Jun 16, 2008, 12:59 GMT
Qalat, southern Afghanistan - Romanian Army Lieutenant Dedu Norocel has no way of knowing how grimly prophetic is his warning against complacency while providing security on Highway 1, the main road linking Afghanistan's major cities.
'After six months of doing the same thing, the most dangerous part of our work is routine,' he tells a reporter at a small Romanian base located on this smooth asphalt lifeline running through the southern Zabul province and others.
'The men know every inch of the highway, I always tell them that they should ignore the fact they have been here 100 times before and imagine that it's the first time,' he says.
Eighteen hours later, Taliban insurgents armed with rocket propelled grenades attack his patrol of armoured vehicles in an ambush from both sides of the road. One soldier is killed and three are wounded in another bloody episode in the struggle over the more than 1,000-kilometre-long highway.
Linking the capital Kabul with Kandahar to the south and Herat in the west, the twin lanes are flanked by farmland and orchards, desert plains and mountains, towns and mud-brick villages, and flocks of sheep and camels seeking trickles of water in the river beds.
Since the Taliban Islamic militia was ousted from power by US-led forces in 2001, the safety and maintenance of the route served as a barometer of efforts to reconstruct the war-shattered country. Highway 1 was rebuilt by the United States, Japan, Saudi Arabia and other countries at a cost of 250 million dollars.
Every day, a steady flow of trucks, coaches and cars passes through flash points in the fight between the militants and the Afghan government and foreign forces.
As well as inviting harassment by bandits and corrupt police seeking bribes, drivers are also vulnerable to Taliban mine strikes and ambushes. Burned-out vehicles along the roadside are not an uncommon sight.
'The Taliban want Highway 1 under their control, we want it under our control, and so we are fighting,' said Lt. Col. Adrian Soci, commander of more than 400 troops who safeguard 150 kilometres of the road in Zabul.
The mountainous province has a 71-kilometre stretch of border with Pakistan and lies on infiltration routes used by militants operating from bases in the neighbouring country.
Pickings on the highway are plentiful and the attackers make little distinction between military and civilian vehicles, according to the Romanian commander.
'Especially during winter and spring they target civilian convoys carrying supplies in order to get food and water to survive,' he said. In acknowledgement of the route's vital role in restoring the national economy, Afghan President Hamid Karzai made improving security there a priority for 2008.
As a result, commerce is flourishing along the highway and numbers of attacks in the Romanian area of operation decreased in the past year, Soci said. He noted that this is partly due to accelerated training and equipment of Afghan National Police (ANP) units that share the responsibility for security.
In 2007 there were three dozen tiny police checkpoints along the highway in Zabul that were often manned by ill-equipped, unpaid and demoralised officers.
The posts were removed and six large walled fortified police compounds created to cover the same area with a complement of up to 60 officers.
Most of them underwent western-run training programmes and were redeployed with better resources. Wage arrears are gradually being made up but salaries are still as low as 5,000 Afghanis (100 dollars) a month.
Sadly, even the successes can undermine the work. At one new police post outside the provincial capital of Qalat, ANP Sergeant Rozi Mohammed says he has only 25 men in a nominal detachment of 35 because officers often leave for the private sector once they have acquired new skills.
'Much money is spent on a policeman in training, he then comes here, sees the deal and goes somewhere else where they pay more,' he said, adding that private security firms offer up to three times the police wage.
Meanwhile, the Romanians mourn their latest loss, which brings the number of the contingent's fatalities in recent years to seven. The last soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in March.
'It's bad for morale,' said Soci. 'But this is war, it's a risk we have to accept, we have no choice. We have to face the Taliban and beat them. And we will.'
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AlastairJun 16th, 2008 - 20:46:02
Cheers to those brave Romanian troops. I am sure the safely uncommitted German, French, and Italian troops are proud of them too.
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AlastairJun 16th, 2008 - 20:46:02
Cheers to those brave Romanian troops. I am sure the safely uncommitted German, French, and Italian troops are proud of them too.
Report this comment