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ISLAMABAD: The first batch of US military service members and civilians in the new AfPak Hands programme, which is being billed as a new way to build trust with the military and local populations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, reached Afghanistan last week to continue its training at the Counterinsurgency Training Academy.
“The International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) officials are using the programme in an effort to build better long-term relationships with the Afghan and Pakistani people, governments and militaries,†a diplomatic source told The News here on Thursday.
The AfPak Hands is a new, all-in language and cultural immersion initiative developed last summer and supported by Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.“In Afghanistan, AfPak Hands will help the Isaf accelerate the continual transition of more responsibility to the country’s government and security forces,†said the source, who did not want to be named.
“It is a positive change to the way we do business here because the Afghans value personal relationships,†he said. The Afghan Army officers who attended counterinsurgency training with the first class of AfPak Hands were excited and surprised to hear Americans speaking to them in their native language, the source said. The source said they know Dari and Pashto, and the Afghan military officers like that. He said they saw the coalition partners speaking Pashto and Dari and were excited that they were speaking their language. “Without an interpreter or translator, they can solve the problems by themselves. They can contact the (Afghan security forces) themselves,†the source said.
The source said the Afghan people do not expect coalition forces to speak their language. He said the moment they have that first interaction with an AfPak Hand, the moment that someone spoke to them in their language and asked them about their family, the light bulbs were all going to come on, and it was not just going to come on for the Afghan; it was going to come on for that AfPak Hand, and they were going to realise, right then and there, the importance of what they were doing.
AfPak Hands is a group of experts specifically trained to become experts in the Afghan and Pakistani cultures, the source explained. “These are the folks that are going to build relationships,†he said.
The first wave of 33 AfPak members completed an intensive 17-week Defence Language Institute course in Dari or Pashto in Arlington, Va., from October to March, and then service-specific pre-deployment training before their arrival in Kabul on April 24.
Another 125 AfPak personnel are scheduled to arrive by the end of June, with another group arriving in September and one more around November. Of the 281 billets for the programme, 253 will be stationed in Afghanistan, with 28 in Pakistan. It is equally important for the Isaf to develop the relationships with the Pakistani military as it is with the Afghan people and army, the source said.