to respect them. Some of them were repulsive and abusive as well, occasionally engaging in the national sport of grooming young men. The women it seemed were just for procreation.
He had arranged for another series of Remote Control IEDs to be placed along road junctions, quite randomly and with minimal aiming markers along the roadsides. Az was aware that British soldiers had been trained to spot even the smallest ground disturbance. What with that and the ECM suites every foot patrol and vehicle was carrying the RCIEDs had become neutralized in many areas.
Some of the British checkpoints had narrow lanes up to them, which were ideal for channelling the patrolling soldiers. The narrowness of the lanes often hindered the soldiers when dismounting from vehicles and checking the ground with their hand-held Vallons. Az knew that this could work to the advantage of the Talebs as there were plenty of places along the compound walls they could locate the main charges without them being seen from the vehicles.
The idea was to have three such charges staggered up a lane that he had located near the entrance to a checkpoint. The first would detonate and the soldiers would have to dismount to check for other IEDs and remove casualties. He would then operate a command pull device for either of the other two; the absence of ground markers meant the soldiers’ drills would be next to useless. He would also get at least one PKM or Dragunov rifle in position and a couple of RPGs and AK47s. He had decided that it would be his last action in Helmand and he wanted it to work. But much depended on the local fighters and he had yet to see anything in the way of genuine skill or ability on the part of some of the local men. They did display considerable bravado at times, but he wasn’t sure this would translate into any kind of successful outcome.
***
Khalil had a new email from Jeff and didn’t want to open it. He had not mentioned to Saira what had been discussed in the study at Jeff’s house after the dinner two weeks before, as he didn’t wish to stress h
er out. Along with the new direction for the party Jeff had offered Khalil some financial rewards and incentives if he got more involved in the party’s activities. It had been attracting interest from business across the UK due to its support for British manufacturing and the desire to brazenly put British goods first and reduce export barriers and licences. Ironically, Jeff, Khalil and several other Justice Party politicians had even been invited to a European Trade Commission function.
“If only they knew what he was really thinking,” muttered Khalil to himself.
He opened the email and thought about how the media would react if there were any leaks. He started reading: “The politicians love to lecture us about the armed forces although very few of them have actually served themselves…” Khalil mulled the comments over as he opened a bottle of whisky.
“No problem with that.” He carried on reading. It then went on to discuss the need to “break this vicious cycle of wars which is breaking the UK economy.”
“Again,” thought Khalil. “Don’t have any problems so far.”
He remembered something one of the old men had said at one of the meetings; that “it was the returning soldiers from World War Two who brought about most of the political changes in the post-war period. Ordinary people, whether soldiers or civilians, were not stupid, as they expected reforms after all their sacrifices. They were the ones who had fought against fascism and they demanded something better at home.” Khalil could see some similarities with the previous decade and the way many felt about their own country now, in the new millennium.
“And now these politicians,” the old man had gone on to say, “are trying to destroy the very systems the generation of wartime heroes had wrenched from the State. We have to wrench it back again from this corrupt establishment,” he had said with a dejected look on his face. “I was always a Labour voter – never again,” he added with contempt.
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