173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs

Story by Spc. Gregory Argentieri

By Spc. Gregory J. Argentieri
173rd Airborne Brigade Public Affairs

KABUL, Afghanistan - The first girls' school in Kandigal Village celebrated an opening ceremony with elders from all over the river valley June 14, in Konar Province, Afghanistan.

The new $200,000, 400-seat Kandigal Girls School was funded by the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, also known as Task Force Rock.

Gov. Hajji Sayed Wahidi, Konar, and a number of other Konar provincial government officials were joined by Lt. Col. William Ostlund, Task Force Rock commander, and Navy Cmdr. Daniel W. Dwyer, Konar Provincial Reconstruction Team commander.

"Girls schools are the first priority for the government because unfortunately when Afghanistan was in the hands of the Taliban, the women were kept in the dark, and not allowed to come out of their homes for learning," said Wahidi. "The women are in a very bad situation; therefore we believe now we need to do more for women, we should have some positive discrimination to increase activities for women."

The Kandigal Girls School is a community success story, said Dwyer. The school was only possible through the cooperation of the Ministry of Education, the district and provincial government, the elders, and the Coalition forces working together.

"The community recognized and stated its number one priority for Kandigal Village was a girls school," said Dwyer. "The government is addressing the needs of the people."

Five schools are currently under construction in Konar province, and in the next several months the provincial government plans to build 15 more, according to Wahidi.

"We always try to make more facilities for girls in Konar province, we have 140,000 students going to school, and fortunately 40,000 are girls," said Wahidi. "The number is still not bad, but I think if you provide the facilities, the number of girls and boys will be [50 percent of each]."

The Konar PRT, in conjunction with the ministry of education, will continue to fund the construction of new schools throughout the province, according to Dwyer.

"Konar province has 315 schools with only 115 buildings," said Dwyer. "The Konar PRT will fund schools only along roads with already existing locations, whether it is a tarp, tent, or open air school."

"A year ago Kandigal District had only two schools," said Army Capt. Louis B. Frketic, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company. "The schools consisted of two teachers, and a collection of children sitting under trees in the village center."

"Afghan's believe when you send a child to school, the education process '"the tailm"' is a cleansing process," said Frketic. "Where you wash away all the bad things from the children's minds, you wipe away the 30 years of fighting from their minds."

According to Frketic, building schools is only part of a grander scheme. The coalition forces are also building roads, power stations, health clinics, pipe schemes, bridges, and wells, in support of the Afghan government.

U.S. Dept. of State representative Alison Blosser, spoke on behalf of the Konar PRT, and in their native language, Pashtu. She addressed the elders during the celebration ceremony about the importance of women's education. It is a good step for the Afghans to be educating Konar's future women doctors and provincial council members, she said.

"The Kandigal Girls School celebration was actually a fantastic event," said Blosser. "The bulk of the time was the Afghanistan government officials speaking about the importance of community participation in government, and they really stole the show."

According to Blosser, Kandigal Village is a strategic village because it sits between two decisive valleys, the Korengal Valley and the Pech Valley. Now that coalition forces have built strong relations with the elders by giving them something to develop their children, and develop their future.

"The significance of Kandigal Village is that it sits at the mouth of the Korengal Valley, and the Korengal Valley is the place in Konar province where probably our toughest fight has been for the last five years," said Blosser. "One important thing about the Kandigal Girls School is over the past two years we've been trying to gain the trust and confidence of the Korengalis, and what we have been trying to do in Kandigal Village is demonstrate all the benefits development can bring."

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