Foundations of Trust

By Senior Airman C.J. Hatch

NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan, Deputy Commander – Police

KABUL, Afghanistan – Coalition helicopters thump over head, but not even the littlest child looks up at the sound that has become so normal it’s almost like traffic sounds to a New Yorker. Just background noise.

I recently had the opportunity to spend a day with the Afghan National Civil Order Police, where we visited a refugee camp to drop off clothes for the children and talk to the adults. This visit wasn’t a humanitarian aid mission, all though that was an aspect of it, the ANCOP was there to make sure the people in the camp were doing okay.

We started our day at the ANCOP headquarters in Kabul with five U.S. military members, where we were to be joined by 15 ANCOP members.  While we waited for the Policemen to get ready we were briefed on our mission. We were going to a small refugee camp in the northern part of the city. While there, we would interact but let the ANCOP take the lead showing the people they care.

For most of us police being the good guy is a way of life. We sit in school and have police come into class to tell us what they do, how they protect us. These people don’t have that, their police force is relatively new. The police are working hard to get rid of corruption and other bad marks that the people have associated them with for years. It’s a hard obstacle to overcome and a long process to a better security force. That is what these men of ANCOP are doing today beginning to build that foundation of trust.

The ANCOP force that was coming with us pulled up their trucks and we moved out. Driving through the city you see people going about their lives, buying fruit, bread and other things for their families. Nice homes and apartments and crumbling old homes stand side by side. In stark contrast empty lots are filled with mud huts covered with tarps, blankets, straw, plastic sheeting and any number of things that will keep out the elements. These small poor communities are refugee camps, small family groups gathered together.

We parked on the road and entered one family’s area. They were from the Afghan-Iran border and had moved to Kabul for the security it offered. Once in Kabul they found a lot already being used by refugees or one of the nomadic tribes and expanded it. This family welcomed us into the main family area which consisted of three thread bear rugs laid out on hard packed ground with a tarp overhead for shelter.

The ANCOP members spoke to the family as the five US military moved around, two of us taking photos and the others giving out candy to children. The children would take their candy and run, then more children would show up wanting some.

One little boy got a piece and began to show everyone what he had, I never saw the candy reach his mouth. He ran off and a few minutes later was back asking for more, like so many of the children. After a talk with the family we walked around ducking under ropes holding drying clothes, squatting under tarps, walking through living areas. It was hard to tell where one house ended and another one started.  Children ran around barefoot, playing and just being children.

As I walked around I couldn’t help but feel for these people. They are in mud huts built by their own hands, as proof piles of dirt and water were being mixed near newly repaired walls. Women and children sat in the open with infants sleeping, just scarves to cover them. They don’t even move to shoo flies away from their face it so common. We left the first families’ area and walked around piles of neatly stacked and shaped manure. They had been gathered and shaped into circles, when the cold comes the piles will diminish as the families burn it to keep their homes warm.

Behind these piles sits another family group living in tents. Many of these people have goats, cows and sheep tied up inside their open tents, and sleep feet away from these animals. This family is nomadic it’s their way of life. They set up tents and move around where they will.

But in comparison to the family next door they are rich and have a good life. They at least have goats, cows, sheep and other animals for food and milk.  In comparison, the homeless of America seem very well off. People help them and give them food and clothing. There are even shelters to house them with beds and running water. Here in Kabul these refugees don’t have those luxuries, nobody cares for them. The only people who care are themselves, or so they thought.

As our time ended the ANCOP Mullah, a Muslim religious leader, sat and prayed with the first family in their open main area. After the prayer the ANCOP team brought over three large boxes. Inside were clothes donated by the Unilever Adopt-A-Soldier Platoon group in New Jersey. The children began to mob around the Policemen grabbing and trying to get what clothes they could. The police took charge and sat the children down in a group and started passing out clothes and shoes, trying to match sizes to children.

One little boy received a new bright yellow pair of boots, a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. The moment he had his clothes he ran home with an ear to ear smile. Soon all the children had new clothes and our mission there was almost over. As we headed back to our vehicles the children ran out to say goodbye, many of them wearing their new clothes.

This experience was an eye opener for me but more important it was an eye opener for the refugees. Here is a police force that was once corrupt, who only cared for themselves, coming to ask what they needed, giving them clothes for their children. This is a small step for the police but the outcome of this small gesture can have huge impacts. From this small visit those people know the police are there to help, and in the future the people may return the kindness by telling the police where that roadside bomb is placed. If you were in that family who would you want on your side, the police who have shown they want to help or the other guy?

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