Afghan troops deliver medical care as means of fighting Taliban influence
Wahid Taha
Dear all, FYI Please.
Afghan troops deliver medical care as means of fighting Taliban influence
By Murray Brewster (CP) - 9 hours ago
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Afghan National Army began delivering medical
aid and hygiene seminars to remote villages Monday as another means of
fighting Taliban influence.
Members of the 205 "Hero" Corps helped facilitate and guard clinics at
three locations in Zabul province, east of Kandahar - a program that is
being closely studied by Canadian commanders.
Col. Mohammad Hakim Zahidi, the brigade's top doctor, says safeguarding the
delivery of some health services was something the Afghan army did five
years ago before NATO moved into southern Afghanistan.
With the system resurrected, the hope is that more people will have
consistent access to health care and eventually put more faith in the
government.
"The Ministry of Public Health is not able to give these facilities to the
people so therefore our army is going to help the clinics and support
them," said Zahidi, a doctor who studied at the medical institute in Kabul
during the Soviet occupation.
The health care is being delivered in some cases by civilian physicians and
staff, under the protection of Afghan troops. But Afghan army medical
personnel would be around to assist.
Aligning civilian doctors and nurses so closely with the military makes
many in the international aid community nervous. They argue it paints a
target on the backs of medical staff.
But Zahidi argues the need is there, especially when it comes to public
education of villagers who have little access to clean drinking water, few
opportunities to bathe and keep livestock in their compounds.
"Civilian doctors cannot go to these clinics," he said through a
translator. "When there was peace in these areas you can see the signs of
(the health ministry), but because of security reasons right now (the
ministry) is not able to go to those areas."
Even without the association of the army, medical staff have been targets
of insurgent wrath for years. Clinics burnings were routine in 2006 and
2007, as has been the kidnapping of doctors and nurses.
Zahidi said the army would like to see the outreach program spread beyond
Zabul - a remote, mountainous border province that the Taliban uses as a
major transit route from Pakistan.
Canadian Maj. Mike Kaiser, of the Petawawa, Ont.-based 1 Canadian Field
Hospital, says commanders are looking at setting up a similar Afghan-led
system in Kandahar.
Village medical outreach patrols have been a hallmark of NATO strategy for
years: western soldiers and doctors would visit communities and set up
one-day clinics where villagers have no access to care.
Canadians often used them as showcases to highlight the non-combat
nation-building that troops were carrying out.
But such intermittent patrols are out of vogue with the new NATO
commander's counter-insurgency strategy.
"The literature on (counter-insurgency) operations does not support that
kind of outreach where you go to a village, dispense medication for a day
and leave," Kaiser said Monday.
"This type of approach where you're educating the people is deemed far more
beneficial."
Gen. Stanley McChrystal's revised war strategy emphasizes winning the
support of local people by moving into a community and sticking around to
build good public institutions.
Zahidi said he doesn't envision the Afghan army carrying on the program
indefinitely, only until there is security and peace.
Copyright C 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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