In the US Army, Casey Thoreen is just a 30-year-old captain. Around here, he’s known as the “King of Maiwand” district — testimony to the fact that without the young captain and a fat international wallet, local government, as in much of the insurgency-ravaged south, could not function at all.
Setting up effective governments at the district level is key to US strategy. US officials hope that providing basic services will draw support away from the Taliban, especially in the Islamist group’s heartland of Kandahar Province.
In this dusty farming community 60km west of Kandahar, however, Thoreen has discovered that bolstering the authority of a district governor, who relies on him almost completely for financial resources and credibility, is a delicate balancing act. He also knows the effort is unsustainable without greater support from the central Afghan government in Kabul.
“We are putting a big gamble on this,” Thoreen said. “Any of this stuff we’re doing here, not just at our level but the US$800 billion we have spent so far in the country, is contingent on the government being effective.”
For now, Thoreen and Maiwand’s district governor, Obaidullah Bawari, are working with what they have — which isn’t much.
The 49-year-old Bawari, who has occupied the post for a year, has no staff except his personal assistant and no government budget except for the US$400 monthly salary that he receives from Kabul. He is responsible for civilian government operations in the district, including water, power and schools, and he mediates disputes.
There are about 150 Afghan police deployed in Maiwand, but they report to both the chief of police in Kandahar City as well as the provincial governor.
“Everything you see here is from the coalition forces,” said Bawari, sweeping his hand toward the center of the district capital, Hutal, where the US Army has paid for a new government headquarters, an agricultural center and various other projects.
It’s a picture repeated across the country, including in the ethnic Pashtun heartland of southern Afghanistan, where opposition to the government and support for the Taliban runs deep.
When the troops from 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment first arrived in Hutal in September last year, Bawari basically had no authority within the district because he doesn’t come from a powerful family and isn’t well-educated.
“He was very intimidated, very helpless and had no sense of his responsibilities,” Thoreen said.
The troops, who live in a small base in the middle of Hutal, have tried to boost Bawari’s standing by encouraging him to take credit for development projects the US military has funded. They have also set up a series of traditional meetings, known as shura, with tribal elders in an attempt to enlist their support.
“Through the district leader and us, the elders are involved in laying out the ideas for these projects and actually implementing them,” Thoreen said.
The dynamic gets more complicated, though, when Thoreen and the district governor disagree on an issue. That presents the captain with a difficult choice — either overrule Bawari and damage his authority or give in and accept a decision he believes is bad for the mission.
Such a situation arose at a recent shura when 25 farmers showed up to demand the return of more than 135kg of opium that Special Forces had seized from a car.
Thoreen refused to return the opium or compensate them for it, saying US forces have been clear that while they will not seize drugs from individual farmers, they will target smugglers.
Thoreen said, however, there have been other times when he has caved in to the district governor’s wishes, including agreeing to release three insurgents who had been caught with weapons just before they were about to attack a NATO supply convoy.
The district governor certainly appreciates Thoreen’s efforts and says he is worried about what will happen when the captain leaves this summer with the rest of the 5th Stryker Brigade.
“We need the next person who comes to be exactly like Captain Thoreen, patient and very smart,” Bawari said. “If we get that kind of person, we won’t have any problems.”
Thoreen is flattered by the compliment, but adds a word of caution.
“I think that’s all right as long as other people don’t see that and think he’s dependent on me,” Thoreen said.
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