Paving the way to progress

By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gary A. Witte
300th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan– A road can be more than just a means of transportation – especially in eastern Afghanistan.

Afghan workers have spent the past year paving a stretch of road that runs through the heart of Kunar province and its main valley. About 13 kilometers of section near Forward Operating Base Bostick are complete, with more planned to help connect northeastern mountain communities to the Afghan government in Jalalabad, officials said.

U.S. Army Capt. Brian J. Stoffer of Winsor, Colo., the task force engineer for Task Force Destroyer, said the road paving, managed by the Afghan Engineer District, is the most important project in his unit's area of operations.

"Because the population [here] is so disconnected from the population in the south, what it really means is they are disconnected from their government," Stoffer said. "They're disconnected from commerce. They're isolated up here."

The planned paving from Nishigam in Kunar to Kamdesh in the Nuristan province will create 55 kilometers of modern roadway through the area – not including the improvement of numerous feeder roads to otherwise remote valleys and villages.

Likewise, a private company's efforts to build cellular towers in the area is seen as another way the public can communicate better with their government as well as each other. Security concerns are a factor for the towers although they are not an International Security Assistance Forces project, said U.S. Army Capt. Ben W. Woods of Belding, Mich., the civil affairs officer for 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, Task Force Destroyer.

"[Insurgents] don't want them because they either think it's a move for us to increase our communications capability, or they purely see all forms of development as a threat to them," Woods said. "In some cases, it's safer for cell phone companies if we're not involved."

Together, the road paving and cell towers stand to have a sizable impact on the Afghans who live within their reach, said the Task Force Destroyer commander, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Robert B. Brown of Temple, Texas.

"I'm very optimistic about this entire area … we're seeing a lot of progress," Brown said. "[The Afghans] have to have those lines of communication … They have to be able to travel."

Stoffer noted other ways the villages benefit from the road projects – not just from improved travel, but also the hiring of local residents to provide unskilled labor and other work.

"Each village has a stake in the road," he said, noting the construction firm hires Afghan guards to provide security for the work crews. "It's Afghans securing Afghans on the road."

The section of the road from Nishagam to Naray is scheduled to be complete in February 2011. The section from Naray to Kamdesh is expected to be complete by March 2012.

Even as the construction continues, residents are reporting that they are already seeing the benefits of the road improvements, Stoffer said.

"We get constant feedback on how travel times to Jalalabad have already increased," he said.