Community building as part of the effort to win in Afghanistan

STONES INTO SCHOOLS is Greg Mortenson's continuing tale of promoting peace with books not bombs in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is literally hot off the presses and out of the recording studio. I have been captured by this book, a follow up to THREE CUPS OF TEA. Mortenson's story is riveting and even though the timeline is sometimes complicated, the story is fundamental. Mortenson is talking about how change can be most effectively implemented and his basic lesson, repeated throughout the book, is that personal relationships are crucial and listening is probably the most important skill that a change agent brings to the table. (Btw -- Mortenson would never use a word like change agent.)

Mortenson, who works through his NGO (non governmental organization) called the Central Asia Institute, has found his ideas from THREE CUPS OF TEA becoming required reading for US Military officers. He has also found over the past couple of years that the military is quickly coming to understand the importance of "understanding" after eight years of stalemate in Afghanistan. On page 253 of this book, Mortenson also makes a short case for the liberal arts (one of the strengths of Coker College where I teach in the Communication Department) and I thought I would share that in this note: Mortenson is observing the ideas now being discussed by top ranking combat leaders and this is the quote: "Equally important, however, is the effort on the part of soldiers -- especially officers -- to master the cultural nuances of the countries in which they are deployed by embracing fields of study that include anthropology, history, sociology, language and politics. The aim is to enhance security by fostering relationships and building a sense of trust at the grassroots level with community leaders, village elders, and tribal authorities." Those ologies are part of the liberal arts foundation and I imagine I will be sharing Motenson's thoughts with some of my advisees who wonder why they have to take subjects not directly in their major.

For the idea of Community Thinking, however, there is also a major lesson. If we are going to build a collaborative, constructive problem solving technique in our communities those who are in sections and positions of leadership probably need to look a little deeper into the communities they are hoping to build.