MOT D Farewell

The weekly security meeting was at the usual time but not in the usual place. Because the provincial governor is away to the peace jirga in Kabul, the deputy governor was chair of the meeting, and we had to gather in his office. It's much smaller, the sofas are less comfy, and there's no air conditioning. Poor us! The deputy governor is Pashto and has a reputation of being quite direct towards ISAF personnel. This time, however, he made only a couple of rude jokes and somehow managed to behave civilized throughout the meeting. The meeting itself brought little new information, but it gave me the opportunity to ask the chief of NDS a couple of details about previous issues. It was hot as hell outside: 38 degrees in the shade and up to 47 in the sunshine. Still we decided to have the evening brief at 1700 and have a barbecue on the sundeck just like it was Thursday, because it was the old MOT D's last night here. I handed each member of the team a locally made pocket knife with the inscription "AYBAK" and a Koskenkorva sauna seat cover. The team leader H and the second in command J got a watch and a tie clip respectively. Then, to my surprise, it was my turn to be on the receiving side: They gave me a Fällkniven F1 survival knife, and a book about the history of the Swedish coastal jaegers. Good stuff! After the barbecue I still had two reports to write.