So, why masonry? Because, at its' core, it's one of the most basic skills worth teaching.

Every civilization that settles down after a nomadic existence starts out with walls. Walls are relatively easy to build on your own. Walls define your property when no central system of deeds and enforcement of property rights exists. Enclosed walls create a compound to protect your family. Most civilizations seem to reach a stage in their development, though, where a consensus is reached that we've built enough walls, and that should turn our attention to communal projects, like a functioning system of tax revenue that enables infrastructure expenditure on roads, aqueducts, or a working sewage system. Afghanistan seems to be stuck in a permanent loop where every time it reaches that stage, it looks up at the sky quizzically, strokes its beard and says, "You know what this place needs? More walls."

Afghan society can be, in other words, quite remarkably libertarian, unwilling to buy into a system of taxation and administration, while expecting a magic, invisible hand to keep their roads intact and protect their houses from flooding. And because that invisible hand has a tendency to disappear due to civil war, or an occupying power moving out and leaving a note on the table that says "It's not me, it's you", there will always be demand here for masons to do basic work, whether our current strategy succeeds or fails, whether the government falls or the Taliban rules, because stonemasonry builds compounds, and compounds are the basis of any society perpetually on the brink of anarchy.

Does that mean these mason skills are only useful at the lowest common denominator of Afghan life? Of course not. Masons can build wells, meeting rooms and flood barriers. They can plan and build entire communities, improving the lives of hundreds – even thousands when working with other professionals in larger communities. Yet it is good to know that no matter where Afghanistan-at-large finds itself in 2022, the masons we trained will be able to do something with the skills they learned, and that what they do will continue to be available to their local communities. The rest is down to them. I can live with that.

Afghan masonry students taking measurments for a new wall

Of course, all this describes the basest outcome of the training. We expect far more, because local government is actually growing stronger, communities are becoming safer, and the demand for advanced masonry projects is steadily growing. We're already seeing several positive outcomes from the masonry training project, which I will definitely keep you abreast of.

Yes, Afghanistan as a country has been a political mess since the 1970s. No, we cannot be sure of any outcomes at the national level. But Afghans are fundamentally good people. Their communities are fundamentally positive, marked by pragmatism, caring and support. As alien as Afghans may sometimes appear to Americans, we would make much the same decisions when faced with a national crisis as systemic., danger as tangible, and pressures as great.

These local communities deserve our support. Not just because they're made up of good people making day-to-day decisions about their own survival, but because the stability of local communities is the foundation of greater success in Afghanistan as a whole. This is a "bottom-up" conflict, where local success in one town, one valley, one district, adds ups, over time, to create a mosaic of stability at a regional and national level. That's not Spirit of America's judgment, but that of the Coalition Forces fighting to stabilize Afghanistan. We're doing the best we can to help. As limited as Spirit of America's resources are, we can make a difference in at least some areas. The masonry training is a good example of that.

Next time in the final part of this series: How we chose desired training outcomes – ones that go beyond the most basic "worst case scenario" - and how we will monitor them.

Toby Bonthrone
Afghanistan Field Rep.