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MUSAHI, Afghanistan - Sardar Mahammad followed his family of ten through the humanitarian aid line as they each received a blanket, a jacket, a pair of gloves, a four liter bottle of cooking oil, and five kilogram bags of beans, rice, flour, and sugar.
“We are very happy of the humanitarian aid,” said Mahammad, a local resident. “It would take me five days of work to earn enough money to buy what we were given today.”
The humanitarian aid mission to the villagers in Musahi, Afghanistan, was part of a joint endeavor between the Afghan National Police Zone 1 Kandak and Task Force-Kabul’s Police Mentor Team.
A military convoy rolled into the village Monday with coalition trucks filled with supplies and ANP escorts to provide security. ANP and coalition forces worked side-by-side to hand out the supplies as Afghans came thru the line.
The mission helped fill a need in the local people and improve security in one of the most dangerous areas in Kabul Province.
“There are five major towns where TF-Kabul is conducting humanitarian aid drops. Today is the third drop in Musahi; there are two more that will be done before the winter is over,” said U.S. Army Capt. Zach Labrayere, company commander, 1-134 Cavalry A-Troop.
Before the humanitarian missions started, the people would often throw stones at passing ANP and coalition convoys.
“My job today was to provide security,” said ANP Lt. Sanayee, company commander. “I’ve served with the ANP for 10 years; been attacked six times by explosives and five times through ambushes. This [Musahi] is the worst place I have worked in all that time.”
“Out of 14 districts [in Zone 1], Musahi is the most dangerous,” said ANP Col. Amirsalem Adamkhai, commander, Zone 1 Security Kandak. “For the last two months the security has improved positively.”
The improvement was easily seen on Monday’s mission as children would run out from their homes to wave or give the thumbs up signal at the passing convoy.
“The people like it [the humanitarian aid] and they are working with us now. The coalition, Afghan National Army, ANP, and coalition Police Mentoring Teams all worked together to make this happen,” said Adamkhai. “It brings the people together to work with the government.”
“Today was extremely successful,” said U.S. Army Lt. Dennis Frey. The Nebraska Guardsman from the 1-134 Cavalry A-Troop serves as the PMT leader to the Musahi Police District.
In addition to seeing and fulfilling a need in the local communities, the missions can also serve as an opportunity for the PMTs to mentor the ANP.
“We took the humanitarian aid aspect and also turned it into a mentoring opportunity by looking at their search and security techniques. The ANP took the lead and conducted searches and established security,” said Frey.
“The previous drops helped about 200-300 families; today we expect about 500 families to benefit. In the future we hope the number of families helped goes even higher,” said Adamkhai.
| Date Taken: | 01.30.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.01.2011 23:38 |
| Story ID: | 64627 |
| Location: | MUSAHI, AF |
| Web Views: | 48 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Afghan families receive food, clothing for winter months, by SSgt Jordan Jones, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
