Stabilisation in Musa Qal'ah points the way forward for Op MOSHTARAK

Mike is from the UK's Stabilisation Unit (SU), a pool of advisers who bring their expertise to the world's most troubled hotspots, which is jointly 'owned' by the Department for International Development, the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

There are currently stabilisation advisers in many of the forward operating bases (FOBs) in Helmand and the civilian stabilisation concept has been at the heart of Operation MOSHTARAK from its inception.

Mike McKie said:

"Once the spectre of insurgency has been removed, we can move forward very quickly. It does not have to take long for the negative effects of insurgency to become clear by their absence."

Mike has recently attended a shura, or consultative gathering, in Patrol Base Habib, in an area which was, until very recently, key terrain for the Taliban.

With the insurgents displaced, local people were sufficiently confident to attend the shura with the District Governor Mullah Salam and local Afghan police and army commanders and air their concerns about such pressing issues as land tenure and illegal land sales.

During the Taliban era this would have been unthinkable:

"It was an absolutely brilliant shura, it was front-line, front-line," Mike said. "The local population were showing very clearly that they were pro-government."

Further south in Marjah, in the immediate area of activity for Operation MOSHTARAK, Johann Jones, an American stabilisation adviser deployed by the SU, works in a team of British, Americans and locally employed Afghans.

Johann offers further evidence of what a difference the operation is already making on the ground. He reports that the Afghan and coalition military have been clearing areas with local farmers going out right behind them and fertilising or working fields which they had been unable to tend immediately prior to the operation. He said:

"The locals just want to work and get back to their daily lives. They want security and a decent life for their families."

The return of vigorous commercial activity is another key sign of success. He continued:

"We've gone from zero to around 30-plus shops open in the Loy Chareh bazaar. The Karo Chareh bazaar, which is even bigger, has now opened, and Balakino bazaar, to the south west, reopened, all within the first 11 days after the operation."

Now that the Taliban have been removed, he and his colleagues, both military and civilian, are looking towards the future and planning a series of outreach shuras, visits, cash for work projects, longer term build projects, clean-up work, and capacity development.

It's a familiar pattern across southern Afghanistan whenever and wherever Afghan and coalition partners displace the Taliban.

Protected by the Afghan police, with the International Security Assistance Force providing distanced support, the Chah-e Anjir market has just opened for the first time in 18 months, selling animals, motorbikes, electrical items, spices, clothing, vegetables, and staples like grain and flour.

Market days are now extremely popular, with several hundred Afghans turning up, including traders and stallholders from Lashkar Gah.

The Nad 'Ali Health Clinic has now been open for three weeks and is providing effective and free healthcare to the community, particularly women and children.

Built-in flexibility allows rapid reaction and adjustment as the situation changes on the ground. Johann added:

"Daily updates, assessments, and the ability to change everything you planned quicker than you typed the plan is a testament to the level of detail in which we all know each and every item."

Co-operation between the Afghan and coalition military on the one hand and civilians on the other is a daily reality:

"Both FOBs I've worked at - British and American - so far have been exceptional in their reception towards civilians and their general can-do attitude that makes you proud to be a part of this effort and extremely impressed to see those servicemen and women out here sacrificing every day," said Johann.

The civilian mentoring provided by the stabilisation advisers is a vital precursor to Afghans performing such functions alone in the longer term:

"It certainly isn't going to be us who win this thing," added Johann. "It will be the Afghan people; their education and capacity development as well as building the institutions and companies who will employ those individuals."

Read more about Mike McKie's work in Musa Qal'ah at Related News.