Violence threatens aid in remote Afghan mountains
Posted: 08 April 2009 1134 hrs

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BARIKOWT, Afghanistan: Barikowt bridge in isolated northeastern Afghanistan is only a few miles from a coalition military base, but it takes a convoy of army vehicles more than an hour to reach it.

New armoured vehicles brought in by the US military to deal with roadside bombs and ambushes in this area of Kunar province crawl along the mud-and-rock track, jolting violently over potholes.

The huge trucks barely fit the narrow road traversing mountains near the Pakistan border, the body work almost scrapes the rock face and the tyres grind perilously close to the cliff plunging down to the Kunar river.

This is the level of security needed to travel in this volatile district to check on the construction of the bridge, one of the development projects funded by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"We are not only fighting the bad guys who don't want to have development," said Staff Sergeant Jean-Francois Frenette, who works with the US army's Civil Affairs Team based in ISAF's Camp Bostick in Kunar.

"We're fighting also the terrain -- the terrain is a very hard terrain to work with -- and the weather."

As world leaders discuss how to help Afghanistan, Taliban attacks and harsh conditions keep civilian aid groups away from remote provinces like Kunar, leaving development work to foreign militaries, dominated by the United States.

Frenette's unit covers two districts in Kunar and two in Nuristan province to the north -- areas which have been traditionally isolated physically and culturally from Afghanistan's central government.

Nuristan was the last part of Afghanistan to convert to Islam at the end of the 19th century. It was until then known as Kafiristan -- land of the infidels -- and still battles a reputation for insecurity and backwardness.

"We're talking about hundreds and hundreds of years, they are used to doing their own thing," said Frenette.

Years of isolation mean the basics are not there. There are no roads to reach many villages, there are not enough experienced contractors, materials and building equipment are scarce.

At the same time, security remains tenuous, with attacks by militants and criminals on foreign and local troops increasing in the area by 120 per cent in February and March compared with the previous year.

Hajji Gul Zamon, governor of Kunar's Naray district, said the proximity of Pakistan was fuelling unrest and holding back reconstruction as insurgents cross the porous border and stage attacks.

"For security... I really request that my government send more Afghan forces so we can put them at the border and stop the bad guys coming over from Pakistan," he said.

US President Barack Obama, announcing his new strategy to turn around the more than seven-year war in Afghanistan, vowed to boost the Afghan security forces and send in more reconstruction specialists.

The Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) and Civil Affairs Teams focus on building roads and developing infrastructure, hoping economic progression will steer people away from religious extremism.

But 11 non-government organisations last week released a report saying that military-led development was ill-planned, badly executed and endangering civilian aid workers and locals.

"NGOs regularly receive warnings that any perceived association with military forces will make them a target," the report said.

"NGO projects have been forced to close due to visits from PRTs or foreign donor agencies in heavily armed escorts," it added.

At Barikowt down a slope of winter wheat, armed soldiers stand guard as Frenette checks on the nearly 80,000-dollar bridge, but the villagers seem happy, despite the military presence it brings.

"Before we were in big trouble, we were carrying stuff on our backs all the way to Naray (village) and crossing that bridge and coming back here. This will help us a lot," said Sib Zarin, a 40-year-old labourer.

As he speaks, a man struggles over the bridge with a bleary-looking boy collapsed on his back. Zarin says the bridge has cut the journey time to get medical help, but now the villagers need their own clinic and school.

For the moment, most aid agencies are staying away, Frenette says, meaning the nuts and bolts must be addressed first.

"Let's cook the cake and once we have the cake, we can put the icing on it. Let's build the infrastructure and once we have the infrastructure now we can put nice little finishing touches," he tells AFP.

- AFP/yt