Attendees to the opening ceremony of the Kandahar Nursing and Midwifery Institute participate in the ribbon cutting May 9, 2012 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The Kandahar Nursing and Midwifery will be able to train up to 800 students, both male and female, a year in nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, lab and dental services. Photo by Staff Sgt. Timothy Chacon

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Timothy Chacon

The Kandahar Nursing and Midwifery Institute held a ribbon cutting ceremony May 9,2012. The Nursing and Midwifery facility is one of only eight similar facilities in the country and will be able to train up to 800 students, both male and female, per year. The facility will teach students nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, lab, and dental services, with an emphasis on improving maternal and infant mortality rates in Kandahar, as well as surrounding provinces.
(more…)

U.S. Army Sgt. Shelly Amborn, a native of Atwater, Calif., and Spc. Sonja Prentiss, a native of Peoria, Ill., both with the Army's cultural support team, speak with a young Afghan girl in Darvishan Village, Khakrez district, Afghanistan, June 10, 2011. Photo by Spc. Kaimana-Ipulani Kalauli-Mendoza

In the harsh reality of southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, it’s not uncommon for any soldier, regardless of their job, to find themselves in a dangerous situation while operating in the field.

That’s what happened one afternoon when two members of a cultural support team, working with coalition special operations forces, assigned to Special Operations Task Force–South Afghanistan, came under fire by insurgent forces during what should have been a routine mission in Kandahar’s Khakrez district.

Sgt. Shelly Amborn, a native of Atwater, Calif., and Spc. Sonja Prentiss, a native of Peoria, Ill., are both members of SOTF-South’s CST, a team comprised of female soldiers who support coalition special operations forces by engaging the female population in an area where such contact may be deemed culturally inappropriate if performed by a male service member.

On that day, Amborn and Prentiss traveled to a small village in Khakrez with coalition special operations forces to take part in a major clearing operation to disrupt insurgent activity in the northern part of the district.

Amborn and Prentiss would help provide security and once the SOF team finished clearing the building, the CST would go in and search the females, which, according to a coalition special operations forces team member, greatly augmented security.

”This was our fourth clearing mission with coalition special operations forces, and up until this point we hadn’t received any enemy contact,” said Prentiss.

“The CST was taking part in a major clearing operation with us,” said a coalition special operations forces team leader with SOTF-South. “Around mid-afternoon, a four to five man insurgent element engaged us with small-arms fire and [rocket propelled grenades].”

“You know it’s a possibility that something like this can happen,” said Amborn. “But until it does, you never think it’s going to happen to you.”

“We were pulling security when we first heard the shots,” she added. “Right off the bat I didn’t know what was going on, but that’s when the training kicked in and we reacted.”

“During the entire operation, the CST acted very professionally,” said the SOF team leader. “We were able to set up a support by fire and sent a maneuver element to destroy the enemy. Soon after, the enemy broke contact and retreated.”

“When it happened, my adrenaline was pumping, but you just do what you’re supposed to do,” said Prentiss.

For their part in the event, Amborn and Prentiss were presented with the Combat Action Badge at their combat outpost by Combined Special Operations Task Force–Afghanistan commander, Col. Mark C. Schwartz.

The Combat Action Badge is awarded to members of the Army who, while serving in a hostile environment, are personally present and actively engaging or being engaged by the enemy, and performing satisfactorily in accordance with the prescribed rules of engagement.

“To experience that is kind of cool, but at the same time I was very nervous,” Prentiss concluded. Both receiving the award and being involved in the engagement “was a very proud moment for the both of us.”

Story by Sgt. Warren Wright
DVIDS

Spc. Christina Alvarado and Sgt. Shanequa Cardona, members of the Female Engagement Team with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, talk to some local women with the help of their interpreter Hayda Azizi, in Subdistrict 6, Aug. 4. “The women have a lot of concerns about their children’s education and medical needs,” Alvarado said.

The Female Engagement Team with 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, is enhancing the ability to gain intelligence from an untapped resource: Afghan women.

“Our mission is to go where the men can’t,” said Sgt. Shanequa Cardona, a team leader with the FET of 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment. “Because of their customs, it is seen as inappropriate for women to talk with men who live outside their home.”

“Without the FET we would have no way to engage the female populace,” said Capt. John Intile, the commander of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment. “In some cases we get different perspectives and points of view on things.”

Spc. Christina Alvarado, a Female Engagement Team member with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, passes out pencils to local children in Diwatiano, Aug. 5.

“The women have a lot of concerns about their children’s education and medical needs,” said Spc. Christina Alvarado, a FET member with 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment

Not only do the Afghan women have different points of view on things but sometimes they are more willing to talk.

“The men are targets of intimidation tactics; the women might talk because they don’t have those pressures,” Intile said.

The job isn’t as easy as just going in to talk to the women. An Afghan Uniformed Police officer will go in and secure the premises, then tell the women to all go into one room and if there are men in the home the AUP will question them.

“The men don’t want the females to talk to us,” Alvarado said, “sometimes they will hover around and try to take over the conversation and that can be frustrating.”

Sallamjn, an officer with Police Sub Station 15, Hayda Azizi, an interpreter and Sgt. Shanequa Cardona, a Female Engagement Team member with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, wait at the door of a family in Subdistrict 6, Aug 4. The Afghan Uniformed Police always go into the homes first to secure a location so that the FET may be able to enter and talk with the women of the house.

“It’s challenging to try to get the women to feel comfortable with us and trust us enough to give us good information,” Cardona said.

It’s important to gain a good rapport with the women because they are more likely to confide real information instead of the bland answer that everything is fine within the community, said Hayda Azizi, an interpreter who works with the FET.

“I try and show them that I’m a wife and mother, just like them,” Cardona said. “I carry a family photo that I pass around for them to see.”

“Our interpreter plays a huge role; we would be useless without her,” Alvarado said. “She really knows how to get in and talk to the women and make them feel more comfortable.”

Even with some difficulties, the FETs have proven their effectiveness.

“We have seen great success when we use FETs; they are like any other enabler, you just have to realize how to utilize them properly,” Intile said.

DVIDS
Photos and Story by Sgt. Ruth Pagan

Kandahar has experienced a steady increase in pomegranate sales thanks to increased security in the region.

“This year is much better than the last, said Abdul Raziq, a pomegranate farmer and trader from Daman District. “I have expanded my market in the city and shipped almost three tons of my best pomegranates to Kabul, Dubai and India.”

Industries connected to pomegranate cultivation, such as transportation and grocery stalls, have also increased by 300 percent in Kandahar city since 2008, according to officials.

A quiet enabler of this business success has been the Afghan National Security Forces. The increased amount of security forces along main supply routes has permitted the vast majority of shipping to get through to Pakistan and India unhindered.

“In the past, a large portion our shipments were either stolen or criminals and Taliban told us to pay protection money,” said Hamadi. “It was a tough situation that lasted many years. We are grateful that this has changed and our brave Afghan heroes are keeping our roads safe.”

The market for pomegranates is one of the fastest growing in the world and many find Afghanistan to have the best pomegranates in the world. This season, Kandahar farmers have earned up to 45 Afghani per kilogram of pomegranates and in early November, they shipped more than 40 tons of pomegranates to Dubai in one week.

DVIDS

An Afghan-led force killed more than 20 insurgents and destroyed more than 40 improvised explosive devices in northwestern Kandahar province during a three-day operation that ended Nov. 29.

The operation consisted of forces from the Afghan Border Police and Afghan National Army commandos, partnered with soldiers from Special Operations Task Force – South.

As the forces cleared their initial objective, area citizens provided information leading to further exploitation of the surrounding areas. The information came during evening shuras between area residents and the partnered force.

Following these discussions, the combined element decided to continue the operation past its planned 24-hour timeframe.

In all, the operation led to the discovery of two drug processing facilities, multiple explosives manufacturing facilities including nearly nine tons (8,500 kilograms in 170 50-kilogram bags) of explosives, 41 Kalashnikov assault rifles and eight high-caliber machine guns with 1,000 rounds.

The partnered force also cleared 41 IED’s from the area.

Elsewhere in northern Kandahar province’s Shah Wali Kot district, the District Governor Haji Obidullah and Afghan National Army special forces, along with their from Special Operations Task Force – South partners, located two weapons storage sites following tips from local citizens, Nov. 28.

The partnered force found almost 10,000 rounds of ammunition, multiple 82 mm mortar rounds, five rocket-propelled grenade warheads and a wide variety of IED-making material to include detonation cord, blasting caps and pressure plates.

Also in Kandahar province’s Arghandab district, Afghan National Police recovered two IED’s along a well-travelled road Nov. 29. Soldiers from Special Operations Task Force – South safely disposed of the IED’s.

No civilian casualties or property damage resulted from these operations.

DVIDS