Most Dutch soldiers serving in Afghanistan are stationed in Uruzgan province. Michel Rentenaar is the civilian head of Task Force Uruzgan and director of Uruzgan’s Provincial Reconstruction Team. He writes a regular article for Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

I was recently standing in the mud under a shelter, hiding from the rain here in Uruzgan. Someone next to me asked if this was a 'doing' or a 'thinking' mission. At first, I didn’t know what to make of the question. Later, a journalist friend of mine asked me how much ‘thinking’ content there was in our approach to the job here.

I very often find myself explaining the civilian-military co-operation involved in our mission. I usually talk about military 'can-do' and civilian 'know-how'. Our military partners display an admirable can-do mentality. For them, problems are just challenges to be overcome: if something doesn’t go right, you haven’t tried hard enough. They don’t want problems, just solutions to be put into practice.

Experience
Alongside the soldiers, civilians from the foreign ministry are also working here on Uruzgan’s administrative reconstruction and development. They may previously have worked with an NGO in southern Sudan or for the foreign ministry in Angola, southern Lebanon or Iraq. They bring with them experience of parts of the world where stability is a problem and where a vision for future reconstruction is required.

Some of them have gone right to the heart of Uruzgan society. They are attempting to get to the bottom of tribal disputes and have gained an in-depth knowledge of Afghan culture. It’s like they’ve been attached for years to an infusion of Afghan tea. These diplomats don’t wear suits, but they are the brains behind the mission. They look below the surface. They are our eyes and ears.

Nothing is what it seems
Back to the question: doing or thinking? Have we found the right mix here in Uruzgan? The doing is certainly taken care of. From early morning to late at night. Seven days a week. It can be exhausting. In Afghanistan, the shortest distance from A to B is actually not a straight line. Nothing is what it at first seems. Behind every example of instability, lies a deep-seated problem. Thirty years of civil war has served to heighten tribal differences. There was a recent operation in an area of Uruzgan where local people were begging for police checkpoints to improve security. As quick as a flash, the doers arranged the logistics of the police posts. The thinkers, meanwhile, warned of the possible consequences of getting the wrong tribal mix of officers manning the checkpoints. The doers provided the extra security, the thinkers made sure we avoided new tribal disputes.

That’s often the story. Long-standing tribal disputes, which have been cynically exploited and made worse from outside, cannot be solved by military might alone. It is, of course, sometimes necessary to launch military operations against groups which terrorise the people of Uruzgan. This approach, however, has to be coupled with an understanding of the deeper causes which lie behind the conflict.

Reconciliation
Every conversation I have with Afghan people starts with the issue of security. The second thing they mention is the need for reconciliation. There is a long way to go on this problem throughout Afghanistan, including here in Uruzgan. But, there are also many hopeful signs. One is the village council I wrote about earlier. Another is the setting up of talks between two sections of a tribe which have been fighting each other in western Uruzgan for years. Yet another is the restoration of order in a town in northern Uruzgan after a series of reconciliation meetings were held. Throughout Uruzgan, things are changing, old patterns are slowly being broken. We Dutch shouldn’t take the credit for this. But the progress does have something to do with the return of a certain amount of peace and some hope of development and a better life.

In a few days it will be Christmas. A festival of birth and hope. The next day is the Shiite Muslim festival of Ashura. This commemorates the battle of Karbala, an example of supreme sacrifice. Then comes the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on 27 December 1979. Everyone knows how that ended. Afghanistan has a sad history. I read somewhere that 20,000 Dutch personnel have already served here. A temporary sacrifice for the reconstruction of another country. Thinkers, doers, people working towards reconciliation, bringing a ray of hope for a better future in Uruzgan.