Mission(s)

Alright, I think I need to try to explain something, but I'm not sure how clear it will be; I didn't know myself until after I got over here. So here goes...

The U.S. is more or less involved in two missions here in Afghanistan. The first is Operation Enduring Freedom. That's the U.S. mission basically to seek out and destroy the Taliban (and 'win hearts and minds of the local populace'). This is what the majority of U.S. troops are involved in and the vast majority of the Operation is in the more volitile southern region of the country. So it's a more dangerous mission in a more dangerous location.

By the way, the U.S. forces here are affectionately referred to as 'Team America' from the movie of the same name. Everyone seems to get a kick out of it. If you don't quite understand the full humor, must be because you're not stuck in the sandbox with the crud :)

U.S. troops are also part of the NATO ISAF's humanitarian mission. There are 26 nations with NATO; 40 with ISAF (additional countries like Austalia, Finland, Sweden, Macedonia) participating in this mission. The country is divided into five areas, which one or two countries take control of an area for 6-12 months before handing off control to another country. For example, the northern region is primarily German and Swedish; the western region is primarily Spanish. The U.S. has the southern region, again the more volitile area. That allows Team America to combine some of our resources for both the Enduring Freedom and ISAF mission.

So I am part of the NATO ISAF mission. I am in Kabul, in the central/eastern part of the country. I'm also at the Headquarters element. We have at least 8 General Officers here, including three American Generals. Obviously, the Generals and the Headquarters are going to be in a safer part of the country.

Being part of the American contribution to the ISAF mission is very unique. First, we have American Generals in our chain of command and follow U.S. regulations in addition to the NATO rules. So, you can imagine, the U.S. forces are used to more dangerous missions and take all precautions. Team Euro sometimes pokes fun of us here because we're more uptight. Hopefully you can understand why, as most of the U.S. leadership here have had very different experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To summarize, I take more precautions and have more rules to follow, am part of the safer of the two missions, in a safer part of the country, at a safer base and with more protection than most because of the senior leadership and importance of this Headquarters. That's why I stress not to follow the news too closely and hope nobody is worrying too much. Also, there's many (maybe 20) different bases and compounds here in the city. So if you hear anything about 'Kabul' it's like hearing something about 'California' - it's a big place with lots of good spots and a few bad spots.

Alright, that's my two cents I needed to get out. The Presidential Inauguration is coming up in a few days here, so we're plenty busy with lots of planning for that. That's about it for now!