Photos: Adventures of a POLAD

Under the Political Adviser or POLAD program, 19 senior State Department officers are assigned to the personal staffs of the U.S. military service chiefs, DoD Combatant Commanders, key NATO commands, and U.S. operational commands in Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa. The POLAD’s job is to advise the commander on political and diplomatic factors that may affect the accomplishment of the commander’s military mission.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan in late 2001, several POLAD positions have been established to support the commanders involved in Operation Enduring Freedom. One such POLAD position has been established to support the commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76 headquartered in Bagram. The photos that follow provide a glimpse of what one former POLAD experienced during his 2004-2005 assignment to CJTF 76.

[Photos courtesy of CJTF 76]

A U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter flies through the 10,000-foot Salang Pass in the Hindu Kush mountain range of central Afghanistan. Peaks on either side rise to over 15,000 feet.	A change of command at a Korean Army unit located at Bagram that is part of the Operation enduring Freedom coalition in Afghanistan.	A U.S. Army Apache helicopter takes a break from operations in the Panjshir Valley in northeastern Afghanistan.	The New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team welcomes visitors with the traditional Maori Haka war dance.
Afghan, Pakistani, and American soldiers meet to discuss the situation along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.	Egyptian, Korean, Slovak and U.S. doctors at the at the Egyptian Hospital, Bagram	This Provincial Reconstruction Team in Ghazni, Afghanistan, is the temporary home for soldiers from all parts of the United States.	The staff of the Korean Hospital in Bagram commemorate the treating of their  150,000th  patient.
With the Salang Tunnel through the Hindu Kush as a backdrop, a POLAD meets with three U.S. Army soldiers.	Soldiers from a Romanian Army units that is part of the Operation Enduring Freedom coalition.	Members of the Canadian Armed Forces prepare to take over the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.	Fifty U.S. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines serving in Afghanistan take the oath of allegiance to become U.S. citizens.
Afghan women on the way to vote in the September 2005 parliamentary election.	The children are the future.