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Shura brings governor, local elders together for peaceful talk

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Stacia Zachary
  • AFCENT Combat Camera Correspondent
SHAMULZAI, Afghanistan --  The governor of Zabul province traveled to a town on the Pakistan border to discuss effective ways to resolve outstanding issues and address new concerns the local elders have here.
Governor Ashraf Naseri, along with members of the Afghan National Security Forces, arrived at district center for a shura, a traditional forum for the people to address their officials in a time-honored manner.

"It's an opportunity for the elders to air their grievances, to talk about the things they would like to see in terms of development and what sorts of issues they are looking for the governor to try and resolve," said Lt. Col. Andy Veres, Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul commander.

The governor visits throughout Zabul in an effort to meet with his people as traveling to him is often not an option for Afghans located at the furthest reaches of the countryside in a province with low population density.

"He's very active because he knows that one of the best ways for the people in the most rural districts out here to get to meet their governor is for their governor to travel to them," the colonel said.

Members of PRT Zabul were on hand to support the governor's visit to Shamulzai. The presence of the provincial leadership and Afghan National Security Forces also signals to the local Afghans their needs and concerns are important and taken seriously.

"The biggest thing that I want to do is start the dialogue between the constituency and the government," Colonel Veres said. "That dialogue is absolutely fundamental to what we're trying to do here."

For the Afghans living in the Shamulzai district, the shura was an opportunity to address the immediate needs of the people.

"Today this meeting is a peaceful thing about how we can fix some problems in this district," said Mohammed Nafah, a Shamulzai elder. "The governor and some of the (ANSF) came here to solve these problems together."

The district has seen little in terms of development over the past 50 yrears as it is far away from Kabul, and the need for roads, clinics, schools and water resource management is obvious.

"We have a lot of problems here," the Shamulzai elder said. "We don't have any paved roads and cannot get to places; so we need roads. We need a hospital or clinic to go to and there is a water problem here that makes us have little water."

Another issue addressed among the people of Shamulzai district is the need to organize the bazaar and settle unrest there as well as establishing a government center where ID cards can be issued to the people of Zabul.

"There are many problems in the bazaar," said Afghan National Army Sgt. Syed Hussain, 1st Kandak, 2nd Brigade, 205th Corps. "They don't have the facilities to get their initial ID cards in order to travel to the different provinces of Afghanistan legally. (Without these cards), security forces make them get out of their vehicles when they travel and search them. It makes travel very difficult."

Conducting these shuras not only gives the governor a chance to hear the needs and concerns of his people, but also instills faith in the people here.

"If we are going to have a stable environment, leadership has to hear from the local elders ... and bring those resolutions to light," Colonel Veres said. "Our intent here is to be able to assist Afghanistan to establish a form of local government that the people not only accept, but in fact they yearn for and are willing to fight for."

The governor honored the local elders by listening to the problems the local Afghans are facing and assured them that they were not forgotten and their concerns have been heard.

"Right now, the governor is listening to these problems and he is assuring the people that everything will be alright," Sergeant Hussain said.