Lets Get Busy!

One mission that the US military has here is to mentor; helping productivity, teaching trades and advising leadership. I have previously mentioned them- Provincial Reconstruction Team, or PRT. The one we visited today works in Kabul at an OLD factory/compound built with the common mud bricks and 3 foot walls. The walls are 3 feet because the thickness buys time the building will last before crumbeling.
The above machine pounds down like a hammer for this forger.

Here, very skilled workers refurbish equipment for the Afghan National Army in this Soviet era workshop, they use the original equipment (at least 40 years old). I was told 90% of it works, although many are so old the machines function is of no use to them. Afghans are not educated people but they are fantastic tradesmen. They don't measure but create accurate pieces for machines and weapons.

Since many of these men held their first jobs during a communist regime, they work on a different type of clock. They don't think on their own, just follow what they are told to do. They speak when spoken to and I'm told the only thing done on time is lunch. This has been credited to the soviet era where little motivated people and this non-proactive communication was enforced as the way things went. Much time is now spent motivating, the only english I heard the Afghan General say, and without an accent, was an enthusiastic, "Lets get busy!"

Of course no Afghan immersion experience is complete until I pose for individual pictures with some of the more bold men... who told me that the way my name is prounounced in Dari means "Sweet". sweet.