'Allo it's me again.
I had an Afghan "aid worker" in my cab the other day. We was catting an that, so I asks what's all this about alignment then. "Oh its about taking the Government's lead in the way we support countries", sez she. 'What's that then?' asks I. 'Long answer, says she, 'and I getting off her to at Moonpounds for a cup of coffee'. 'I'll join you', sez I. Well after a long natter I sill don't get it, but she did tell me a funny story what I recorded - here's what it was.
Riding a dead horse: Buzkashi wisdom
The Afghan national sport of Buzkashi is played between two teams of horsemen competing to throw a headless calf, goat, or sheep into a scoring circle.
The wisdom of Buzkashi riders, passed on from generation to generation in Afghanistan , says that "when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount".
However, in the UN, EU and NGO community in Afghanistan a range of far more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:
· Changing riders;
· Appointing a committee to study the horse;
· Arranging to visit other countries to see how others ride dead horses;
· Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included;
· Reclassifying the dead horse as ‘living impaired’;
· Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse;
· Harnessing several dead horses together to increase the speed;
· Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse’s performance;
· Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance;
· Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead, and therefore contributes substantially more to the mission of the organization than do some other horses;
· Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses;
· Preparing a workshop with paid attendants on the subject of 'Experience gaining in riding dead horses in post-war setting';
· Preparing a second workshop on environmental hazards caused by horse shit, and the advantage on using dead horses since they do not shit therefore are of no hazard to the environment.
