PECH VALLEY, Afghanistan — Before U.S. forces arrived here in the
mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the instruments of war were
rudimentary things: mud-brick outposts and aging Kalashnikovs. The
American invasion brought with it a shiny arsenal of 21st-century
technology, including advanced helicopters to navigate the treacherous
landscape.
.
But as the U.S. military drawdown continues,
the sky is emptying of the foreign aircraft that have kept remote
outposts stocked with food, water and weaponry. Afghan troops are being
handed the outposts, but not the sleek helicopters that have soared
overhead, delivering supplies.
Afghans searching for a substitute have found an ancient solution:
the plodding, dutiful animals that have navigated these high and frigid
mountain passes for centuries.
“Donkeys are the Afghan helicopter,” said Col. Abdul Nasseeri, an Afghan battalion commander here in Konar province.
Already,
hundreds of donkeys are sustaining the bases that Americans built,
fought to defend and, eventually, left. The shift underscores the vast
gulf separating U.S. and Afghan forces, and the inevitable technological
regression that will occur once American troops leave.
The
hopeful take of U.S. officials is that this is the kind of “Afghan
sustainable” approach that, though not ideal, will endure even as
Western funding tapers off. But Afghan leaders aren’t happy. After a
decade of joint operations and exposure to cutting-edge technology, they
want their military to look like the American one they have seen up
close. U.S. officials say that is impractical and financially
unrealistic.
The United States has spent more than $50 billion on
Afghan security forces in the past decade, carrying one of the world’s
poorest armies into modernity. The money bought new vehicles and guns
for the Afghan army.
But now, as U.S. troops leave the war against insurgents to Afghan soldiers and police, American officials are deciding which bases and resources will be handed over to Afghanistan’s security forces, and which will be destroyed or shipped back to the United States. It’s a contentious issue that Afghan commanders and their U.S. advisers discuss every day.
Afghans want night-vision goggles, which Americans have refused to
buy. They want more heavy weaponry and equipment to detect explosives.
American commanders say those requests are too costly and not essential
to the mission.
More than anything, Afghan soldiers want
helicopters. As of now, they have 31, a far cry from the vast fleet
maintained by the U.S. forces. Without any assurance that the Americans
will give them more, a frustrated President Hamid Karzai threatened to
acquire aircraft from non-NATO countries.
With the U.S. choppers
on their way out, the donkey trade has risen steadily. The animals, many
of which have been redirected from farm labor to military duty,
transport everything that soldiers need, from rice to ammunition.
Last
week, when U.S. troops visited a mountain outpost manned by Afghan
soldiers, they saw two Afghan teenagers leading four donkeys. Each
animal carried 10 gallons of water. The key fighting position, the
Americans learned, was sustained exclusively by donkey.