Honeymoon After Afghanistan

In early Feburary, the sixth rotation of the Hungarian Defence Forces Provincial Reconstruction Team (HDF PRT) lined up in front of the Nagytemplom in Debrecen, while on the last day of September they were standing in the main square of Nyíregyháza. At the beginning of the year, there was a farewell ceremony for the PRT, and a couple of weeks ago almost three hundred troops were greeted by the senior staff of the Hungarian Defence Forces and the Ministry of Defence in the framework of a welcome ceremony. Between these two events, the Hungarian servicemen were on duty in Pol-e-Khumri, Afghanistan, almost five thousand kilometers away from their home, under the command of Colonel Ferenc Korom, the deputy commander of the Debrecen-based HDF 5th ’István Bocskai’ Infantry Brigade.

Six years ago, Colonel Korom was the commander of the Hungarian mission in Cyprus, and two years ago in Kosovo. He has been to both places twice, and he also served in Iraq. The Afghanistan mission that has just finished was his sixth mission. There are only a few people in the Hungarian Defence Forces who have more ‘operational experience’ than he does…

The Afghanistan mission lasted longer (while the previous contingents served six months in the Asian country, the personnel of the sixth rotation were away from Hungary and their families for seven months), for they had to work ’overtime’ a bit because of the Afghan presidential and municipal elections which were held on August 20 – tells me the colonel, according to whom the time spent abroad went by relatively fast (at least for him).

Naturally, it also helped that the Hungarian troops implemented plenty of projects: they have participated in dozens of programs that serve the development of the Afghan people and more specifically the development and reconstruction of Baghlan province. Just to name a few: construction of a sports grandstand, refurbishment of a girls’ school, construction of a protective wall surrounding the police building, opening of a TB clinic. But there are many other items on this list…

According to Col. Korom, the sixth rotation of the Hungarian PRT was very useful for the Afghans, and the Hungarian troops have managed to fulfil the duties resulting from the fundamental role of the mission, that is to help the work of governmental bodies and the training of the Afghan police. And what further increases the value of this activity is the fact that the Hungarian servicemen fulfilled their duties in continuously deteriorating security circumstances.

Everybody knows from the news that appeared in the Hungarian media that the security situation in Afghanistan has gradually turned worse in recent months, and the members of the Hungarian contingent were attacked more than once. What is more, it happened for the first time since 1956 that a Hungarian soldier engaged in direct combat with armed groups and was under fire. Fortunately, the personnel of the Hungarian PRT were not hurt in these armed clashes.

– We were aware that the deterioration of the security situation was the result of the elections that were held on August 20. The resisting armed forces and the groups that wanted to cause turmoil at the elections were gradually increasing their activities. Although in difficult circumstances, but we managed to accomplish our task, and maintained order during the elections – says the colonel, noting that the most threatening incidents took place right in Baghlan province, in one of the districts. A group of resistance fighters tried to paralyze the life of the district and take over the power. Fortunately, their plan failed, and the elections were held without any special problem.

The activity of the Hungarian troops in Afghanistan is recognized not only at home by the military profession and the public – it is also recognized abroad. Col. Ferenc Korom told me that the international senior staff of the PRT-6 had a similar opinion, for example the commander of the North Region of the ISAF operations, and the head of the NATO command that is responsible for the entire activity in Afghanistan.

According to the commander of the sixth rotation of the Provincial Reconstruction Team, we can say that is a great success that every Hungarian soldier returned safe and sound. And for a commander, the most important thing is always to return from the theatre of operations with the same people he left with six months ago.

Col. Korom believes that even though Iraq and Afghanistan are countries with a similar religion and culture, the latter is totally different. And the reason is the view of life of the people living there. There is a saying the commander learned in the first few days of his mission: the Americans and Europeans have watches, the Afghans have time… Unfortunately, one can clearly see this attitude in the country – the colonel reckons –, because the money pouring into Afghanistan from international organizations is all in vain, for there is no sign of any development, or just very minimal.

– I personally consider every mission a new one and a new challenge. I can clearly say that this mission was the one that required the most concentration, the greatest attention from the soldiers, and from me as well, of course, and the people were under the most stress here – says Col. Ferenc Korom, who is currently spending his well-earned holiday. According to the preliminary plans, he will return on the first workday of January. In recent years his paid leaves have accumulated, and in accordance with the decision of his commander, he is taking most of these leaves now. Regeneration is important because there will be some serious tasks waiting for the Debrecen infantry brigade next year, and the work and professional experience of the deputy commander will also be needed.

When we ask him what he will do during his holiday, Col. Korom smiles when he answers: he got married a month before he went to Afghanistan, therefore after his arrival, his wife and him went on honeymoon almost immediately. And there are plenty of errands that have accumulated during the seven months spent in the Asian country, and now he has the time to do them.

The deputy commander of the Debrecen brigade is not planning a new mission in the near future, but he told me in confidence that if his superiors think there is a need for his experience in foreign service, he will not say no.