Since I joined the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team in November I’ve seen some great progress being made here, but I’ve also seen the huge challenges involved in helping the Afghan people govern this country for themselves. Just before Christmas, Douglas Alexander, the Secretary of State for International Development, visited Helmand and I travelled with him to [...]

I work in a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand province, Afghanistan – part of the international mission to support the Government of Afghanistan and help Afghans govern their country for themselves. My job title is Economic Adviser. I work with the local government to support economic development in Helmand and help give people the chance [...]

My time in Afghanistan has, all too soon, come to an end.  I'm moving on for pastures new, not because I'm ready to leave the country I've come to love so much, but just because the time has come.  I'll now be based in London, working on climate change - specifically working with low income [...]

Christmas Day on camp will mean roast turkey and all the trimmings, served by the civilians, officers and senior non-commissioned officers.  There'll be a carol service in the chapel, touch rugby, Christmas films and of course the Queen's speech.  I won't be there - I'm quite sad to be missing it - but with a [...]

As people around the world concentrate on HIV/AIDS - today is World AIDS Day - it's hard to know where to focus here in Afghanistan.  We just don't know much at all about the scale of the problem.  Data for health in general is very poor indeed, but in a highly conservative society it's still [...]

Of all the routine events of life here in Helmand, there’s one thing I’ll never get used to: the all too frequent repatriation services, or ‘ramp ceremonies’, for fallen soldiers.  125 British soldiers have now died in Afghanistan.  While the previous brigade, 16 Air Assault, were here, I went to the ceremonies of 10 of them.  [...]

I live on a military base in a very dusty part of the world, where temperatures top 50 degrees in the summer.  We've not seen much rain since I first came here in early June. A number of UK troops live on the base, along with UK, US, Danish and Estonian civilians and a few US and Danish [...]

I was in the air somewhere above Helmand the other day, flying in a Sea King helicopter, trying to do my commute-time reading, but a long way from the squeeze of the Tube.  A moment later, I was interrupted from my daydreams when the helicopter banked and swerved.  Fear flashed through me as the rear [...]

The themes of my week have been interrupted dinners and the frequent donning of body armour. Why?  On Saturday night, there was an attempted attack on Lashkar Gah - the first since the Taleban arrived here in the 1990s.  The best guess is that around 200 insurgents launched an assault from a few points around the [...]

Three months ago, the bazaar in Garmsir, southern Helmand, stood empty.  Stalls were bare; some were shuttered, others all but derelict.  Fighting between the insurgents and the Afghan and international forces meant the population had left the district centre, leaving behind a ghost town.  Insecurity was limiting people's opportunities: business people couldn't trade. Garmsir bazaar is one [...]