Nowhere else in the eastern military command sector in Afghanistan do foreign troops patrol in baseball caps instead of helmets. While the eastern epithet is more administrative than physical - the mountainous Bamyan province is about as central as you can get in the country - and despite the occasional roadside bomb, it's a pocket of relative peace in a country mired in conflict.
"Bamyan is still the most stable and secure province in Afghanistan," said Colonel Richard Hall, commander of the 140-soldier Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) from New Zealand that is deployed here. "This allows us to get on with our job instead of worrying overtly about the security situation."
While Coalition forces and Taliban insurgents battle it out in neighbouring provinces, the absence of hostilities here stems from Bamyan's almost exclusive population by Hazaras, a race descended from the conquering army of Mongol emperor Genghis Khan.
"We're lucky that the Hazara people are even more anti-Taliban than we are - our main force protection is the Hazaras," said PRT operations officer Major Hamish Gibbons.
There are still dangers, though. At least three bombs exploded in the province this year, one of which lightly injured a New Zealand soldier. In 2007, two 107-mm rockets were fired at, but missed, Kiwi Base, the New Zealanders' fortified camp in the provincial capital, serving as a reminder that the Taliban are still out there.
"It would be nave of us to assume we weren't being watched," Colonel Hall said. But prevention of any major infiltration is something on which the locals pride themselves. "Everyone knows everyone here, if anyone comes, people will say 'this is a new guy,'" said driver Jawad, who lives in the town of Bamyan, 240 kilometers north-west of Kabul.
Home to some 20,000 people, it is best known around the world for the heinous destruction by Taliban in 2001 of the giant Buddha figures carved into its sandstone cliff face. All that remains of the sixth century effigies are some preserved stacks of dynamited debris and the huge sandstone alcoves that once housed them, the largest having stood 53 metres tall.
The Buddhas themselves may be gone but the lure of their former location is still strong. The New Zealanders are used to hosting a steady procession of curious visitors, from Nato top brass to US First Lady Laura Bush in June, who to the alarm of her bodyguards received a spear-waving welcoming dance at close quarters by Maori soldiers in the contingent.
Yet while the site is less than 2 kilometres from the base and clearly visible, most of the troops will not go there during their six-month tour. "The only time we get to see them this close is if we are escorting people," said a soldier during a recent security inspection of the alcoves for a visit by a senior officer of the 40-country International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
But showing VIPs round local historical sites is a courteous aside to the main job of building schools, clinics, roads, wells and flood protection barriers for the Hazaras. There are 55 projects underway or in preparation that are worth more than 30 million US dollars, according to Major Mike Pettersen, who implements much of the PRT work.
Of New Zealand's total armed forces of approximately 4,500 personnel, 660 are currently deployed in 16 peacekeeping operations and training missions around the world, primarily in East Timor and the Solomon Islands. But with so much combat occurring in Afghanistan, Bamyan contingent members are especially rueful that they don't get to engage the enemy.
"We haven't done any major fighting since Vietnam, people would just like to know that we can still do it," said Corporal Shane Hutson of the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment.
But the officers try to keep the soldiers' eye on the ball, stressing the need to continually assist local governance, development and security as the bedrock of Bamyan's peace. "I look at it as a three-legged stool," said Pettersen. "Take one away and the stool falls over."
Comments
Comments are closed.