Our mission in Afghanistan was not just to fight for the freedom of Afghans, but to solve their problems and problems of their country.
Who did you fight in Afghanistan?
It’s not easy to define who’s our enemy in Afghanistan. Most often, we are dealing with corruption and corrupted government. We also face criminals as well as people from the narcotic business. Very often our enemies enter villages without weapons, at the site they have some hidden storage with guns, for example, in someone’s home.
Are people helping them because they are afraid of their life?
Some of the locals have no other choice. The problem of NATO forces lies in the fact that we are located in a huge base so we cannot have posts in every village. Therefore, they could die if they do not cooperate.
In such situations, does it happen that the allies suddenly become enemies?
There are cases that the police and the people we train pass over to the enemy , and unfortunately more and more often we hear about ambushes and traps on our soldiers . In this way , a year ago killed five Polish military Krystian Banach , Piotr Ciesielski , Lukasz Krawiec, Marcin and Marek Tomala Szczurowski .This is one of the bloodiest attacks on Polish forces in Afghanistan. A similar situation ever happen to a GROM soldiers. Informant claimed that the kidnapped people are detained in one of the villages . He described the situation well enough so you could believe him , that action will not be particularly difficult . When the soldiers went to the indicated place , it turned out that the cottage is empty. It was also ambushed. Fortunately, nobody was hurt . But in Ghazni , where the Taliban attacked a patrol of the closet , GROM fought one of the deadliest battles in the history of their mission. Soldiers fought for more than three hours . Killed twenty enemies, and two commandos were slightly injured .
This means that the Poles can not avoid such a situation?
Sometimes you just can not. Though sometimes we take an informant with us. Then , if the soldiers would get into the fire , then he has to count with the fact that he may die.
Do you show respects towards the Afghans even after experiencing the ambushes, traps and betrayals?
Hatred is the worst which you can choose. This is also why it was difficult for me to understand when, after the death of five Polish soldiers a year ago, one of the commanders said, avenge them.We did not go there after all this , in order to take revenge , but to assist local . This is pride . That's what we want to distinguish that we have some humanitarian values. So if your opponent does not pose a threat , don’t murder him in cold blood, just stop and proceed with them in a civilized manner. Although emotions sometimes are really hard to stop .I remember once when I spoke with American commanders, who have suffered heavy losses, they were very angered. Especially at a time when it turned out that beside the wounded Americans in the hospital, lied Talibans who attacked them. But it is possible to show respect towards the Afghans.
Do we train people to become terrorists? Americans have many leaders in various positions that they turned against them. During one of the actions in Iraq , one of the arrested terrorists began to speak Polish . Americans strangely looked at me and I said , somewhat jokingly : “do you see? Not only Americans are able to train terrorists.”
Have you thought that what the armies are doing is just bad ?
This is not the military. When organizing such a mission, its purpose and criteria for success is established at the beginning.
So what