Kafkaesque

At 0800 we called the chief of the Agricultural Department. He said that he was in a workshop and would not be available for four days. So, we called his boss, the provincial governor, and scheduled a meeting with him at 1000. Then we drove to the Agricultural Department to check whether the chief was telling us the truth. We met his deputy and the property officer, and after about 25 minutes' persuation the property officer agreed to join us to the provincial governor's office at 1000. The chief was indeed away, to the provincial council. So we drove there. The only female member of the provincial council received us, and we talked for a while about some development projects, such as buying sewing machines to women. But there was no sign of the chief of Agriculture. Then we drove to the provincial governor's office. There was a big meeting of village elders, about 200 people, arranged on short notice "to clear some misunderstanding". After waiting for about 40 minutes the provincial governor met us in his office. The property officer had waited with us for about 25 minutes and then disappeared, so went to meet the governor without any representative from the Agricultural Department. The governor said that he could not put his signature on which it says "the Government of Afghanistan". I reminded him that he is directly appointed by president Karzai. Then he said that he needed his subordinates to sign the paper first. We drove back to the Department of Agriculture. There we again interrupted the daydreaming deputy chief. He called in the property officer, and I requested that they should sign the declaration of land ownership so that the provincial governor could sign it. I also told the property officer that the had made a complete fool out of himself and his department by disappearing from the meeting with the provincial governor. My interpreter, however, would not translate it, saying that the property officer was stupid and would not understand what I meant. I didn't have the time to argue with the interpreter, so I didn't repeat what I had said. The property officer would not put his name on the land ownership certificate, because it was his boss who should do it. The deputy would have signed it, but he called the chief to ask if he was available. He was, and what's more important, he said that he had the copies of the land ownership certificate that I had given him yesterday with the signatures of himself and the Gadiste people. We all agreed that the property officer should drive to the Provincial Council office and get the papers, while we wait at the Agricultural Deparment. The property officer soon came back into the deputy's office and said that the driver had taken the car to be washed and that he had no vehicle. We agreed to take the property officer to the Provincial Council office. I didn't want to go inside a second time today, so I sent the IP in with the property officer. The chief of the Agricultural Department soon came into the street and apologised for not having the papers with him. We then followed his car to his house. He disappeared into his house for about 15 minutes without saying a word. When he came out again he said that he had been looking for the papers, but that he must have left them at his office. So we drove back to the Agricultural Department. There, in his office, I received the two copies of the land ownership certificate that I had given him yesterday, one in Dari and another in English, with the signatures of himself and the Gadister representatives. We then drove to the provincial governor's office to get his signature. The meeting was still going on and we had to wait for about 20 minutes before the governor could see us. He signed the certificates, and we drove to the safe house, arriving at 1225. I called HQ and told them that we finally have a signed document about land ownership at the PO.

The people from Khwaja Sang Bur village came to pick up their things. I had repeatedly told them to bring a truck that can carry at least 1000 kg. They came with a Toyota Hiace - but they only had to carry the other trouhg out by hand. Nobody knows how to load a vehicle like the Afghans.

In the afternoon we went to the shooting range to have a life fire exercise. I drank more than three litres of water in about three hours. Fortunately there was a breeze, which made the heat bearable. We found some UXO's (unexploded ordnance) IVO (in the vicinity of) the range and marked them for an EOD-team (explosive ordnance disposal) to take care of.

In the evening some emails and phone calls came in, which requied a team leader meeting. Then I had to make some phone calls and write some emails. It was past eleven when I had a shower and some noodles before going to bed.