19th May 2007
Nothing predicted that it would be the saddest day of my visit. W
e drove towards Baghlan province. Engineer Safiullah had joined me again. Before we arrived we discussed life in Afghanistan and we both thought that it could be very nice and quiet, but we also agreed that you never knew when something bad was going to happen. Today would prove us right.
Safiullah was engaged to a young Afghan lady, who was living in the US where she was studying IT. What about your plans after marriage, I asked. For him there was a dilemma. Safiullah’s future in-laws were begging him to move to the US. If you don’t like it here, you can always move back, they promised. But Safiullah, as youngest son, preferred to stay in Afghanistan in order to help his old father.
After a long trip we arrived at Pul-e Khumri. Our driver stated that Afghans called this town “Little Moscow” during the Soviet invasion. Here there was a large military base of Soviet troops and local
people got along well with them. Today only colossal Soviet style granaries remind us of this period.
Two friendly guys – short Mujeeb (23) and tall Vincent (24) - were waiting for us at the Aga Khan Foundation office. A young French guy Vincent gave us a presentation that explained the main idea of the joint project. Briefly, the project consisted of two stages. Firstly, they communicated with villagers in order to assist the Kunduz River Basin Programme with the work of Jangoroq canal construction. Secondly: when canal reconstruction had finished they would then help villagers to use the natural resources together.
The first milestone had already been reached: the villagers around the canal area had had a meeting and Mujeeb and Vincent introduced the construction plans. There was a free hand drawing as big as a wall in their office. The canals and villages were sketched freely. Everyone was invited to participate in discussions. Were the plans acceptable? What should be different? The villagers’ wishes were discussed and the proposed changes were considered from the point of the project’s budget. If the changes were reasonable and affordable then the changes would be recorded. In the end an agreement was signed between villagers and the project.
Even after the new canal had been completed, there would still be
a lot of problems left. Now the question arose on how to divide water among villages. The canal of Jangoroq was quite long – 31 km. Evidently, upstream farmers were in a worse situation compared to downstream farmers. Some types of crops (for example rice) were demanding more water than others. How could the farmers manage with existing resources? Before, it used to be the responsibility of the local mirab to solve all problems related to water. Nowadays one person could not make all the decisions; there was a need for an elders’ committee participation as well.
Vincent presented us with two illustrations. They were published in a KRBP newsletter. One was a drawing of an idealistic situation where the farmers were working happily side by side. The other was supposed to describe a nasty moment when the farmers were threatening each other with spade and fork. These kind of comics were quite common here considering the high illiteracy rates. I had seen the comics about human rights, constitution, traffic etc., but even comics were not always understood. Vincent explained that one farmer saw the bad example in a positive way. At least they are not shooting each other; they are just scuffling…
After the excellent introduction I was ready to go out to meet the villagers. Shy-smiling Mujeeb escorted us in a second car. First we turned towards the riverside. There we would see the construction of Jangaroq.
I silently observed the discussions on Jangaroq canal construction some days ago in the office of the Kunduz Programme. There were lo
ts of people in this meeting: supervisor Engineers Dinesh and Basishta (25), the heads of the construction company, an Afghan engineer and local mirab Ahmad Shah. The current situation seemed to be complicated. Everybody tried to avoid taking a decision until finally Jelle dropped in. I was impressed by the team leader’s prompt summary. On the one hand the water level was high because of floods and there was no way to continue the construction. On the other hand there was a lot of water in the canal. Therefore, at the moment, the villagers had water anyway. Jelle proposed to suspend the construction until the water subsided. He suggested keeping the bulldozers on standby in case they were needed to fight the floods. Nobody had a better solution; so Jelle’s proposal was accepted.
I stood at the riverside – the violent flow was muddy. On the
other side there were unfinished buildings. The only mark of the constructor’s presence was a huge bulldozer. While we were looking around, the bulldozer started to move soil to reinforce the diversion. It looked as if the bulldozer driver mistook us for supervis
ion engineers.
We drove to the Aga Khan office in Baghlan to meet the villagers. As I entered the courtyard of te Aga Khan office, I was alarmed. I was not prepared to meet more than a dozen dignified grey-bearded Afghans – it looks like a shura (26). The youngest participant was third generation mirab Ahmad Shah. He stood out not only because of his enormous size (he reminded me of a grizzly bear), but also because of his mighty voice. I recognised him from the meeting in the Kunduz office. He had travelled 120 km in order to participate in this meeting. He seemed to be dedicated to his job.
We sat down on cushions and sipped tea. The situation was
complicated: what could I ask from this council of awesome elders?
But there was nothing to worry about; the elders had their own questions and problems to discuss. Safiullah translated for me from time to time. The elders were satisfied with the work done by KRBP, but there were other issues as well.
Firstly, they were not happy with the constructor. Why had he started the construction in the middle of springtime when water was rising? It was quite hard to explain to local people the complicated EU procedures. The decisions made in Kabul take at least 3-4 months. The constructor had little possibility of changing the timing.
Secondly, they complained that there was not enough water for everybody. The elders made a proposal to close two side canals, Toshoron and Kumorok. Safiullah explained that it was not possible to shut off water to side canals. There was a possibility that Jangaroq canal would be expanded in the next stage of KRBP.
There was discontent with some designed canal outlets as well. Safiullah reminded everybody that the outlets had already been discussed and
agreed with the villagers. The contract had been signed and there was no possibility of changing the plans during construction.
One gentleman asked for help. He showed us the letter written in Dari and signed by the water and energy minister. Safiullah translated for me: it seemed that one American company had been given the green light to build a dam on one side canal. They built a dam but after a year it broke. The Company had left and the dam was destroyed – what can we do, asked the old man anxiously.
Finally the elders complained about the difficulty of farmers’ lives: high-quality seeds were very expensive (there had been some unfulfilled promises to distribute top quality seeds made by government), ploughing fields using a tractor was 500Afs (27) per hour, and fertilizers were expensive as well.
W
hile the Afghans criticized the government I felt like a confessor. ‘If you westerners would like to give us aid then please do it directly. The use of the government as a mediator should be avoided as this aid would just be divided between the relatives of civil servants.’
After they had dismissed themselves and they were ready to leave, there was call from Safiullah’s father that there was very bad news waiting in Kunduz. A suicide bomber had blown himself up in the middle of Kunduz bazaar. Seven Afghans and three German troops were killed on the spot; another two Germans and thirteen Afghans were wounded.
We were on the way back to Kunduz when Afghan police stopped our car. It appeared
that there was a mine on the highway and we would have to wait for the mine team. But our driver found another way and we had a short and dusty rally on a bumpy side road. Unluckily one tire broke and we stopped to change the tire in Jelawgir. It was a nice place between hills with a panoramic view. I crouched at the roadside, deeply depressed about the bad news.
This is the reality of life in Afghanistan. You never know when and where the next blast will come.
(22)The less you talk, the more you listening (proverb in Dari language)
(23) Mujeeb Alil – Aga Khan Foundation social water community mobilizer
(24) Vincent Tomas – Aga Khan Foundation social water community mobilizer
(25) KRBP Supervision Engineers
(26) Shura – elders’ council
(27) 10 USD
Nothing predicted that it would be the saddest day of my visit. W
e drove towards Baghlan province. Engineer Safiullah had joined me again. Before we arrived we discussed life in Afghanistan and we both thought that it could be very nice and quiet, but we also agreed that you never knew when something bad was going to happen. Today would prove us right.Safiullah was engaged to a young Afghan lady, who was living in the US where she was studying IT. What about your plans after marriage, I asked. For him there was a dilemma. Safiullah’s future in-laws were begging him to move to the US. If you don’t like it here, you can always move back, they promised. But Safiullah, as youngest son, preferred to stay in Afghanistan in order to help his old father.
After a long trip we arrived at Pul-e Khumri. Our driver stated that Afghans called this town “Little Moscow” during the Soviet invasion. Here there was a large military base of Soviet troops and local
people got along well with them. Today only colossal Soviet style granaries remind us of this period.
Two friendly guys – short Mujeeb (23) and tall Vincent (24) - were waiting for us at the Aga Khan Foundation office. A young French guy Vincent gave us a presentation that explained the main idea of the joint project. Briefly, the project consisted of two stages. Firstly, they communicated with villagers in order to assist the Kunduz River Basin Programme with the work of Jangoroq canal construction. Secondly: when canal reconstruction had finished they would then help villagers to use the natural resources together.The first milestone had already been reached: the villagers around the canal area had had a meeting and Mujeeb and Vincent introduced the construction plans. There was a free hand drawing as big as a wall in their office. The canals and villages were sketched freely. Everyone was invited to participate in discussions. Were the plans acceptable? What should be different? The villagers’ wishes were discussed and the proposed changes were considered from the point of the project’s budget. If the changes were reasonable and affordable then the changes would be recorded. In the end an agreement was signed between villagers and the project.
Even after the new canal had been completed, there would still be
a lot of problems left. Now the question arose on how to divide water among villages. The canal of Jangoroq was quite long – 31 km. Evidently, upstream farmers were in a worse situation compared to downstream farmers. Some types of crops (for example rice) were demanding more water than others. How could the farmers manage with existing resources? Before, it used to be the responsibility of the local mirab to solve all problems related to water. Nowadays one person could not make all the decisions; there was a need for an elders’ committee participation as well.
Vincent presented us with two illustrations. They were published in a KRBP newsletter. One was a drawing of an idealistic situation where the farmers were working happily side by side. The other was supposed to describe a nasty moment when the farmers were threatening each other with spade and fork. These kind of comics were quite common here considering the high illiteracy rates. I had seen the comics about human rights, constitution, traffic etc., but even comics were not always understood. Vincent explained that one farmer saw the bad example in a positive way. At least they are not shooting each other; they are just scuffling…
After the excellent introduction I was ready to go out to meet the villagers. Shy-smiling Mujeeb escorted us in a second car. First we turned towards the riverside. There we would see the construction of Jangaroq.
I silently observed the discussions on Jangaroq canal construction some days ago in the office of the Kunduz Programme. There were lo
ts of people in this meeting: supervisor Engineers Dinesh and Basishta (25), the heads of the construction company, an Afghan engineer and local mirab Ahmad Shah. The current situation seemed to be complicated. Everybody tried to avoid taking a decision until finally Jelle dropped in. I was impressed by the team leader’s prompt summary. On the one hand the water level was high because of floods and there was no way to continue the construction. On the other hand there was a lot of water in the canal. Therefore, at the moment, the villagers had water anyway. Jelle proposed to suspend the construction until the water subsided. He suggested keeping the bulldozers on standby in case they were needed to fight the floods. Nobody had a better solution; so Jelle’s proposal was accepted.I stood at the riverside – the violent flow was muddy. On the
other side there were unfinished buildings. The only mark of the constructor’s presence was a huge bulldozer. While we were looking around, the bulldozer started to move soil to reinforce the diversion. It looked as if the bulldozer driver mistook us for supervis
ion engineers.We drove to the Aga Khan office in Baghlan to meet the villagers. As I entered the courtyard of te Aga Khan office, I was alarmed. I was not prepared to meet more than a dozen dignified grey-bearded Afghans – it looks like a shura (26). The youngest participant was third generation mirab Ahmad Shah. He stood out not only because of his enormous size (he reminded me of a grizzly bear), but also because of his mighty voice. I recognised him from the meeting in the Kunduz office. He had travelled 120 km in order to participate in this meeting. He seemed to be dedicated to his job.
We sat down on cushions and sipped tea. The situation was
complicated: what could I ask from this council of awesome elders?But there was nothing to worry about; the elders had their own questions and problems to discuss. Safiullah translated for me from time to time. The elders were satisfied with the work done by KRBP, but there were other issues as well.
Firstly, they were not happy with the constructor. Why had he started the construction in the middle of springtime when water was rising? It was quite hard to explain to local people the complicated EU procedures. The decisions made in Kabul take at least 3-4 months. The constructor had little possibility of changing the timing.Secondly, they complained that there was not enough water for everybody. The elders made a proposal to close two side canals, Toshoron and Kumorok. Safiullah explained that it was not possible to shut off water to side canals. There was a possibility that Jangaroq canal would be expanded in the next stage of KRBP.
There was discontent with some designed canal outlets as well. Safiullah reminded everybody that the outlets had already been discussed and
agreed with the villagers. The contract had been signed and there was no possibility of changing the plans during construction.One gentleman asked for help. He showed us the letter written in Dari and signed by the water and energy minister. Safiullah translated for me: it seemed that one American company had been given the green light to build a dam on one side canal. They built a dam but after a year it broke. The Company had left and the dam was destroyed – what can we do, asked the old man anxiously.
Finally the elders complained about the difficulty of farmers’ lives: high-quality seeds were very expensive (there had been some unfulfilled promises to distribute top quality seeds made by government), ploughing fields using a tractor was 500Afs (27) per hour, and fertilizers were expensive as well.
W
hile the Afghans criticized the government I felt like a confessor. ‘If you westerners would like to give us aid then please do it directly. The use of the government as a mediator should be avoided as this aid would just be divided between the relatives of civil servants.’After they had dismissed themselves and they were ready to leave, there was call from Safiullah’s father that there was very bad news waiting in Kunduz. A suicide bomber had blown himself up in the middle of Kunduz bazaar. Seven Afghans and three German troops were killed on the spot; another two Germans and thirteen Afghans were wounded.
We were on the way back to Kunduz when Afghan police stopped our car. It appeared
that there was a mine on the highway and we would have to wait for the mine team. But our driver found another way and we had a short and dusty rally on a bumpy side road. Unluckily one tire broke and we stopped to change the tire in Jelawgir. It was a nice place between hills with a panoramic view. I crouched at the roadside, deeply depressed about the bad news.This is the reality of life in Afghanistan. You never know when and where the next blast will come.
(22)The less you talk, the more you listening (proverb in Dari language)
(23) Mujeeb Alil – Aga Khan Foundation social water community mobilizer
(24) Vincent Tomas – Aga Khan Foundation social water community mobilizer
(25) KRBP Supervision Engineers
(26) Shura – elders’ council
(27) 10 USD
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