As U.S. Army Major Brent Skinner ’97 walks the streets of Kabul, he sees a population no different from those living anywhere else in the world. They push their children to study, they work hard, and they seek peace when they walk out their front door.
It's the same in every country the Staten Island native has visited in his 16-year military career.
"At the end of the day, a lot of people in these countries are just like us," said Skinner.
"They want to be safe, they want to be secure, have stability, and provide for their families. Everyone wants those basic human needs that we take for granted."
Skinner arrived in Afghanistan in September as the executive officer to Maj. Gen. Ken Dah ’82, the deputy commanding general for US Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A), responsible in part for the transfer of power back to the Afghan military and government.
"I travel around Afghanistan quite a bit," said Skinner in a recent interview with the Staten Island Advance at 7:30 p.m. Kabul time -- roughly nine hours ahead of New York.
"For the most part, they love to see us. We help the economy, we help provide for their safety and security, and the whole time we're doing that, we're trying to transition to the Afghan-led forces."
In his State of the Union address, President Obama announced the withdrawal of 34,000 American troops -- about half the U.S. force -- by February 2014.
Skinner believes the time is right for self-government, despite continued reports of suicide bombings, including one last Wednesday that killed seven people at a traditional sporting event in the northern part of the country.
The following day, the American commander in Afghanistan put his troops on security alert after Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a string of anti-American statements.
"A lot of what you see is probably negative because that sensationalizes things and makes headlines," Skinner said. "But being on the ground day-to-day, interacting with the Afghan people, getting out to different parts of the country, you see the progress is real and tangible."