Igor Klimeš – member of first Czech PRT in Afghanistan reflects on tough but productive year

Igor Klimeš recently came home after spending a year as the deputy leader of the civilian part of the first Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in war-torn Afghanistan. As a project manager, he oversaw a raft of activities, including the rebuilding of schools and hospitals and the construction of a dam. When we met in Prague, I asked Igor if he had worked on any projects in Afghanistan of which he was particularly proud.

“Well, all of them. All of them have their benefits, all of them are kind of special. Because after all it was the first year of the Czech PRT, so we were new, we were learning new things.

“I’m quite proud of one of the smaller projects, which is a bridge over the Logar River, where we were able to persuade the local community to participate in that bridge, and to build the road which connects their village with that bridge and with the other side of the river and the main road. Which means that their participation and their involvement was real, and it was something that you could really feel.

“This is something that we tried hard to do with all of our projects. This one seems to be particularly successful. It’s not finished yet, so we still have to wait to see if it will really work out well. But so far it seems to be working really well.”

What were the most difficult of the projects that you undertook?

“Well, I already touched on that. To explain to the Afghan people that they need to be the ones who are in charge of that, and who also are the ones who are responsible for their own future.

“After so many years of foreign aid helping Afghans with their problems you can feel that there is an atmosphere of aid dependency. Unfortunately a lot of PRTs are still doing that, still delivering aid without including the local community, without pushing them to become involved.

“What we tried hard to do was really to get the participation from the Afghan side, not only in the process of preparation but also in specific things like in kind contribution, or in cash contribution.

“We were not that successful but after all it was the first year. Afghans are not used to getting that from PRTs. But I think the first small successes we had are really enough for the first year. This is hard, but it’s the way we have to go.”

What about the security side of things? How much danger were you and your team in?

“I have to say fortunately none of the Czech members of the civilian team…we were never attacked, we were never part of any major security incident, except for a few exceptional cases when the base Shank was itself attacked.

“So I have to say probably due to the good work of the Czech army and a good portion of luck and probably also the good relations that we built with the local partners, with the Afghans, we were quite lucky and we had no injuries in the civilian team and no fatalities. So that’s good.”

Were there any particularly dangerous situations, or dangerous things you had to do?

“Of course the attacks on the base were not very pleasant and they were quite dangerous, I suppose. You tend to learn how to live with that. So you don’t feel the danger as much, and you react more automatically, without so many emotions.

“I just remember one thing that was kind of funny. When a helicopter was coming down for me and the base was attacked, absolutely out of the usual of way things, during the morning.

“No-one informed the crew of the helicopter, so they landed basically under fire, and the last rocket landed just, I think, 10 minutes before they landed. And they were waiting for me at the heliport, but I was still in a bunker so I had to ask for permission to move from the bunker and run to the heliport.

“So it was a time when I felt in danger, because I was, like, now the base is under attack and I’m out of the bunker running for the heliport…But usually the army informed us quite quickly about incoming danger and we were able to move into the bunkers quite quickly.”

My cousin was an aid worker in Afghanistan and he told me that he didn’t tell his parents exactly where he was – they’d be worried if they heard something on the news. How much contact did you have with your family? And how much were they aware of what you were going through?

“Of course you don’t tell your closest people everything about the situation. And you kind of hide the exact nature of the danger. Because they are not able…looking at the situation from outside it always seems worse than it is, inside. And it doesn’t help, because you cannot explain it – people will probably not understand it. So I did probably the same thing, and I hid most things.

“But at the same time the media coverage thanks to the big army presence is quite comprehensive. So of course they knew what was going on security wise in Logar, and they knew what the situation was.

“The good part of being with the Czech army – apart from all the other things – was that the connection with the Czech Republic is quite smooth and is always readily available. So we were able to call home without any big restrictions, because the army just has the capacity to make this available to you.”

How stressful was it and how did you deal with the stress?

“I have to say I was really stressed…like stress coming from the outside, or from the security situation, faded away, or you don’t feel it after a few weeks, up to a few months.

“What is a bigger danger is the stress from coming from the work itself. There is just an enormous load of work that you can do. It is very difficult to keep yourself working just a certain time of day, and not allowing yourself to be overworked, after the first three months, let’s say.

“This was kind of difficult and I don’t think I managed so well. But after all I survived and I did my job, so it wasn’t that bad. But there were certain moments when I felt that we were working way too much and we should have some break.”

I understand the Czech Republic is going to have a PRT for five years in Afghanistan…Would you yourself go back?

“Not now, definitely. It wouldn’t be for the good of the cause, because I feel I need rest, I feel I need to take a break. Not only from the military environment, but also from development work as such. It’s a very demanding experience and it’s a very demanding job, so you really get involved in the lives of other people. It can be very difficult and I feel that I’m over that and I need some break to replenish my batteries.

“But in the future…I cannot really say I would never go back again, but this year or the year after I am definitely staying at home.”