Although there can be serious security incidents, Kabul is safer than many realise, a senior Irish officer stationed there tells Tom Clonan.
The dramatic occupation of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin by Afghan hunger strikers brought many issues into focus - including that of Afghanistan's current security climate. When interviewed by the media, a number of the hunger strikers said deportation or repatriation from Ireland to Kabul would put their lives at immediate risk. Last weekend, a suspected Taliban suicide bomber killed himself and two others in Kabul. Many commentators see this as an escalation of the growing unrest outside Afghanistan's equivalent of the "Pale" - the relatively secure capital of Kabul, where Mohamed Karzai's internationally-backed government and thousands of western troops are located.
Irish Army officer Comdt Timothy O'Brien, from Mallow, Co Cork, is on home leave from Kabul. He is at present posted to the Nato-led and UN-mandated Interim Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan. Deployed to the Kabul Multi-National Brigade (KMNB), he is based at Camp Warehouse in the eastern suburbs of the capital.
Comdt O'Brien commands one of KMNB's liaison and negotiation teams. His job entails conducting regular face-to-face briefings on joint security operations with his counterparts among the Kabul City Police and the Afghan National Army.
Unlike other staff jobs at ISAF headquarters, O'Brien's work brings him into daily contact with Afghan police and military personnel along with the local populace. As such, he has a direct appreciation of the security situation in the capital and its environs.
His area of operations spans the city and province of Kabul - a densely populated area of 4½ million Afghans, stretching to a radius of approximately 20 kilometres from the city centre. O'Brien and his team of negotiators and interpreters travel through the city and its suburbs in convoys consisting of armoured four-wheel-drive vehicles. Regarding personal security, O'Brien refers to ISAF's "force protection measures" which require all personnel to be armed when outside the camp perimeter. "Each of us carries two weapons at all times - an automatic pistol and a Steyr rifle. We also wear full body armour when we are out and about, with Kevlar plates to the front and rear along with helmets."
Asked about the risks faced by Irish personnel in Kabul, he is philosophical. "We know the risks and we get daily briefings about the threat level in the city, but so far none of our teams have been targeted." Despite this reassurance, ISAF personnel are constantly briefed on the ongoing sporadic car bomb, roadside bomb and, latterly, suicide bomb attacks on civilian and military targets within Kabul. O'Brien recalls one such suicide bomb attack which took place in the last fortnight.
The suicide bomber targeted a Canadian military vehicle on the main road from Kabul to the air base at Bagram airport. "The three Canadians were in shock but they escaped injury. Their armour saved them. Besides, we're trained to spot suicide bombers, lone drivers behaving erratically, for example, and we are trained to take the necessary evasive action. But most importantly, we have an excellent operational overview of what's happening in the city."
For the most part, Kabul is calm with few incidents to speak of, he says. "The vast majority of the people here just want to get on with life and rebuild the city. The Afghan government is democratically elected and they have a credible security presence in the city. They are reacting, on the whole successfully - along with ISAF - to the emerging threats."
He lists those threats as consisting of remnants of the former Taliban regime, elements of al-Qaeda and some politically or tribally motivated groups such as Hizb-l Islami Gulbuddin (HiG). However, he says that Kabul is secure, with major reconstruction projects successfully under way. "Some areas of the city centre have restored their plumbing and running water facilities and out in the suburbs Afghans have access to clean water in wells. Most of the power is provided by generators. You have to remember that this is a city that has been shattered by over 20 years of warfare."
Afghans experience the euphemistically termed "spring offensive" in Kabul every year. "Annually, groups such as dissident Taliban members and al-Qaeda sympathisers stir up trouble and then disappear back into the ether." This is a transient cyclical phenomenon and does not impact significantly on the local population, he says. "I was more worried when I was listening to RTÉ on the satellite system and heard about the shoot-out on the M50. You don't have to come to Kabul to experience street warfare."
One EU-funded project close to Comdt O'Brien's heart is the reconstruction of Kabul's roads and motorways. He describes the heat and dust of Kabul, where temperatures rise to over 40 degrees in summer. He also describes the sight of hundreds of Afghan children receiving their schooling in "dusty football pitches with a guy with a blackboard and some chalk teaching in the open air".
"The Afghans are an educated people. They know about Ireland and our war of independence and are very curious about our economic miracle."