It is time to leave Afghanistan
By Bob Resseguie
(Editor's note: Bob Resseguie is a former resident of Columbia. He has been in Afghanistan for over a year working with an American Non- Governmental Organization in northern Afghanistan. Their purpose is to persuade the tribal farmers to grow crops other than opium poppies.)

Winter is fast arriving in Badakhshan. The first rains since May came last Thursday, and in the mountains there is snow. The temps have been nice, 30- 40 overnight and in the 60- 70s daytime.

The peaceful nature of life in Badakhshan was broken last May- June with the incursion of some Taliban sympathizer mullahs from Pakistan. This led to about three months of security problems in the province, including threats of suicide bombings (several young people were caught, but none went off), kidnapping threats (none happened), IEDs (several were found and defused, one went off on the provincial police chiefs vehicle), lots of weapons found, arrests of Taliban and Kazak and Chechnyan al Qaeda- types, rockets being fired (not much damage due to poor aim and old equipment), a few drug lord gun fights, and general political apprehension over the coming elections in 2009.

This, of course, is nothing compared to what is going on in the south and southeast of the country, but it points out the general malaise that permeates Afghanistan. Discussion and negotiation is done with rockets, guns, and IED's.

Unfortunately, our project security regime has been ratcheted up to the point where all travel is in armored vehicles with armed guards. The local market is off limits. On days off, we are restricted to our houses. Field trips are still possible, but under restricted conditions. So a lot of the fun has been removed from the project and life in Faizabad.

Working with the Afghans is still a pleasure and enjoyable. They are for the most part very pleasant people. Most of the time, the ups and downs of development in these rural agricultural areas is still an emotional high for me. This kind of development, where technology and resources are in short supply, can still be exciting. But the lows come quickly, as the pace of progress and success in resolving problems slows to a crawl, all too often for lack of sufficient resources.

There are some very talented, conscientious, and caring Afghans working with us under very difficult conditions. The work with village elders, farmers, and government officials continues to be interesting, inspiring, and draining. There is a mutual understanding of the problems, knowing what the solutions are, and then the downer of also knowing all the necessary resources are not available.

This province probably has as good a chance as any to move away from poppy production in the next few years if sufficient resources were available. While we have considerable resources for development activities, it is still a drop in the provincial bucket. The money being spent on eradication of poppy fields should be diverted to more productive uses.

Although the security situation has calmed down some, and some progress is being made in our development efforts, my wife's anxiety has brought me to the decision to end my contract early and depart from Afghanistan by mid- November. As much as I enjoy the work, the people, and the place, there are many factors that tell me it is time to leave.