An appropriate excerpt from Sun Tzu on the Art of War

When you engage in actual fighting, if victory
is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and
their ardour will be damped. If you lay siege to a town,
you will exhaust your strength.
Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources
of the State will not be equal to the strain.
Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardour damped,
your strength exhausted and your treasure spent,
other chieftains will spring up to take advantage
of your extremity. Then no man, however wise,
will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war,
cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.
There is no instance of a country having benefited
from prolonged warfare.
It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted
with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand
the profitable way of carrying it on.

ostad

You must be in TK now, Arnon. In a separate journalist container, I assume. Hope you are fine and this helps you at least to not get lost so easily again in this huge camp ;-).

When they do allow you to enter the compounds, may I suggest you to arrange for an interview with the tribal adviser (ostad), I believe his name is Matthijs. He is a great and exclusive source of knowledge on Uruzgan tribes, feuds etcetera.

And if you happen to speak to him, you might ask him if it is true that the PRT projects mostly benefit the stronger and more powerful Polpozai tribe? And, if so, if the PRT is as such in fact further fueling the tension between this tribe and the Ghilzai, who traditionally take the position of the underdog?

Might also be interesting to check with Matthijs what kind of opportunities he sees for dialogue with moderate Taleban, now that the new governor has announced to prioritize tribal dialogue amongst others.

But maybe again, you are focusing on the everyday experiences of the Dutch soldiers only...?

Take care!

Mud wrestling

Not everyone seems to like the International Female Mud Wrestling for Peace Event in Kortrijk on November 3rd.
Check the Calendar for a video that recently was delivered to Arnon.
Note that it is possible to post a comment on the the video (and the event) in the Calendar.

@ Johannes

Is everything allowed in female mud wrestling? With everything I mean biting, scratching and more. Does anyone know other good tricks?

Wrestling

@Mieke
I suppose not, it is a wrestling contest, not a street fighting. Neither are we allowed to show our ass to the arbiter, I assume.

Mud wrestling

Maybe the organisation should organise a corner as a meetingpoint especially for the visitors of this blog.