American servicemembers in Afghanistan break ground for new high school

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  • By Tech. Sgt. Joseph Kapinos
  • U.S. Air Force Central combat camera team
SHAJOY, Afghanistan (AFNS) --  Members of the Air Force-led Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team along with senior Afghan government officials and community leaders, celebrated the ground-breaking of a new high school for girls during a ceremony here Oct. 22.

The school will be the first of its kind in the town of Shajoy, which has a population of nearly 40,000 people.

"We (the Zabul PRT) have a unique capability when it comes to projects such as this one. This 90-person team has engineers, civil affairs and security personnel all working together with the local population to help determine what is needed in the towns and the province," said Lt. Col. Andy Veres, the PRT commander.

The team worked with local contractors in order to get the project under way. Through a transparent competitive process, bids were put forth by local contracting companies with the final company being awarded the contract. The PRT does not do the work themselves, but works with the local contractors who then empower the villagers in the area to do the work.

The new school is the first ever seen in the province, showing a commitment to education by the provincial governor. He commented to the crowd of hundreds how they should work hard to send their children to the new school when completed.

"This is a very historical moment," said Zabul Provincial Governor Muhammad Ashraf Naseri. "This gives us an opportunity to educate all of our children, who are the future of Afghanistan. We Afghans are looking for a peaceful life, and education is how we will find it."

Breaking ground on the new school is just one step in enhancing the education system in the city. There are plans being made at the Ministry of Education to turn the former Romanian military compound, located next to the new school, into a boy's high school. According to the officer heading up the project, this event shows how the people in the town and province are showing a greater amount of dedication to educating its young.

"The officials speaking here today have done a really good job at showing the Afghans they really have a choice of building schools, furthering education and bettering their lives," said Army 1st Lt. Robert Smalls, a civil affairs officer assigned to the PRT.

The lieutenant also sees how education can be the key to suppressing any insurgency in the region.

"The Taliban oppresses its people by keeping them primarily uneducated and illiterate," Lieutenant Smalls said. "A town that has the opportunity to send its children, and especially its girls, to school, will shed some of that oppression off of them.

Our hope is that this will further educate the people of this community, giving them the chance to make their community their own, free from any outside influences," he added.

A mix of civilian agencies and U.S. military forces, the PRT works to promote conditions of self-sufficiency, enduring prosperity, and a secure, stable environment. The teams are an off-shoot of humanitarian operations units created in 2002. From wells to roads to schools, the teams, based throughout Afghanistan, are helping to rebuild the country.