The Afghan town of Musa Qaleh in northern Helmand, firmly etched into the British public’s consciousness after the fierce fighting of the past three years, today is a town transformed. Three thousand people are now sufficiently confident to attend the twice weekly farmers market without fear of violence, 3,200 children feel safe enough to walk to school and the town’s growing numbers of doctors are able to treat their patients in security. It’s a far cry from the dark days of January 2008 when Richard was deployed by the British government’s Stabilisation Unit as the first Stabilisation Advisor (STABAD) in Musa Qaleh.

Then the town was anything but welcoming. Although his arrival coincided with the aftermath of Operation Snakebite, the hard fought but successful mission to retake Musa Qaleh from the Taliban in December 2007, the security situation remained extremely challenging for much of his six-month mission. “It was absolutely terrifying,” he says, recalling regular rocket and mortar fire and the time a suicide bomber penetrated the Forward Operating Base.

The view over Musa Qaleh

Then the town was anything but welcoming. Although his arrival coincided with the aftermath of Operation Snakebite, the hard fought but successful mission to retake Musa Qaleh from the Taliban in December 2007, the security situation remained extremely challenging for much of his six-month mission. “It was absolutely terrifying,” he says, recalling regular rocket and mortar fire and the time a suicide bomber penetrated the Forward Operating Base.

With such a non-permissive environment in which to operate, it was little surprise that the reconstruction effort Richard had hoped to lead in and around the town as part of the stabilisation operation was unable to progress as quickly as he had hoped. Contractors were being intimidated and executed by the Taliban. The mosque remained in ruins. “We couldn’t build because we couldn’t get the contractors,” he says. “We couldn’t get the contractors because the routes weren’t safe.” Despite the challenges, however, Richard argues the civilian input to stabilisation and reconstruction was absolutely indispensable from the start. Joint civil-military cooperation was key to long-term success on the ground. 

For a while every win was keenly contested. There was progress on education with the refurbishment of the main school, followed by the arrival of Afghan teachers paid for by the Kabul government as governance started to improve. Yet two Afghan contractors were killed by the Taliban for their role in the reconstruction effort. Richard says the Cash for Work Programme also enjoyed some success, removing some fighters and potential fighters from the battlefield. Nevertheless, workers disappeared during the poppy season to score the bulbs of the plants. Some, including the Afghan head of the programme, were killed by the Taliban.

Peter on a helipad at Musa Qaleh inbound from Lashkagar

By the time Peter was deployed by the Stabilisation Unit as Political Officer for Musa Qaleh in November, the situation was starting to improve from the highly volatile environment Richard describes. British forces were steadily expanding the area under their control and that of the Afghan government. “We went from an enclave of 500 square metres to a zone extending 12km by 8km at its widest,” Peter says, praising the “magnificent” Ghurkhas and Royal Fusiliers whom he worked alongside.

Peter, a veteran of UN missions in Afghanistan and southern Sudan, as well as work for NGOs such as Oxfam and World Vision in the former Yugoslavia and Save the Children in northern Iraq, was used to challenging missions.

Thanks to the increasingly permissive environment won by the NATO coalition and Afghan forces, he was able to improve civil-military understanding of the area by developing a network of local tribal leaders. Persistent difficulties between a senior official and a local chief of police were also hampering British and Afghan objectives in Musa Qaleh. Peter was instrumental in brokering decent working relations between the two men, contributing to a steadily improving environment. Stabilisation was the order of the day. 

“Stabilisation is an interim step between immediately after conflict and full-scale development,” Peter explains. “Once you have security and stability and decent government, it becomes possible for people to go about their lives normally again. Growing crops and selling them, sending their children to school safely, building a more prosperous future. That’s what it’s all about.”

As Richard – who now works in the Department for International Development office in Kabul - says today, “Progress has been across the board. Ten of the 13 districts now have Afghan government presence. There’s more connection between provincial and district government than ever before. There’s a greater willingness on the government’s part to address concerns than ever before. There’s more money than ever before. There are more Afghan soldiers and policemen than ever before. There has been a massive increase in civil-military effort generally.” 

Unlike Richard, Mike did not face a parlous security environment in which sustainable reconstruction was virtually impossible. He says he experienced no indirect fire into Musa Qaleh since the summer of 2009 and describes the one suicide attack last December as “a massive own goal for the insurgents”, to the extent that the Taliban subsequently abandoned this form of attack in Musa Qaleh due to the revulsion of the local population. Mike provided discreet assistance behind the scenes and the local government was able to repair the damage caused by the attack within five days, demonstrating its ability to respond quickly and effectively to the community’s most urgent needs. Another step forward. 

With the land under the Afghan government’s control steadily increasing due to joint Afghan and British military engagement, there was a real spur to stabilisation. 

This was perhaps nowhere as visible as in the explosion of business and commercial activity. In August 2008, the twice weekly local livestock market on the outskirts of Musa Qaleh drew a paltry attendance of around 200 Afghans. Today that figure has shot up to at least 3,000, drawing in Afghans from well beyond areas under government control. Musa Qaleh is booming, says Mike. “It’s a huge, vibrant, bustling commercial centre.” The livestock market is in addition to the commercial activity within the town, where Afghans can now purchase everything from grain and basic foodstuffs to the latest electronics, DVDs, advanced water pumps, brand new motorbikes and cars. 

Education will be vital to ensure these recent gains can be sustained in the long term. The number of schools has risen from one to four since Mike’s arrival. He reports 1,200 children receiving regular education and 2,000 receiving irregular education in the area under government control. As well as the main school in Musa Qaleh, there are three community schools in the villages of Towghi Keli, Sara Band and Dzo. “Not only have we been able to get hundreds of kids into school, we’ve also been able to get the schools properly resourced with teachers and equipment – books, stationery, desks - through close working with the Ministry of Education,” he says. 

The health sector, long a real challenge, has shown highly encouraging signs of progress, too. There are now around 15 private medical practitioners in Musa Qaleh, together with a nascent public health service. Afghans can have private scans and X-rays in town. “The government health service is staffed and doctors have drugs,” Mike says. “There are questions about service quality but there is a service provided. We’re not doing too badly overall in the health sector.” A $30,000 project to improve district water delivery, launched last December, is transforming the quantity, quality and accessibility of water in Musa Qaleh.

Centre of Musa Qualeh

Afghans in Musa Qaleh will inevitably look to the Afghan authorities for long term security and once again the news is positive. “Musa Qaleh has a strong Chief of Police with 185 loyal officers en route to a target of 200 officers with a ceiling of 250,” says Mike. “I noticed a distinct improvement in their professionalism after they returned from an eight-week training programme in Kandahar.” 

Reconstruction has been given an additional fillip thanks to the Youth Vocational Training Mike introduced. Initially, four Afghans were enrolled on a 13-week course in the Theory and Practice of Construction, taught by a British military engineer. The course covers all aspects of building, from laying foundations and block-work to roofing and installing windows. The four Afghan pioneers are now part of a team engaged in several reconstruction projects in the district and will each mentor two trainees to continue expanding local expertise.

Surveying the scene today, Mike is resolutely upbeat about what has been achieved since 2008. “After two years, which is a relatively short time for development, we have an enabling environment for the implementation of projects and programmes that deliver mid-term outcomes and short-term stabilisation effects, everything from fixing a telegraph pole and clearing a ditch for irrigation to main infrastructure planning. In my experience this is a massive achievement. We’ve handed over something to the Americans which is in really excellent shape.”

By Justin Marozzi
SU Comms Team