Iowa soldiers will continue Afghanistan agricultural rejuvenation

Iowa National Guard airmen and soldiers will soon have boots on the ground in Afghanistan on a mission many hope will restore economic stability in a region that has suffered more than three decades of war.

Illinois resident and agricultural expert Renee Thakali worked with women in Afghanistan's Ghazni Province in 2009 when she served as a member of the U.S. civilian-military provincial reconstruction and agribusiness development team. (Photo: USDA)

The 60 soldiers — 54 men and 6 women — will deploy in June and expect to be in Afghanistan in early August. They will take over a variety of existing projects from a California Agri-Business Development Team in Kunar province, located in the northeastern portion of the country. While their immediate goal will be to re-establish a local agricultural economy, the long-term goal is further economic stability for the war-torn nation.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, organized a conference call with national and military leaders to highlight specifics concerning the mission and further detail how the Iowa deployment meshes with the larger White House Middle East strategy.

“When the President made his December announcement about Afghanistan, the White House released a fact sheet on strategy, and I want to quote from that,” Loebsack said. “Our top reconstruction priority is implementing a civilian-military agriculture redevelopment strategy to restore Afghanistan’s once vibrant agriculture sector. This will help sap the insurgency of fighters and of income from poppy cultivation.”

Renee Thakali, an Illinois resident who spent five months in Ghazni province during 2009 as a member of the U.S. Civilian-Military Provincial Reconstruction and Agri-Business Development Team, told The Iowa Independent in a separate telephone interview that the entire goal of stabilizing Afghanistan hinges on such missions.

“This is some of the most important work. The Provincial Reconstruction Teams are building roads, schools, clinics and hospitals. And, yes, all of those infrastructure things are needed, but people have to eat first,” said Thakali, who has returned to her position as team leader of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

“Agriculture is the dominant factor in the Afghan economy, in food security, in livelihoods, sustainable resources and national security. Agriculture will determine whether Afghanistan will succeed or fail. Serious steps need be taken to transform Agriculture into an engine of growth of the national economy, into a source of food security for the nation, and to build up the country’s valuable foreign currency reserves.”

~ Mohammad Asif Rahimi, Afghanistan Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock

The U.S. has had several National Guard deployments on the ground in Afghanistan for the past few years that have specialized in reconstructing the physical and intellectual infrastructure necessary to agricultural advancement in the country. The units, known as Agri-Business Development Teams (ADTs) contain security forces as well as individuals with specialized knowledge in various fields of agriculture ranging from animal husbandry to irrigation to forestry.

The work that is done, according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, is closely tied to a four-point framework published by Rahimi that calls for protection of natural resources, increased productivity, a move toward commercialized agriculture to increase the nation’s exports and an overall restructuring of the governmental authorities in charge of agriculture.

“What we are doing,” Vilsack said, “is co-chairing this effort with [Rahimi]. President [Hamid] Karzai will be visiting the U.S. on May 10 to participate in a U.S.-Afghanistan strategic dialogue. Minister Rahimi will be accompanying him, and we will have an opportunity to discuss in greater detail the progress that is being made. This visit underscores the critical role that agriculture is playing in President [Barack] Obama’s vision and mission in Afghanistan.”

Vilsack said the USDA currently has 56 agricultural experts in the country — 50 in the field and six in the capital city of Kabul. Of those experts, 14 are currently serving in conjunction with ADTs, and the USDA plans to embed one such expert with the Iowa ADT.

Thakali, who served in a different section of the country than where the Iowa forces will be stationed, worked closely with members of the Texas National Guard ADT.

“The Texas team that I worked with had a five-year commitment to the Ghazni province,” Thakali said. “They came into the country with big ideas and big plans for each year. They’ve had to change those, and downsize their plans.”

The Texas team, she said, worked hard at first to develop hard infrastructure — such as road, bridges, veterinary clinics and production facilities.

“Then they realized that the Taliban can go in and destroy those things,” she said. “Investments in education, skills and training, however, cannot be taken away from people.”

To fully grasp the process of agriculture currently practiced in Afghanistan, Thakali said, a person would need to picture U.S. agriculture several hundred years ago.

“Overall it is primitive,” she said. “There might be a few more modern advances in the cities, but in the remote villages or even on city outskirts, it is very primitive. Animals are used for horse power — so, literal horse power. At people’s homes chickens might be scattered about, and people bring in wood from the mountain areas on the backs of mules. They do use some fertilizer, but the soil that I saw had very little organic matter it in. It’s definitely not like our rich prairie soil in the Midwest.”

Afghan residents do have livestock, such as cows, that are used for milk. While people in other countries might use manure to enrich fields, however, Afghans are more likely to dry it for use as fuel, which is in short supply.

“They don’t waste anything,” she said with a quick laugh. “They use everything. So, they basically pick up the cow patties and form a nice, round circle, which is placed on mud walls to dry. Then they burn those for fuel, often to cook with.”

The Iowa team, according to their commander, Col. Craig Bargfrede, will work closely with agricultural experts at Iowa State University both before and during their one-year deployment.

“Iowa State is providing us with some specific agricultural training, targeting some of the projects that we know we will be working on once we get on the ground in Afghanistan,” Bargfrede said. “They are also going to be providing a ‘reach back’ capability so as we are working on various projects, should we need to tap into various expertise at ISU, we will have that ability.”

Thakali was glad to hear that the Iowa ADT includes six women, since cultural difference sometimes make it difficult for male soldiers to interact with local women.

“It is definitely better when it is woman-to-woman,” she said, noting that she worked with local women while in Afghanistan to learn veterinary skills, set up kitchen gardens, and begin beekeeping or small poultry operations. “Afghanistan is a large and very culturally diverse country. So, it really depends on the ethnic group in the region. Pashtun women in the southern and eastern parts of the country tend to have more cultural restrictions on them, so to speak, versus women in other ethnic groups in other parts of the country.

“But I think women are the key. I think that if you invest in training women — especially in developing countries — that they are going to invest in their family, and that’s going to help the community.”

A Texas National Guardswoman working in Ghazni province learned of a young woman who had graduated from an Afghan school for veterinarians. The soldier, who’s deployment soon ended, introduced Thakali to the Afghan woman. After helping the woman achieve more clinical study, the Texas ADT constructed a small veterinary clinic for her in a remote area. The woman, whom Thakali describes as “incredibly courageous,” did begin a business in the clinic. Unfortunately, violence in the area soon made it too dangerous for her continue.

“I understand that she is now working with an Afghan non-government organization, but is still doing some veterinary extension work, which is good for her,” Thakali said.

The Iowa all-volunteer force has a “very high morale,” according to Sgt. Major Robert Reedy, but is under no illusions about the security concerns that remain in Afghanistan.

“We all know Afghanistan is a very dangerous place, and we are bringing a very robust security force with us from our MP company here in Des Moines,” Reedy said.

Security, especially in the lead-up to the country’s election last year, was one of the reasons Thakali decided to return home. The security situation in the province where she was stationed, she said, was rapidly deteriorating. She learned in October that some members of the Texas unit she had come to know were killed when an improvised explosive device hit their humvee.

“If I would have finished my year there, I would have been in the vehicle with them — that sends goosebumps up my arm even now,” she said. “They were coming back from a field trip to a remote area, about six miles from the base, when they were hit and the two guys were killed instantly. I know these guys. I worked with them for five months. I know them. I knew them. Another two were injured quite severely. One was the chief of the agricultural section. They had just two more months to finish out their deployment.”

The USDA and U.S. military are aware that the poppy cultivation, especially in the Kandahar province has fueled resistance efforts by the Taliban in the country. They have made changes, according to Vilsack, that have helped locals move from poppy production to more legitimate crops.

“By virtue of the work that we did, we saw in one year a 30 percent decrease in the amount of poppy production in Kandahar,” he said. “We saw that people began to see that there was a much easier and better way to grow crops that their families could use, their neighbors could use and something that they could ultimately sell outside of Afghanistan to produce wealth.”

Loebsack also points to the military’s role in providing security as the USDA team members went about their work.

“If we just sent citizen experts into these areas, this experiment … would have in all likelihood not have succeeded,” he said. “The National Guard folks, who have that security training, have to be there as well.”

Thakali agrees, and doesn’t expect to visit the friends she made in Afghanistan anytime in the near future.

“I told my Afghan friends that I will come back when it is more peaceful and I can bring my family,” she said. “It was hard for me to leave. I really loved working with the Afghan people, who had such hospitality and generosity. They had so little to give, but they were always willing to share it. They were eager to learn, and eager to improve their lives. I would love to be able to go back and work with them again.”

In the end, she said, the people of Afghanistan just want what people all over the world want.

“You just want to be able to go about your daily life and go about your business without worrying about getting captured on your way down the road or about something happening to your family,” she said.