Afghanistan: Electrification Effort Loses Spark
by Michael Yon
Anybody seen a better future around here?
21 October 2009
In 2008, I was trekking in the Himalayas in Nepal preparing for a return to Afghanistan. A message came from a British officer suggesting to end the trip and get to Afghanistan. Something was up, and I didn’t bother to ask what. Days of walking were needed to reach the nearest road. After several flights, I landed in Kandahar and eventually Helmand Province at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. The top-secret mission was Oqab Tsuka, involving thousands of ISAF troops who were to deliver turbines to the Kajaki Dam to spearhead a major electrification project. The difficult mission was a great success. That was 2008. During my 2009 embed with British forces, just downstream from Kajaki Dam, it became clear that the initial success had eroded into abject failure. And then the British kicked me out of the embed, for reasons still unclear, giving me time to look further into the Kajaki electrification failure.
After communications with many American and British officers, a sad picture emerged.
The following message was provided by a well-placed officer. The message has been slightly edited by me for clarification.
Michael,
ISAF’s initiative [at Kajaki] to light up southern Afghanistan following the successful delivery of a third turbine to the Kajaki hydro-electric dam has run into major problems which could set the project 24 months behind schedule.
Last September, US and British special forces spearheaded a 100 vehicle convoy from Kandahar 180 miles across open desert, much of it owned by the Taliban, to Kajaki. The Operation, codenamed Oqab Tsuka, included 4,000 British, US and Canadian troops in what was hailed as the biggest demonstration since 2006 that ISAF is delivering progress in the south.
The heavily guarded convoy contained what was called T2 (Turbine 2) and was successfully delivered to the US AID built dam after a six-day operation which saw significant fighting by British paratroopers and advance clearance operations by special forces. As it crawled north up the Sangin valley the Brits mounted the biggest deception operation seen since World War Two.
With just one road available which was an obvious target for insurgents’ IEDs, special forces located a second, more difficult and remote route. After confirmation that it could be used, a battle group was flown into the area of the main route, giving the enemy the clear perception that the convoy was heading that way. Then a dummy convoy headed up the road, while the Brits used the alternative route out of sight.
But despite last year’s success it is now becoming clear that little progress has been made. At the time of the operation a US contractor, known as Kajaki Joe, stated that the turbine would be installed by April 2009 with all three turbines in action by September 2009. However, problems with engineers and missing elements of the turbine have caused significant delays.
When the turbine was delivered only one turbine was in action, another was being overhauled on site with the aim being to install the new one and commission all three into service. Now exactly a year on a report submitted to US AID in Lashkar Gah has suggested that the turbine which was being overhauled needs replacing. Sources in Lashkar Gah say this is a gross overestimate of the situation and that there will be no mission to deliver another turbine.
In 2006 US AID representatives in Lashkar Gah asked the British to play down the project and not to raise people’s expectations about when power would be delivered. The British Foreign Office was quick to try and hijack the public relations spin of last year’s success, even though the UK gave no funding to the project.
The overall aim of the turbine mission was to support the power grid in southern Afghanistan. In fact Canada pledged millions of Canadian dollars to the Kandahar economy once the power was plugged into the grid and supplying business in the city. But the Canadians seem doubtful that power will be switched on before 2014—by which time they will have pulled their troops out of Afghanistan.
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24 Comments
A great target when able to work, but to deliver over wires harder to defend, money better spent in south america or africa, away from those who distrust all but their god, remember these people destroyed some of the greatest works of art produced by people of faith.
This "Out of Afghanistan NOW" business has got to stop. For a government that has kept troops in Japan and Germany for the last 60 years, hightailing it out of a warzone before the smoke even clears is strategically stupid. Once Afghanistan and Iraq are brought completely into the 21st century, the USA will have some large bargaining chips in the fight against Radical Islam.
yah, strange goal. getting electricity to region not yet safe? i'm not there. i don't know. but just this report seems odd.
i want us to win in Afghanistan, but even if we do, it will still be an islamic regime. which isnt much of a victory. i wish we'd get off our politically correct BS and really win. I mean… CHANGE. The Ann Coulter way, conquer & convert. Christianity is better. It lets in ALL others. Setting up a whimpier Islam vs a violent Islam will never do.
When will the State Department step up and do its JOB. These issues we see in Afghanistan for the most part are State Department issues. Voting issues, State Department. Infrastructure Issues, State Department. Corrupt Politician in Afghanistan, State Department. Roads, State Department. Electricity, State Department. Schools, State Department.
We see the Military doing its job, when will the State Department do its job?
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Afghanistan and Iraq are not Japan and Germany. Hell, Afghanistan is centuries behind Iraq even.
This "We Can Build A New Afghanistan" business is what has to stop. This whole operation is The Big Dig times a thousand and sent overseas. Our government can't adequately run the postal service or VA hospitals, yet we're supposed to believe it can magically construct a 21st century nation from the scraps of a civilization that still lives as though it's the early 900s.
The wishful thinking coming from the Right on this issue is just as bad as the liberals when they think the government can solve poverty and education problems with more government.
It's not gonna happen, folks. It's just not gonna happen.
gb8898,
Then have your female family members put on a Burka, raise the white flag over your house and submit to Sharia law. That is what is going to happen with your logic, plain and simple. You have a good reason to fly the flag of distress. It is your mind that is in distress.
You mean the State Department run by Hillary Clinton under the tutelage of Osama? Which is much the same State Department as that run by Colin Powell. Which was much the same State Department as that run by Madman Albright. The State Department IS doing it's job. EXACTLY as wanted by the Head Nanny What's In Charge. Why would he want to do anything that would bring disdain upon his Muslim Brothers In Arms?
Then how are they going to get modernized? Would you rather Iran did it? Or China? Afghanistan is an investment, much like Iraq. There's not going to be a return on this investment for many years, but once they're brought into the current time period, we'll have two allies in a traditionally America=Great Satan region.
It is imperialistic. But it's also humanitarian. We have two choices: Leave Afghanistan alone, with its 900 AD ideas and 2009 AD weapons. Or, introduce it to 2009 AD ideas, and 2009 AD technology, and 2009 AD infrastructure…
Yeah, hyperbole just makes you sound like an idiot.
Or maybe I'm missing something, and the Taliban are just waiting outside my door, ready to attack on goat-back at any moment. I mean, my neighbors have already started praying multiple times a day, and I saw an eight-year-old girl being stoned a few weeks ago because she was wearing a Hannah Montana T-shirt.
I've even heard that the Constitution has been edited to remove the first ten amendments. They've been replaced with verses from the Koran. Congress is called into session with chants on a loudspeaker. There are anecdotal reports that falafel is now served regularly at the White House.
Perhaps you're right, and, like you, I should find a bed under which I can cower and whimper quietly to myself.
Fascinating article! Electricity is the foundation of any modern civilization. Those who want progress want the most and cheapest electricity. Those who hate progress want the least and most expensive electricity.
Hydro electric power is as cheap as nuclear power, costing less than two cents/kilowatt hour. Windmills, on the other hand, generate electricity for $1.20/kwh, sixty times more. The left, because they hate modern civilization, want expensive, unreliable wind power. Those who want people to have better lives prefer nuclear or hydro electricity.
Here, and across the world, we see the left making peoples' lives harder while making them poorer. It's their way.
Ha! Are you sure you're not a liberal? Come on! "How are they going to get modernized?"
An insane idea? They can do it themselves just like we did.
Your same rationale for all this spending can be applied to any number of scenarios here in the United States, from inner cities to backwater rural areas. It is not the job of the federal government to go around the world distributing tax dollars to other countries in the hopes that they'll befriend us. Have you not taken a glance at the Constitution?
Again, ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE NOT A LIBERAL?
This is the problem with modern "conservatives": They're socialists when it comes to spending on foreign nations. You'll scream until you're blue in the face about education spending or welfare or healthcare in this country, and you're right on those points, but then you'll turn around and advocate doing those exact same things for other countries.
What we are attempting is so far divorced from reality it's not even funny. We're trying things that have failed consistently in this country and others for years. But since we're doing it FOR ANOTHER COUNTRY, people think it will somehow work this time?
As I said in my original post, it's just not gonna happen.
Bush went into that war to prevent terrorist attacks here. So far, it's worked pretty damn well. But as soon as we pull out, everything is going to go back the way it was, with American interests the world over getting suicide bombed.
It's like the old adage: Don't just swat the fly. Close the window too. As long as we're over there, the window is closed.
Yes, there are a lot of problems here that need our attention. But frankly, throwing tax money at them isn't the soultion. You mention education spending, healthcare, welfare–if the government would leave well enough alone, things would get better. Tort reform, in and of itself would decrease healthcare costs across the board, without one taxpayer cent. Welfare could be vastly improved by cutting expenditures. (My suggestion: the longer you're on welfare, the less you get paid. It's in your best interests to get a job.)
Education? When was the last time someone said something good about public schools? I think it's DC that has the highest per-student expenditures for education in the nation, and it also ranks consistently last in quality measures. Taking money away from the troops is going to fix that how?
You're saying winning a war is too hard, so let's not do it. ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE NOT A RINO?
Keep up your attacks and get out your prayer rug or learn the facts, learn about the goals of Sharia law and if it is supported by the State Department.
Google some of these facts:
Harold Koh
Koh claimed that "in an appropriate case, he didn't see any reason why sharia law would not be applied to govern a case in the United States."
[...] Vice Online: Taliban not the enemy after all – Obama willing to deal Michael Yon, Big Hollywood: Afghanistan: Electrification Effort Loses Spark Registan.net: HIGs are Pigs Brigadier General (R) Anthony J. Tata, Big Government: Note to the [...]
What are you talking about? I agreed that throwing money at education, welfare, and healthcare IS STUPID. I'm a libertarian; I'm not a liberal, and I'm not a RINO, and I really don't get the "It's in your best interests to get a job" remark. I've got a job and I pay my taxes, so don't worry about my situation.
I'm just pointing out that we're acting like liberals when we throw money at education, welfare, and healthcare IN OTHER COUNTRIES. If it doesn't work here, it won't work there. If it's big government liberalism here, it's big government liberalism there–and it still won't work.
You'd find we agree on almost everything when it comes to domestic policy. It's foreign policy where Republicans have gone off the reservation, acting like Woodrow Wilson trying to "make the world safe for democracy." There's a huge difference between saying winning a war is too hard and saying that nation-building doesn't work.
You seem to forget that in 1945 we had pretty much bombed Germany and Japan back to the Stone Age. Berlin, Tokyo, and most of the major cities were heaps of rubble.
The naysayers at the time said that it was ridiculous trying to turn the militaristic German and Japanese cultures into democracies which could live in peace with their neighbors. The success of transforming Germany and Japan into functioning democracies was largely the work–not of the US government, but the US military, which functions just fine, thank you very much.
We don't really have a choice. There is no leaving Afghanistan on the pretense of "strategic realignment" that will not be interpreted as bugging out. Bin Laden's "Weak horse" argument will be revived, and we will face attacks, not just from Al Quaida, but from numerous clones and independent cells overseas and at home.
I see no reason to fight this war with one hand tied behind our back, or with B-Daddy in charge more like one hand and a foot.
Winning is hot his goal so he wont give them what they need, compassion for anyone never enters the equation so he wont pull them out. I suspect he just hopes something will happen that forces him to do something so he can point his finger at someone else if it goes bad.
All B-Daddy is good for is playing B-Ball in his private gym while our troops are up to their necks in it, I am sure he and Michelle sit around and laugh at our "Stupid Soldiers" while they drink their $2000 bottle of wine paid for by you and me.
B-Daddy is a true coward trying to play both sides against the middle in this one, our troops are going to be the ones that pay for that, any good resolution to any of this would be shear luck with Rahm and B-Daddy calling the shots.
Makes me sick to my stomach.
Michael Yon on the other hand is one tough reporter, damn good work Michael.
If the State Department is abandoning infrastructure projects, it's because they want to get ahead of the pullout curve. (Agent 202 seems to have fostered many a like minded agency hack. Any word on his KGB handler yet?) The State Department is undermining our troops.
The only problem is, the people of Afghanistan have no national identity as compared to Germany and France. We were able to shape a culture in those countries, but in Afghanistan, you're dealing with essentially tribal people. Tribes come before the country, as it were.
If we will dedicate our selves to winning the war, ie, supplying the country with the troops and supplies it needs, then it will be worth it. But if we're going to half-ass it, then it is immoral to leave our troops in harms way. It's time to make a decision, one way or the other.
Agreed. A half-assed effort will be a waste of time and of the lives of the best people in our nation. But to borrow Churchill's phrase, we're already on the tiger's back; there's no dismounting without facing even greater peril. The Islamo-nazi enemy we face is a hydra-headed beast which will feast and grow on even the perception of a retreat.
I am prepared to fight tooth and nail against the implementation of President Obama's domestic agenda; but I truly believe that our politics must end at the water's edge. I hope and pray that he has the good sense to follow the advice of our theater commanders and send the forces neccessary to make the mission a success. It's a high price, but the price of any other course of action will be catastrophically higher.
[...] Mommy: Sarah Palin:”We Must Do What It Takes to Prevail” in Afghanistan Stop The ACLU: President Narcissist Angry At General McChrystal. Now With Surrender! Diary of a Mad Conservative: If he’d done this before last Friday, maybe the Nobel prize wouldn’t be his Moe Lane: Elections Have Consequences Watch: Afghanistan Moonbat Patrol: Afghanistan Muddles Along While Our Men Die and Obama Administrations Dangerous Lack Of Accountability Brian O’Connell, American Spectator: Senator Kerry’s Afghan Indecision ABC News: Apache Pilots Shocked by Size of Attack on Afghan Outpost National Review Online: Democrats Never Meant What They Said About Afghanistan Noel Sheppard, NewsBusters: Media Ignore Congressman Murtha’s Long History Of Opposition to the Iraq War The American Pundit: White House: On Second Thought, The Taliban Isn’t Really An Enemy Are You Freaking Stupid?: Afghanistan has become a war run by Obama’s political needs, not the military. Places politics above soldiers lives. and Obama before: Afghanistan the “war that must be won”, Obama now: Meh, not so much Michelle Malkin: Rough men who stand ready: Wounded troops refused to leave Afghanistan firefight and Obama’s Afghanistan waffle Bloodthirsty Liberal: The Flying Woodshed Times Online: Afghanistan is hard all the time, but it’s doable California Conservative: President Obama: Worse Than Jimmy Carter? Moderate in the Middle: Memo to Obama: The Taliban ARE our enemy. The Taliban are terrorists. The Taliban are enemies of the Afghani people. Radio Vice Online: Taliban not the enemy after all – Obama willing to deal Michael Yon, Big Hollywood: Afghanistan: Electrification Effort Loses Spark [...]
[...] Stop The ACLU: President Narcissist Angry At General McChrystal. Now With Surrender! Diary of a Mad Conservative: If he’d done this before last Friday, maybe the Nobel prize wouldn’t be his Moe Lane: Elections Have Consequences Watch: Afghanistan Moonbat Patrol: Afghanistan Muddles Along While Our Men Die and Obama Administrations Dangerous Lack Of Accountability Brian O’Connell, American Spectator: Senator Kerry’s Afghan Indecision National Review Online: Democrats Never Meant What They Said About Afghanistan The American Pundit: White House: On Second Thought, The Taliban Isn’t Really An Enemy Are You Freaking Stupid?: Afghanistan has become a war run by Obama’s political needs, not the military. Places politics above soldiers lives. and Obama before: Afghanistan the “war that must be won”, Obama now: Meh, not so much Michelle Malkin: Rough men who stand ready: Wounded troops refused to leave Afghanistan firefight and Obama’s Afghanistan waffle Times Online: Afghanistan is hard all the time, but it’s doable Moderate in the Middle: Memo to Obama: The Taliban ARE our enemy. The Taliban are terrorists. The Taliban are enemies of the Afghani people. Radio Vice Online: Taliban not the enemy after all – Obama willing to deal Michael Yon, Big Hollywood: Afghanistan: Electrification Effort Loses Spark [...]
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