Capt. Larry Doane (L) in the Colonel's office near Combat Outpost Red Hill

“We have a proverb,” said Hadji Murad to the interpreter, “’The dog gave meat to the ass and the ass gave hay to the dog, and both went hungry,’” and he smiled. “Its own customs seem good to each nation.”

-From Hadji Murad by Leo Tolstoy

VPR Commentator and Vermont Army Guard Captain Larry Doane spent a few days at Combat Outpost Red Hill while I was there. We’d been corresponding on and off during the deployment, but it was at Red Hill that I discovered Doane’s gallows humor. One evening we prepared to visit the Afghan Army outpost located just above Red Hill. We would have to walk outside the ‘wire’ and normally that meant wearing helmets and body armor. He dismissed the idea with a wave and a fatalistic quip.

I’m guessing there was more to the decision than a simple calculation that we wouldn’t need the protective gear. We were going to visit an Afghan Army Colonel, and I suspect Capt. Doane wanted to build trust and avoid any suggestion that we felt unsafe in the officer’s presence.

The colonel, a cheerful, mustachioed man ushered us into an office with a small bed in the corner and one bare light bulb suspended by a wire from the ceiling. His entourage included a ‘religious officer’ – a man with a long beard. Introductions were made, hands shaken and greetings exchanged.

Afghans are unfailingly polite and we could probably take a lesson or two from them. As I learned in Iran, the American style of ‘cutting to the chase’ when doing business is downright rude in this culture.

But when the Colonel’s cell phone rang while Capt. Doane was speaking to him, the Colonel didn’t hesitate to answer it and start talking with the caller, leaving Doane to trail off and wait for the conversation to end. He pointed out that this is what Afghans do when their cell phones ring, or when someone suddenly appears to talk with them. It’s behavior that we would consider rude.

Capt. Doane has clearly mastered the finer points of Afghan etiquette. His visits are equal measure friendly chit chat and military business. Tea is never declined and once it’s finished, it’s appropriate to wait a respectable interval before taking your leave.

I asked the Colonel, whose name is Shams Udin, how long he thought it would be necessary for the American military to stay in Afghanistan to support his army.

Interestingly, rather than couching his answer in military terms (i.e. ‘until we get rid of the Taliban”, etc.), he spoke in economic terms. He explained that Afghanistan needs to build its economy before its safe for America to leave – and he suggested that would take another five years.

Later, Capt. Doane explained that the Afghan government couldn’t possibly sustain the budget it takes to fund the Afghan military and police force necessary to protect the country. It takes a lot of American dollars and funding from other countries to do that (and many would argue that too much of that money is lining the pockets of corrupt individuals). To illustrate what the Captain and the Colonel were talking about, we didn’t need to look any further than Combat Outpost Red Hill. It’s being built by the U.S. military. Once it’s completed it will be a gift to the Afghan Army, and our troops will move out.

Steve Zind  ReportFromAfghanistan@gmail.com