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By Staff Sgt. David Hopkins
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
NURISTAN, Afghanistan — On Sept. 1, 2008, a group from the Provincial Reconstruction Team, Local Governance and Community Development and International Security Assistance Force soldiers visited Paruns Village in Nuristan to check on several ongoing construction projects and to assist the people by eliminating a weapons cache, teaching new techniques for goat cheese production and marketing.
The first priority of the visit was to locate and destroy a weapons cache the Afghan national police buried for safekeeping near the compound.
"We'll transport it out of here if it's safe," Sgt. 1st Class Angelo Patellaro, team leader for the 703rd Explosives Ordinance Disposal Co. from Peoria, Ill., said. "We'll bring it to a disposal spot and detonate it."
The EOD team was told the cache was large and they were not disappointed. By the time all the ordinance was removed they had recovered 46 recoilless rounds, 23 107mm rockets, 21 mortars and other items.
The removal of the explosives keeps them out of the wrong hands, but it also builds relations with the local community.
"This is helpful for us and keeps the bombs from getting to the Taliban," Col. Mohamad Dullah, commander of the Nuristan ANP jail, said. "It's like when someone is thirsty and a friend gives him a drink of water. The Americans are doing this...helping us. They are our friends."
After the explosives were dealt with the focus was on helping the goat farmers of the province through a goat cheese expert from Holland.
Ben Weijers, independent goat cheese consultant with LGCD, travels around the world doing consultations for farmers. His focus was collecting information in order to establish a plan to improve the sanitary conditions of the cheese production.
"The biggest issue with the current cheese production is the conditions. They are low by any standards. They will cook food in a bowl and then make cheese in the same bowl without cleaning it, or they will butcher a cow and then cut cheese with the same knife without cleaning it. We need to teach them how to do it safely."
The PRT is also working to develop the village by constructing safe buildings that can withstand the heavy snowfall during the winter.
"We are building a new Afghan national police compound, a new district center and a new governor's compound up on the hill," Dr. Jeffrey Bordin, Red Team leader for Human Terrain. "We are also building a very nice well in the middle of the village, which is well underway and we are building several government buildings there."
Prior to the new construction the buildings were made from wood and simple stone. The PRT inspected the construction to make sure the new projects were being built to last.
"We also took the opportunity to perform quality checks on some projects we are funding there to make sure that they are being built to the standards of the contracts," Aylward said.
The work in Paruns is helping develop the area and is brining them closer to becoming an independent nation.
"Food and health education and keeping munitions out of the hands of terrorist are just a few elements to achieve success in the region. The projects being done by our PRT in Paruns ultimately contribute to the overall development of this country, to include the development of the Paruns region, the developing provincial capitol of Nuristan," Col. John Spiszer, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division commander, said.
The PRT also has high hopes for the future of Paruns and feel the people of the province will one day have a stable government and a tourist industry.
"Somewhere down the road, the people of Nuristan will have a functioning provincial government in Parun," Aylward said, "and the only Americans you will see will be those of us who come back to ski or snowboard on their mountains in winter or fish or kayak in their beautiful rivers in the summer."
| Date Taken: | 09.07.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 09.08.2008 06:06 |
| Story ID: | 23352 |
| Location: | NURISTAN PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 639 |
| Downloads: | 556 |
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