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HomeNewsNew line for America, new life for Afghanistan, Part 3

New line for America, new life for Afghanistan, Part 3

Written by Spc. Michael Vanpool
101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs

101st Sustainment Brigade - LifelinersFort Campbell KY, 101st Airborne Division

Balkh Province, Afghanistan – Hairatan’s growth and economic future is being built with a chamber of commerce with one specific goal in mind: to bring the local businessmen together under one roof and one voice.

“The chamber of commerce can help improve the town,” said Maj. Jason Cole, tactical command post officer in charge, 101st Sustainment Brigade Joint Combat Outpost Hairatan.

A partnership forged this past year between the port director, the local community, and the 101st Sustainment Brigade at the port of Hairatan is intended for the different groups to construct ideas and remedies to prepare the grounds and the people here for the years to come.

“All our projects are based off the future, not short-term projects with a short-term goal, but a long-term focus,” Cole said. “If they improve the town, it improves their business. If they create a better education, there are creating better-trained employees for their future.”

Throughout America nearly every city and town has a chamber of commerce, or a local organization of businesses working to further their economic growth. The chamber can advocate for the port, paving the way for more economic growth.

“The chamber of commerce can work with the government to create better trade regulations, and governmental laws that pertain to benefits to getting industry to Hairaton,” Cole said.

Since setting up a presence this past December, the brigade has worked with the port and the local population daily. These meetings have grouped the businesses together to work towards a common goal for the city.

Maj. Jason Cole, the tactical command post officer in charge, 101st Sustainment Brigade Joint Combat Outpost Hairatan, talks with the port director of Hairatan. (Photo by Spc. Michael Vanpool)
Maj. Jason Cole, the tactical command post officer in charge, 101st Sustainment Brigade Joint Combat Outpost Hairatan, talks with the port director of Hairatan. (Photo by Spc. Michael Vanpool)

The “Lifeliners” created numerous projects to better the area, but the chamber of commerce will allow the locals to continue advancing the infrastructure once the coalition forces leave.

“The community comes together as one voice and decides what needs to be done,” Cole said. This one voice can talk with the provincial and central government to find funding for the growth of the area.

By laying the foundation now, the soldiers of the 101st can allow the community to shape the chamber of commerce as the months roll on, and the Lifeliners redeploy next month.

“The chamber of commerce is a living being, and lives on, it’s an entity, it changes, it lives and breathes,” Cole said. “They have their own elections. They set up their own bylaws. And as the town improves, their outlook improves and changes.”

Emails will soon take the place of the daily face to face meeting between the soldiers and the community. Both sides are preparing for the next step and connecting the port with other partners to help with the growth.

“A lot of it is talking with the right people, putting them in contact with an [non-government organization] or an aid organization or the right person in Kabul to come and listen to them,” Cole said.

“They can let these organizations know that there’s a need, and there’s an Afghan entity here that’s willingly to complete a project and make sure it’s done to standard for the people.”

The “Lifeliners” presence not only allowed the trains to gather steam, but the community that lives off the port to gain traction as well.

“We’re trying to make the port a better place,” Cole said, “because we’re not going to be here forever.”

For more on this story, see:

New line for coalition forces, new life for Afghanistan, Part 2

New line for coalition forces, new life for Afghanistan

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