A Tough Road Ahead for Afghan Governance

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A Tough Road Ahead for Afghan Governance
May 17, 2010
Military.com|by Ward Carroll

COMBAT OUTPOST YAHYA KHEL, Afghanistan -- The brief was held in the early morning in front of battalion headquarters in the shadow of a steel shipping container. The mission was to get Mohibulla Sameen, the governor of Paktika Province, from the capital of Sharana to a shura -- a traditional Afghan meeting of regional tribal elders with government officials -- in the small town of Yahya Khel, 25 miles to the south.

Once off of the forward operating base and at Sharana's town center, the American convoy of mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles was joined by a handful of up-armored Humvees from the Afghan National Army and nearly a dozen armed pickup trucks from the Afghan Uniformed Police. Governor Sameen was placed in the second MRAP in the convoy along with 3rd Battalion commander Lt. Col. David Fivecoat and his interpreter, known simply as "Chewy."

The mission was the latest in a series of efforts by American troops here to solidify the Afghan government at the district level and show locals that their elected officials and security forces can promote safety and make government work.

But despite all the efforts to show progress in the slow grind of building a new society here, insurgents still had their say, lobbing five mortars into this base while the shura was in session. It was the latest sign that U.S. forces and their Afghan allies still have a ways to go before security can be assured.

As the convoy started its push out of Sharana around 8:00 a.m., Fivecoat expressed concern to the governor that the sub-governor of Yahya Khel had heard about the shura from an unauthorized source, which in turn was an indicator of possible hostile activity along the route. The colonel's concerns were somewhat mitigated by a stronger than usual presence of Afghan National Army troops along the roadway, and the convoy made it through the bottleneck hot spots without incident.