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PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Securing the borders of a nation the size of Afghanistan poses many unique challenges. Members of the Afghan Border Police face these challenges on a daily basis with little fanfare.
Afghanistan is slightly smaller than the state of Texas and it shares 5,529 kilometers of border with six countries: China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Afghan Border Police work out of small outposts scattered along the border and throughout the interior of Afghanistan.
“Border policemen bravely serve in remote locations along the Pakistan border. They are often under direct threats from the enemies of Afghanistan,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Ryan Janovic, Task Force Valiant commander from Akron, Ohio. Janovic serves as an adviser to the ABP 2nd Zone command team at Forward Operating Base Gardez.
In Paktya province, ABP members serve at the Operational Coordination Center Regional, the 2nd Zone ABP Headquarters and in smaller enclaves throughout eastern Afghanistan.
At the OCCR, ABP service members coordinate their activities with members of the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police in a partnership that has drawn enemy attention.
“The OCCR is a critical coordination center,” said ABP Col. Abdulqahar of Kapisa province. “We gather information about the enemy along the border and share it with our Afghan National Security Force and coalition partners.”
OCCR operations officer, ANA Col. Nur Agha of Kapisa province shared Abdulqahar’s assessment.
“The ABP has been integral in the fight against insurgents,” said Nur Agha. “They have coordinated and shared information with units throughout the battlefield.”
Information is vital to the fight for Afghanistan. ABP members along the borders are often the first to notice when something has gone wrong or looks out of place. The ABP have identified and deterred both insurgent and criminal groups attempting to infiltrate the Afghan border.
An ABP outpost in Khowst province recently came under attack by insurgents. From his hospital bed at the Patkya Regional Hospital, ABP policeman Periouz of Khowst Province described the rocket attack that wounded him and two others.
“They attacked us with rockets, but I am well,” said Periouz. “When my health permits I will return to my unit.”
With a chest tube draining at his side, Periouz spoke in whispered tones about the care he has received and his desire to get back to his unit and fulfil his duties as an ABP policeman.
As the ABP has grown, it has become an effective security force. According to records kept by the ABP at the OCCR-East, ABP members in Paktya Province are responsible for killing or capturing nearly 300 insurgents in the last 11 months.
New border policemen are trained and outfitted at ABP 2nd Zone for duty throughout the province and greater Afghanistan. Those who serve in the interior of Afghanistan secure key routes and prevent the infiltration of insurgents into Afghan population centers.
“The ABP’s quick reaction force in Gardez City has been doing a great job securing routes into town,” said ANP Col. Fazal Ahmad Wazeeq, OCCR-E deputy commander of Paktya Province.
The modern Afghan ABP has its roots in pre-civil war organizations, but despite all of the change Afghanistan has seen, the mission of the ABP has remained the same, “to secure the borders of Afghanistan and to protect the Afghan people.”
| Date Taken: | 02.27.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.28.2011 06:03 |
| Story ID: | 66200 |
| Location: | PAKTYA PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 215 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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