PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan- In his first official trip outside the provincial capital of Sharana, Governor Mohib Ullah Samim traveled to the Eastern Paktika district of Bermel to participate in a "1,000 man" shura, April 22.
Less than 24 hours after his inauguration ceremony, the event, primarily a security shura organized by Afghan Border Police Maj. Gen. Mullahkhel, gave Samim a chance to highlight several of his governing priorities to a crowd of about 300 Bermel citizens.
The name "1,000 man" shura reflects the Waziri tribal elders' hope that someday this shura will have a thousand Paktika citizens from Bermel and the surrounding districts to affirm their commitment to peace and security.
Samim called upon the Waziri tribal elders, the dominant tribe in Bermel, to work with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to bring security and development to their villages.
During his remarks, Samim called himself a "servant for Paktika's citizens."
Noting that the enemy is seeking to destroy the country, Samim charged the audience with supporting "your sons" in the Afghan National Security Forces.
According to Samim, after 30 years of war, the country and province are improving, but more can be done.
Though never before a governor, Samim has experience working in provincial governance. He served as the provincial director of information and culture in his native Ghazni province and also worked as a sub-governor in two Ghazni districts prior to his previous job as a publisher of a private magazine in Kabul.
"Coalition forces came to Afghanistan to build your country, not to destroy it," said Samim. He then highlighted, as he had in his inauguration speech, the importance of education, pledging to seek more development support from the Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team and to specifically focus on building schools.