Been neck deep in Afghan politics for the last two days. Tribes, sub-tribes, honor, Pashtunwali, Pashto vocab, current events, Taliban, reconciliation, media, withdrawal, SOF, more vocab, marriage, property, more honor etc. Feeling lucky because most info is coming from dudes recently returned and getting ready for another round out there. So plenty of question and answer time. Bottom line, good information transference.
Sample of some of the guys I'm training with:
"Bob", an intel guy by trade, wrote his master's thesis on Osama Bin Laden pre-9/11. Being one of the few in the national security apparatus with a clue right after 9/11, he was a "go to" guy. Doesn't hurt that he spoke Arabic fluently (he is married to a gal from the region, apparently marriage is an outstanding language learning technique...). And "Bob" has been on the road ever since. Along the way he picked up Hindi and Dari. His cultural and language skills are impressive. Oh yea, his full head of red hair is pretty impressive too. You'd never guess by looking at him that he would be a premier cultural expert of any kind.
Feeling lucky to work with people like this.
Sample of some of the guys I'm training with:
"Bob", an intel guy by trade, wrote his master's thesis on Osama Bin Laden pre-9/11. Being one of the few in the national security apparatus with a clue right after 9/11, he was a "go to" guy. Doesn't hurt that he spoke Arabic fluently (he is married to a gal from the region, apparently marriage is an outstanding language learning technique...). And "Bob" has been on the road ever since. Along the way he picked up Hindi and Dari. His cultural and language skills are impressive. Oh yea, his full head of red hair is pretty impressive too. You'd never guess by looking at him that he would be a premier cultural expert of any kind.
Feeling lucky to work with people like this.
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