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GHAZNI PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Governors from Wardak and Paktika provinces, including the deputy governor from Logar province, met Aug. 26, with Ghazni’s provincial governor, Musa Khan, at the governor’s compound in Ghazni City.
All three governors and one deputy governor met to discuss how they could cooperate as neighbors, while Forward Operating Base Ghazni members supported the meeting by providing transportation to the compound and partnering with Afghan National Security Forces to provide security.
“We are neighbors,” Musa Khan said. “Islamic rule says that we must work together, even if a neighbor is a non-believer.”
The governors discussed how they could provide better security for the Sept. 18 parliamentary election sites, of which they mentioned several had been closed throughout their provinces.
“Let’s try to be more offensive against the enemy,” Musa Khan said to the 70 members in the room, which was a mixture of Afghan government officials and coalition forces.
One of the measures all the Afghan officials agreed to was getting the word out to the people and explaining what the Afghan government is doing for them. Muhammad Fidai, the Wardak governor, said that the media reports too many negative things in the news, and that the people need to know that the government and coalition forces are working together on development projects.
Afghan officials, including Afghan National Police chiefs and National Directorate of Security chiefs from the four provinces, shared ideas with the governors and what they needed to accomplish. Overall, security for the elections was the biggest deal, and improving ANSF conditions was a hot topic.
“In Khogyani District, the ANP have no police station,” said the chief of police from Wardak province. “They are operating out of an old house.”
The NDS chief of Paktika, a province that borders Pakistan, said more insurgents were coming to the province.
“I want to prevent the insurgent’s movement by using checkpoints,” Paktika’s NDS chief told the crowd. “Paktika and Ghazni need to work together on this.”
The Paktika NDS chief also shared with the group that working with local leaders has been a great success because it has encouraged the local people in the province to work with the government.
Another topic that arose among the officials was reintegration of former Taliban members into Afghanistan. Moheebullah Samim, the Paktika governor, strongly defended the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s reconciliation and reintegration policy. Samim summed up the insurgents’ refusal to come to the peace table as “un-Islamic.”
Both Wardak and Ghazni governors agreed that reconciliation efforts should be the topic of discussion in the next regional governor’s conference scheduled for October.
In addition to sharing ideas, U.S. Army 1st Lt. Michael Campbell, the liaison officer from Task Force Iron, introduced himself and his group to Afghan officials. He explained to them that TF Iron, a U.S. military group, will move into eastern Ghazni Province and work under the Polish-run TF White Eagle in response to the troop surge in Afghanistan.
“We will be arriving in Ghazni in September,” Campbell told the governors and their staff. “We’ve been in western Paktika, and we achieved great success in security and development and governance there. Recently we focused our efforts on building a platform for a successful election and as we move over here to eastern Ghazni, we hope to accomplish the same thing.”
TF Iron’s priorities include securing the populace with combined ANSF action; disrupting, neutralizing and destroying the enemy; and assisting the governors, sub-governors and line directors in providing service to the people and supporting development.
“The people of eastern Ghazni can expect that Task Force Iron will respect Islam, serve with honor and continue to respect the culture of their nation,” Campbell said.
| Date Taken: | 08.27.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 08.27.2010 08:02 |
| Story ID: | 55254 |
| Location: | GHAZNI PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 131 |
| Downloads: | 5 |
This work, FOB Ghazni supports tri-governor’s conference in Ghazni City, by 1st Lt. Katherine Roling, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
