Cultural Training: Life of an Afghan Villager

This presentation exposes soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to the 'typical' Afghan villager they are likely to encounter in eastern and southern Afghanistan. Although this villager is a fictional character, his life experiences are by no means unusual for his age group and this part of the country. The guiding principle behind the presentation is to offer a perspective, an explanation for the behavior of many Afghan villagers toward foreign military personnel and the Taliban. Rather than the top-down, 'big picture' history of modern Afghanistan, this presentation focuses on how an individual's life history can tell us many things about his people and the country he lives in.