Multinational military missions increasingly rely on the recruitment of host nation interpreters. The purpose of this research note is to explore the relationship between the soldiers and these local translators during the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operation in Afghanistan. The findings suggest that more attention to the development of cross-cultural competencies among military personnel and a greater awareness of the precarious dynamics between the two parties may improve the cooperation between the soldiers and the local translators. Downloaded from But to my mind, the very worst breach of U.S. security lay with the interpretation and translation services the troops relied upon for all their interactions with the Afghans around them. I can remember only one soldier who spoke Pasthu. Local interpreters were required for the army's every move. And those interpreters were provided, again, by Razziq Shirzai. ( . . . ) Whether by inclination or-as was often the case-by force, with physical abuse driving home the facts, the interpreters were Razziq's men, under his orders. The result was a severely distorted picture of the situation in the Afghan south and nearly unintelligible interactions between Americans and Afghans. The information U.S. forces were receiving was frequently inaccurate or deliberately misrepresented. The messages U.S. officers were trying to communicate to locals were either not getting through at all, or were, time and again, twisted to suit the Shirzais' ends.