Photo By Sgt. Casey Collier | An Afghan Border Patrol Agent monitors traffic at Freedom Gate in the city of Wesh,...... read more read more
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WESH, Afghanistan — Vehicles come here, to the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, in all shapes and sizes. From hulking, colorful cargo trucks, (known as "jingle trucks" owing to the sound of their metallic fringe) to simple, wooden carts pulled by donkeys, the Freedom Gate at the Wesh Border Checkpoint is their common thruway from one country to the other.
Freedom Gate is just one of 40 Afghan Border Patrol checkpoints from Zabul Province to Nimroz Province, along a border that stretches 1,846 miles in its entirety.
The gate itself is comprised of two large, inter-connected arches, with each portal approximately 10 feet wide and 20 feet tall. Through this structure hundreds of vehicles pass every day. To one side of the road are a high school and mosque. On the other side is the Wesh city market and ABP compound. And from 7:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., travelers crossing from both sides of the border here are monitored by the ABP.
Pedestrians and cyclists who cross the border at Freedom Gate are screened by ABP agents on-site, but vehicular traffic is not screened here. For them there is only a brief customs inspection and authentication of documents.
The vehicles must then follow the 10-mile route to Spin Boldak, to a customs yard where they undergo a thorough search. If after Spin Boldak, the motorists' journey takes them as far as Kandahar, there is another customs yard there through which they must pass. All of which is run by the ABP in collaboration with Coalition Forces.
Sadullh, commander of the ABP compound at Wesh, says he is happy with security at the Wesh checkpoint. The ABP is awaiting the arrival of building materials, which in a few weeks, should result in the construction of a new customs building and barriers to ease traffic congestion.
But the peace at Freedom Gate is not kept through the ABP alone. Soldiers from Cloak Troop, 8th Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, go to work every day at the ABP compound in Wesh and this critical crossroad.
During the day they provide security from the rooftop of the compound, keep a running-count of vehicles crossing the border, meet with ABP officials to discuss mission progress, and train with ABP agents to ensure a more substantial partnership.
At night, they patrol the area around the border, interdicting those who attempt to cross illegally.
It's a 24-hour-a-day—seven-day-a-week job.
Sgt. 1st Class Glen Bain, Cloak Troop, 8th Reg., 1st Cav. Div., has been working with the ABP for six and-a-half months.
"We've been working with the ABP ever since we got here. From day one we've done combined patrols. Before we leave the FOB (Forward Operating Base) we usually train with searching techniques and personnel dismounts," he said. "It's gotten a lot better."
"They understand us and we understand them. We have set teams that always go out together. So, the teams that we have now have been training together for months and we're going to be together until we (Cloak Troop) leave," said Bain.
The success of this partnering effort between ABP and Cloak Troop at this border checkpoint is readily apparent. It has been over a year since there was any kind of unrest at Freedom Gate, (there was an IED attack over a year ago) and both ABP and Cloak Troop site that lack of disturbance as proof of successful cooperation.
"We will not allow smugglers to come in to Afghanistan. Drug smugglers... any smugglers — we will not allow them to come into Afghanistan," said Sadullh.
This mindset indicates the resolve of the ABP, a mindset which coalition forces share in spirit and through action.
"We have at least one platoon out here every day," says Sgt. Jacob Bishop, a Lewellen, Neb. native. "We're just doing our job."
It is a sentiment commonly voiced by service members here, who are making a difference.
| Date Taken: | 01.16.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 01.16.2010 08:13 |
| Story ID: | 43962 |
| Location: | WESH, AF |
| Web Views: | 412 |
| Downloads: | 301 |
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