Tarin Kot Brief Synopsis 2011

 In 2010, the people of Tarin Kot were promised many things from the Obama/Biden administration, and it is no surprise to me now that the Biden/Harris administration has betrayed the interpreters and local support and the rest of Afghanistan. I am but a lowly agnostic polytheist Independent voting OEF veteran who cared about the people then and won't stop fighting for them now. The war has shifted. I ask everyone to support efforts being made to evacuate interpreters and local support, journalists, and other individuals facing death. I also ask everyone to push for food and sanitary wipes to be airdropped on the borders where refugees gather. When we find hope and resolve fading, let us run on pure bitterness and resentment until we feel hope and resolve again.

 TRANSCRIPT, TARIN KOT

 

Note from the editor: Many heartfelt thanks to Shapur and M for allowing me to participate in the research effort for this project. I worked on FOB Tarin Kot from September 2010 to August 2011 as a United States Army installation air traffic controller. I witnessed firsthand how the dirt strip airfield evolved into a remarkable international airport with taxiways, a passenger terminal, and runway lighting. I am aware that this new airport will help facilitate improvements to the local population’s lifestyles and their economy, and I am happy for them. I also know that these changes will eventually transform their local culture as well. This English language translation is dedicated with deep respect and admiration to the everyday, average person living in the city of Tarin Kot, Afghanistan. 

Recorded at Nawabi Tailor Shop in the “Market Square” at FOB (Forward Operating Base) Tarin Kot in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan.  On this day of July 17, 2011, the following was recorded with full knowledge and consent from all participants.

 

A: Name, today’s date, where we are.

 

M: My name is M Nawabi.  I am from Uruzgan.  Today’s date is July seventeenth, two thousand eleven.  

 

A: Alright, originally when Tarin Kot was established, how many provinces…was it provinces or was it something else?

 

S talks with M for a moment.

 

S: He told me there were twenty.

 

A: Twenty provinces? 

 

S: Twenty provinces in Afghanistan.   

 

A: Districts, I meant districts.

 

M: It had seven districts.

 

M: Uruzgan has seven districts.  It’s like Cha Chena, Deh Rawud, uh…

 

A: What is the first one, Cha what?

 

S: Cha Chino.

 

M: The first one is- from here, first one is Deh Rawud, and the second one is Cha Cheno, and the third one is Chorah, the fourth one is Uruzgan,  Gizab, and also the, uh …..

 

S and M discuss the next possibility before deciding on the province.

 

M: Yekhtan, one is Yekhtan which is, uh, a new district.  Shahid Khasas?  And also one is Shahid Khasis.

 

A: Ok.  But, how many districts are there now?

 

M: Seven.

 

A: There ARE seven?

 

M/S: Yes.

 

A: I thought there were five or six.

 

M: Yeah, six was uh -there were six districts, but uh, Yekhtan was maybe like two months ago or one…

 

A: Ok.  When Tarin Kot was formed, were these provinces?  Or were they called something else?  Like, you had Uruzgan Province, Kandahar Province, Logar Province, or it was something completely different?

 

S: Yeah, you are talking about Tarin Kot?

 

A: No, I’m talking about the rest of Afghanistan.  

 

S: The rest of Afghanistan?  Like what do you mean?

 

A: When did you start having provinces?  This wasn’t a hundred and twenty years ago.

 

S: It was already provinces.

 

M: No.  

 

S: Afghanistan?

 

M: Yeah, the first time, Kandahar was a province, and Uruzgan, Helmand, and Qalat, Herat, these were districts.  

 

S: In the name of a huge Kandahar.

 

Here M and S discuss the situation of Afghanistan during the late 1800’s for a moment.

 

A: Ok, so the king sent people to start farming, agricultural businesses here. Did they start with a governor, or uh, how was like, the government at that time?  You have your king, and then you have a governor of Tarin Kot, the governor of Uruzgan, or a council?  How was that at the time?  For instance, right now, you have a governor of Uruzgan.  Do you have a governor of TK? Like over the city? Or just of the province?

 

M: No, only governor. 

 

S: I think also that Tarin Kot didn’t have a governor, but they have the governor for all Uruzgan, and they had the governor, chief governor, for all districts.  

 

S and M talk again.

 

S: They have a council.

 

A:  How many people?

 

S: The council members, three of them are men, and one of them is a woman.  

 

A: Four?

 

S: Yes.

 

A: For a district?

 

S: No, for all Uruzgan, because this is like the provincial council of Uruzgan.

 

A: Ok.  Do they get elected, or do they just pick?

 

S: They’re elected.

 

A: They’re elected?

 

S: Yes.

 

A: It’s always been that way?

 

S: Yes.  It’s every five years.  

 

A: Alright, so before the Russians came here, you had schools?

 

S: Yes, they had schools.

 

A: Do you happen to know how the semester was set up?  We have kindergarten, elementary school, then we have junior high, then we have high school.  

 

S: They had two high schools, for Tarin Kot, one elementary school.  Like, also they had for the districts- all the districts- they had schools.

 

A: Ok.  So how many grades do you have before you’re done with high school? When the kids start school in the United States, they have twelve grades.  Then they’re done with high school. So, they go to school for twelve years.  

 

S: From one up to seven, is elementary.  Like from seven up to nine, is middle.  From nine up to twelve is high school.

 

A: Same with us. Do you happen to know when they stopped having school? Or did they ever stop having school? Like during the Russian invasion, kids still went to school, or they wouldn’t go?

 

S talks with M for a bit.

 

S: He said, “When the Russians attacked Afghanistan, less of the people wanted to keep the school on. But when the Taliban attacked Afghanistan, all the people wanted to stop the schools, because it wasn’t safe.

 

A: And what classes did they have?  Before people stopped, what classes were normal? What’s a normal school week or school day for high school?  

 

S: Like when it’s started, when it’s done?  The season for the school?  The time for the school?  Like, which months?

 

A: Yes, which months?  

 

S: They started school at the end, at the first of Spring, like the first month in Hamal.Then they’re done at the end, like the first of winter. Aqrab.

 

A: What subjects?

 

M: It’s different for like one to fourth, it’s different for four to seventh… 

 

A: What time did school start?

 

M: School started…

 

S: Normally eleven…

 

 

M: From eight o’clock to twelve.

 

A: That’s it?  Four hours?

 

M: Yeah. From eight to twelve o’clock, or sometimes it’s coming like from eight to half past twelve o’clock or one.

 

A: Ok.  We go all day.  From eight til like three.

 

M: Yeah, I know, also I study in Pakistan from eight to two o’clock.

 

S: But the teaching hour is forty-five minutes.

 

A: Well, here, also what you learn during those four hours here, is more than what people learn during all day long in other places. Because I’ve seen your math and the science level that you have coming out of high school, you know more than what a lot of other people do. So, it doesn’t matter if it’s four hours or eight hours. What matters is what you know at the end. Ok, back to the subjects, like, if you’re in fourth grade, what are you going to be studying?

 

M: In fourth grade is uh, common science,  also geography, or like history…

 

A: All the sciences, I imagine.

 

M: Yeah.  One is like, our Islam religion.

 

M: One English or Dari class.  

 

A: You have a high school now, right?

 

M: Yes.  

 

A: Do they have a science lab?  

 

 

A: Do you have like a room where you go in?  And instead of studying from a textbook, you’re doing what we call ‘experiments’.  Biology, you’ll cut open a frog or…

 

S: No, they don’t have a lab. Maybe, that’s more in Kabul.

 

 

 

S: They don’t have one, in our province we don’t have one, in Kabul they have just a few, there’s not enough.  The people learn like, they have experience about those subjects.

 

A: Does the high school have microscopes?    

 

M: Yes.

 

A: They do have that at least.  What about telescopes?  Where you look out at the stars? 

 

M: No, they don’t.  

 

A: And no kind of setup for chemistry, where they have like working with chemistry? 

 

S: No, just they are teaching the chemistry just from a book.

 

A: Ok, as far as biology goes, if you’re working in a lab, you have to dissect animals at some point, in a lot of other countries. Do you do that here, or is that against your religion to do that?

 

M: We are doing that, but not in here in this province.

 

A: Ok. But it’s not against your religion?

 

M: No.

 

A: Ok, so, I think in your last interview, you said, or your uncle said that Russia- they came to Uruzgan, but they were not able to come to the city of TK?

 

M: Yeah, they came to Uruzgan, but only for like for a few months, like one or two, three months.  But after this, they went back to like, Kandahar.  Like, what you say, ‘the assistants of them’, they were here. Afghan people were working for them.  Those were here.  They were calling from calling center, like from Kabul.  They are telling them, “Do this thing, those things.”  Only like one or two Russians were here.   

 

A: Did the Taliban actually come to the city of TK?  

 

M: Yes.

 

A: I know that Special Forces, American Special Forces were here first.  Who came here next?  Dutch, Canadian, Italian?  

 

M: After American, the Dutch came.  

 

A: And that was in two thousand seven or two thousand nine?  

 

M: The Dutch?

 

A: Yes.

 

M: The Dutch were the first ones, two thousand four, the Dutch (Army) was coming here.  After that, American (Army).  Australians were coming here, like this place, for the first time. Their first place was PRT.  

 

A: In two thousand four?

 

M: Yeah.  Two thousand four or five.

 

A: Do you happen to know when Slovakia came here?

 

M: Slovakia was maybe like three years ago.

 

A: What about Singapore?  

 

M: Singapore was also three, or two and a half years.  

 

A: You had French forces here, too, right?

 

 

S: We had, but they’re gone.  

 

A: So right now, you still have a council government. Right now. Like the governor, there’s the governor of Uruzgan, and then a council with three men and one woman?  

 

M: Yes.

 

A: Do you know what nomads are? The people that travel around, they don’t really live in one place? I know that there’s like, nomads in Tibet. They always have sheep or goats, and they’ll live here, and then five months later, two months later, they’ll pick up and move and live somewhere else.   

 

S: Like desert people?

 

A: Yes.

 

M: Yes, they’re living here, but not inside. Like outside of the city. They are coming, like, outside the city. They are coming like, this time, (during) hot weather.  

 

A: Ok.  

 

M: They are going outside of the city, for cold weather. And also, they spend the spring time outside, like in the mountains and other places. After spring, they are coming back here.  

 

S: Like, they’re coming in the springtime, and they are moving before the winter starts. To hot places.

 

A: Do they speak Pashto?  

 

M: Yes.

 

S: All of them, Pashtun.

 

A: So then they come to the bazaar, and they trade? They do business at the bazaar?

 

S: Yes, sometimes they bring yogurt, like sour milk, and also a kind of oil. They make it from milk.

 

A: An oil from milk?  

 

M/S: Yes.

 

M: You are saying ‘water milk’?  You know water milk?

 

A: We have something that we call, ‘buttermilk’.  

 

M/S: Yes.

 

A: But it’s not oil. 

 

S: Butter?  

 

A: Butter, ok.

 

S: But they make from butter, oil.  

 

A: Ok.  Is it salty?

 

M: Not salty.  

 

S: The smell is different.

 

A: Oh, I bet.  

 

M: If you like, it, it’s no problem, uh, we have it here tonight to get.  In Uruzgan.

 

A: Is it from goats?

 

S: No, from cows.

 

A: Ok. Cuz, goat’s milk, it’s a little strong.  I’m not used to it. Is it like all uh, one group, or more than one group? Like, it’s one tribe that comes, or more than one tribe?

 

S: Yes, they are different tribes.

 

A: Do they speak the same Pashto that you do, or their Pashto is different?  

 

S: It’s a little bit different.

 

M: Yeah, it’s a little bit different, like, ours…

 

S: The culture, everything is too different from us.

 

A: If you just have to take a guess at how many villages there are out here in TK, how many would you say?

 

S: Just in Tarin Kot?

 

A: Just guess. This part isn’t that important, but it’s a good thing to put in there.  

 

S: Almost forty, fifty.

 

A: Ok. Um, number of tribes, because that’s not the same thing as a village, right?

 

S: Yes.

 

A: Because you can have a village, but you can have different tribes in one village.

 

S: It’s different. Yes.

 

M and S discuss this for a moment.

 

S: He said there are many tribes, but the- like the big tribes here, Durani and Al…..  the big tribes.

 

A: If you just had to guess the number of tribes?

 

M: There’s ten tribes maybe.

 

A: Ten. Ok.  And um, I don’t need to know the names, but like, villages, these, what did you just say, these forty or fifty maybe villages?

 

M: Forty.  

 

A: Do they all have a name?

 

S: Yeah.  Like, Khorma, Sarkhun, Kaftabad, Deh Rawshahd…

 

A: Average lifespan right now, for a male and a female, the average lifespan? How old do people normally get to live out in the city? Are they hitting seventy, eighty, ninety?

 

S: Like, they’re dying?

 

A: How long do most people live?

 

M: Like seventy, or seventy-five.

 

A: During the time before the Russians, were they living longer, or shorter, or pretty much the same?  

 

M: They are living like, a hundred twenty, hundred thirty.

 

A: Really?!

 

M: Yes.

 

A: Oh, wow!

 

M: That time, my one grandfather, he died at like, ninety years old. But the other was alive like, he’s uh, ninety-eight or ninety-nine years.  

 

A: That’s pretty good.

 

M: Yeah.  

 

A: Alright, the last time I talked to you, you were saying that you are now growing wheat corn and rice, have people always been growing rice here, or they just started growing rice?

 

S: They have been growing rice.

 

A: What about the corn, have you always been growing corn?

 

S: They have been growing rice, but now they stopped, because they don’t have enough water, and as you know, the rice needs a lot of water. Like, they have been growing corn, and now it’s still the same.

 

A: So, when people first got here, they were growing corn?

 

S: Yes.

 

Recording ends here.