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FARAH CITY, Afghanistan — Visiting his 24th province in Afghanistan, Bill Frej, the U.S. Agency for International Development Mission Director to Afghanistan, sees promise in the West.
"We need to do more irrigation development," said Frej. "The agriculture sector here has got probably the greatest promise over any other province in Afghanistan, but there needs to be the infrastructure in place."
Frej travelled to Farah province with Scott Kilner, the Interagency Provincial Affairs Director based out of Kabul, and numerous other civilian leaders to view USAID-sponsored projects and speak with civilian, military and Afghan officials about development throughout the province.
The International Security Assistance Force Joint Command in partnership with the donor community and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan are currently in the process of implementing governance, development, and security programs in 80 priority districts nationwide over the next 18 months. This focused development will be led by GIRoA and will occur primarily in the Southern and Eastern portions of the country.
However, after Frej’s visit, he feels that Farah Province should have at least one and possibly even two districts in the 80 selected - Bala Baluk district would be Farah province Gov. Rahool Amin’s top choice.
This was Frej’s first opportunity to meet Amin, "He is a dynamic leader - committed. Clearly, Afghanistan needs more governors like him."
Frej stated that agriculture, roads and irrigation are the three key areas that need to be focused on by development teams in Farah and he was supremely happy with the USAID team on the ground here.
"The civilian-military collaboration here is, from my perspective, about the best I’ve seen anywhere in Afghanistan and I’ve been to 24 provinces now," Frej said.
| Date Taken: | 02.23.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2010 23:51 |
| Story ID: | 46491 |
| Location: | FARAH CITY, AF |
| Web Views: | 282 |
| Downloads: | 227 |
This work, Civilian Mission Director to Afghanistan Visits Farah, by MSgt Tracy DeMarco, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
