Khowst Province, Afghanistan – Afghan National Security Forces, Soldiers with Company A, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment and USAID staff, escorted Bermel District Sub Governor Dawlet Khan to a Shura in Faqiran village July 5th.
In keeping with tradition, the ANSF escorting Kahn helped give gifts for school-aged children. They handed out soccer balls, hygiene kits, back packs, puzzles of Afghanistan, writing tablets, toothpaste and toothbrushes, and they gave radios to the adults.
Prior to the Shura, discussions emphasized the importance of ritual gift giving between friends in most Afghan Tribal cultures, said Jerry Namkin, field program officer with USAID.
“The Shura was a great success,” Namkin said. “While treated somewhat cool at the beginning, the sub governor was swamped by the village elders and children after the meeting.”
ANSF and Rakkasan Soldiers provided security for the Shura.
“Since this Shura, other coordinating and relationship-building meetings have been held and a truckload of similar items has been sent to the area for the [ANSF] to distribute during their patrols,” Namkin said.
The relationship-building meetings are now the standard operating procedure for preparing the way for the sub governor to visit other villages, Namkin said.
Khan said that with this success he plans to host more Shuras in the future.
