Return to Pointer View home page August 26,  2005

Academy professors spend summer helping Afghan academy 

By Eric S. Bartelt
Assistant Editor 

Academy professor Lt. Col. Steven Fleming’s daily job involves advanced techniques in geography including remote sensing systems, global positioning systems or any imagery used by the military for geographic analysis.

The department of Geography and Environmental Engineering professor expanded his reach from the U. S. Military Academy to the National Military Academy of Afghanistan in Kabul during the summer.

From late May through early August, Fleming, USMA 1985, performed various missions in Afghanistan, including developing the NMAA’s physical geography course. However, the biggest mission he was involved in was the accessions of their staff and faculty for the next academic year.

“The interviews (of the staff and faculty) were very difficult to prepare for and the folks that we dealt with in these countries have been raised in a culture that is very different to ours,” Fleming said. “Some of the questions or responses to those questions that we may ask here (at West Point) are very different over there.

“I tried to war game what it was that I needed to be asking in order to get certain responses, while looking for the right folks to come teach at the institution,” he added.

Fleming thought the interview process brought up an interesting circumstance of how different age groups in Afghanistan look at their country and ethnicity in different ways.

According to Fleming, when they interviewed anyone who was 35 years and older they were glad to tell you what their ethnicity was. The basis of the question, he said, was to ensure an ethnic balance in the different parts of the academy. But, Fleming added, 20 to 25 year old who he was looking at because of their technical skills such as computer, language or math skills would simply say they were Afghan.

“At the end of the interview, I would go back and revisit that question and ask ‘Why did you answer the question that way?’” Fleming said. “And the response, bar none, was because if they answered the question any other way then they were making the same mistake their parents had made.

“That tells me we’re a generation away from an effective, long-term change in that country,” Fleming explained. “Those folks who come through will have a different set of values that they will serve Afghanistan first versus whatever tribe or ethnic background they’re from…It’s going to take those folks to move into positions within the military to where they can make the decisions that their country is going to ask them to make.”

Trust amongst people in the Afghan community is lukewarm at best with their tribal approach toward living and that creates communication problems to effect positive changes, he said.

“There’s a (giant) barrier, tribal is a word I used frequently on how they work with other ministries because when we tell their ministry of defense that they need to work with the ministry of higher education to work through the dilemma of giving a commission and conferring a (bachelor’s) degree at the same time…” Fleming explained. “They’re like we don’t talk to that organization, but how else were they going to get it done.

“That’s where the mentoring on the U. S. side has been very effective because we would be the ones who would call the ministry of higher education to set up the appointment and we would be the first ones at the appointment to explain the concept,” Fleming added.

Fleming was accompanied by  West Point professors Larry Butler and Ray Wood of the Department of Physical Education and Social Sciences instructor Maj. Jim Walker, who all helped in building NMAA’s physical education and economics programs.

Retired Col. Barney Forsythe, former vice dean for education here, started the motion a year ago on building their institution from the ground up and now professors like Fleming are continuing the efforts by doing specific missions that build from the original plan.

“We need to be there to make the necessary adjustments to the original plan that can only be made on the ground,” Fleming said. “There’s no way we can do it on the other side of the world…This is a very important mission that has to be successful and can only be successful as long as we send the right personnel and resources into the mission.”

Fleming said he also spent time with Combined Joint Task Force 76, who have been in charge of the war fight in Afghanistan.

“The Soldiers who are serving on the wild frontier, which was the talk we used for areas near Jalalabad and Kandahar, they’re tremendous at what they do,” Fleming said. “Everything you expect out of young Soldiers, they are doing that and more.

“They are, for all intents and purposes, what’s holding Afghanistan in place right now and those folks are keeping al Qaida and the Taliban on the run,” Fleming added.

From what he’s seen there, Fleming believes it’s an improving environment although there are still the obvious elements that are trying to impede the progress.

“It’s part of the dynamics that was going on, there were days where it was more difficult to do your mission because the Taliban and al Qaida are trying to slow down progress,” Fleming said.