Governor gives 'State of Paktika address'

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, AFGHANISTAN

05.07.2007

Courtesy Story

Combined Joint Task Force - 82 PAO

By Army Pfc. Micah E. Clare
Task Force Fury Public Affairs Office

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, Afghanistan — Hundreds of tribal elders from the Paktika province gathered in Sharana, April 7, to hear an address from their provincial governor.

The meeting marked the first "state of Paktika address" given by Governor Akhram Khapalwak, said Navy Cmdr. Mike Varney, commander of the Sharana Provincial Reconstruction Team, who has provided much support to the government's efforts.

Khapalwak has made many visits to tribal elders throughout Paktika's 23 districts, working towards bringing Shuras, or councils of tribal representatives, from each tribe together to meet with the provincial government, to show them the big picture of what the government has been doing throughout the province, Varney said.

"Some of these districts have never even had a government," Varney said. "Many of the tribal elders didn't even know what a government was," he said.

At least 300 tribal elders represented each of the five major tribes of Paktika province at the provincial Shura.

Khapalwak spoke about the progress the Paktika provincial government has made in the past year in the areas of security, reconstruction, and governance.

Once a dangerous and untamed province, even up to a year ago, Paktika has made unprecedented improvements in the past year, Varney explained

"Paktika is no longer an insecure, wild-west province," he said.

"Last April, many regions in Paktika were taken over by Taliban, who kicked out the district governments, killed police, and set up shadow governments, but because of the work done by the government with coalition support; this is no longer the case."

Khapalwak spoke about the strides taken by the Afghan National Army, that is now admired by the people more than ever, and the formalizing and equipping of the Afghan National Police.

Lack of education is also being dealt with; many new schools have been opened and initiatives to bring teachers from Kabul have been spearheaded by the governor.

The continued construction of new roads and plans for radio networks are also underway to provide better transportation and communication for the province, said Varney

Only recently has the government focused it reconstruction efforts heavily on the district due to its isolated and dangerous nature, he said.

Khapalwak is "establishing a provincial reconstruction community and improving the government's capacity by connecting district provincial level governments" to show the people what the government can do for them, said Varney.

"All of the people are very optimistic," said Mohammed Sharif, an elder from the Saw-hawza District who attended the Shura.

He said that the discussions about reconstruction plans and security were very helpful to him and the other tribal elders.

"The government is doing very good things for us," he said.

Many such tribal elders have met and unified throughout the province in the past few months, some who haven't been unified since the before the reign of the Taliban, Varney said.

Even though some of the tribes are not always content with the government, the fact that they are still unified in connecting with the government is what matters, he said.

"The main message [at these Shuras] has been, let's unify the tribes, get together, sit down and talk," he said. "They absolutely have issues with the government, but...instead of picking up a gun and shooting people because of discontent, they are sitting down and talking to the government and working toward the future.

The governor has plans to continue holding these Shuras and to bring the members up to the parliamentary level and meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai to give them an even better idea of the broad scale of their government.

"When the government is strong, the people are strong," said Army Col. Martin Schweitzer, Task Force Fury commander, who also spoke at the provincial Shura.

Schweitzer was impressed by the tribes in Paktika who have said "no" to Taliban recruitment attempts by turning to their government for help, solving problems "without a bullet being fired," he said.

"The people of Afghanistan will defeat the enemy, just as they have defeated...every other group that has tried to impose a foreign mindset onto them," he said.

"What happened today is the answer [to defeating the enemy], an Afghan solution to an Afghan problem."

• Date Taken: 05.07.2007
• Date Posted: 05.07.2007 12:38
• Story ID: 10262
• Location: FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, AF