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US Radio Ramshackle wins over Afghan locals (Afghanistan) by C Lamb 
The Sunday Times October 22, 2006 US Radio Ramshackle wins over Afghan locals Christina Lamb, Naray, Afghanistan "ASSALAMU alaikum Nuristan" may not have quite the same ring as "Good morning, Vietnam", but American troops stationed at the remotest base in Afghanistan are finding a makeshift radio station to be their most potent weapon in the war against Al-Qaeda-led militants. Encircled by jagged 15,000ft mountains, Naray is the northernmost base on the border between Kunar province and Pakistan. It is reached via a five-hour helicopter journey along the Kunar river, through narrow gorges so treacherous that the commander and three of his men were killed in a crash in May. Gunners scour the hillsides for enemies and it is not reassuring to see that the Chinook's cargo includes boxes marked "human blood for Naray". Over the mountain to the north is Nuristan, long thought to be Al-Qaeda's last hideout in Afghanistan. Intelligence sources believe the organisation's second and third-tier leadership is hidden in its mountain fastness and that this may be where the recent alleged plot to blow up transatlantic flights from Heathrow was hatched. Every night the howitzers of Naray pound away at the enemy in the hills, shaking the whole camp. Every day Voice of the People broadcasts 10-12 hours of music, poetry, readings from the Koran and news into the villages of Nuristan. "We're fighting an insurgency and the cornerstone of fighting an insurgency is winning over the population rather than just destroying the enemy," explains First Lieutenant Joe Lang, who heads the Information Operations cell. "We still do both but our priorities have switched." Lang is from the 3rd Squadron 71st Cavalry, the first conventional troops to be stationed at Naray. Until six months ago only special forces were based there. The creation of the radio station is tacit admission that smashing down doors and raiding houses only turns locals to the opposition. It is also an attempt to counter the same slick Taliban propaganda that British troops have come up against in Helmand, where the population believes they are there to destroy poppy fields and thus livelihoods. The radio station does not look like much from the outside. A cabin of nailed-together plywood with an antenna on top encased in a slightly wonky tower, it was built by First Lieutenant Daniel Hampton, whose previous experience was in combat and who had to learn everything from scratch. But its importance is clear from the guard post alongside. Inside the cabin, one of a team of four Afghans sits at an old-fashioned microphone with a box of 200 cassettes and a sheaf of handwritten papers. Some of this is international news from the BBC that has been translated. The rest is news provided by the American troops, which ranges from development projects such as building schools to attacks on coalition trucks bearing reconstruction materials. "Anything that happens with the coalition we put that out because the bad guys have a habit of putting their news out quickly, so we have to be pretty quick on the draw too," said Hampton. "We aim to have things on air within an hour." The soldiers have distributed more than 8,000 radios, mostly wind-up or solar-powered, and have another 20,000 to hand out. The station broadcasts to 48 villages comprising 60,000 people but is extending. Boxes have been placed in villages for requests and they receive about 45 a day. "Many of the letters ask, 'Why are you here?'" laughed Hampton. In fact, the radio station is already the most listened to of the three available in the area and this has brought some unexpected rewards. "When we broadcast asking people if they had any information about IEDs (improvised explosive devices), people started turning up every day with information," said Hampton. Similarly, when a Raven remote-controlled surveillance aircraft went down, the news was broadcast on the radio. Within an hour, someone was at the front gate with the 4ft craft. US forces are now planning to replicate this in other bases and the British are considering doing the same in Helmand. Naray was a particularly difficult place to start. Not only is Nuristan the most neglected part of Afghanistan, and its population naturally suspicious, but it has four different languages. Hampton held a series of meetings with local mullahs to explain the idea and make sure he did not do anything offensive. "Initially I was sceptical, thinking people wouldn't listen," he said. "But it's been so successful that, although we still do combat operations, it's now our main weapon." Radio is the most powerful medium in Afghanistan, which has one of the world's lowest literacy rates. Nuristan has no television: it is so isolated it cannot receive a signal from Kabul. One of the DJs is Safar Khan, a former air force engineer. "People like this radio very much," he said. "They keep sending letters saying, 'Don't lose this radio, it's our life.' When we have power failures, they get very upset. "We are getting elders fighting to be on the radio." Apart from music, people ask for science, history and poetry. The Americans make sure the station also broadcasts social messages, such as "keep your country clean" and items encouraging people to go to the police over crimes rather than running blood feuds. But it is risky work. A local elder, Haji Yunis, working as a contractor for the US forces in the satellite post of Garesh up the valley, was found beheaded last month. On Friday at Korangal, another US base in Kunar, eight Afghan workers were killed by gunmen. Apart from the radio station, the Information Operations cell also puts out a newspaper, Olas Arman, or Wishes of the People, distributed in local bazaars. The main story in this week's edition is about a pipe scheme. Although Lang insists it is "not propaganda but truth", the main focus of the radio and newspaper is to spread the word on reconstruction. Any time a new school or clinic is opened, reporters are sent to cover the event. The Naray commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Howard, has a fund of $50,000 a month to spend on projects, from the so-called commanders' emergency response programme. "This can range from school building to micro-hydro projects," said Captain Todd Polk, the troop commander. "We're trying to put something in every village so everyone can see the benefits of supporting us rather than the enemy." It is a stark contrast to the British mission in Helmand, where military commanders have expressed frustration that they have not been given funds for such reconstruction. It is under the purview of the Department for International Development, which considers the province too risky to work in. But Polk admits US attempts to win support through reconstruction often founder on local rivalries. "We spent $60,000 building a five-room school in Jabbah but the headmaster keeps complaining it was badly built because the contractors were from a different tribe." The clinic on the base treats local people and has already carried out four emergency deliveries. "This shows the trust we've built up as their husbands brought them in," said Polk. But the area is a long way from peace. Before the recent upsurge of violence in the south, this eastern corner of Afghanistan had seen the most fighting. While Al-Qaeda is thought to use the remote valleys of Nuristan, Kunar province has long been loyal to the anti-coalition warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Before his deployment to Naray, Lang was in Helmand commanding a platoon in Musa Qala. "The terrain is much more hostile here," he said. "Here you're channelled into one road just wide enough for one vehicle and the enemy stays on the hills and fires at you." Fighters tend to disappear across the mountains into what the American soldiers call "Paksville". "If we could go 10 miles the other side, we could finish this," complained one sergeant. Polk said there had been a clear rise in attacks on US troops since Pakistan agreed to pull its troops out of North Waziristan, a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, last month. Last Saturday, B1 bombers had to be called in to drop two 2,000lb bombs just north of Naray after a convoy of US vehicles was ambushed while marking up a road for widening. The troops fought their way through the 400-yard-long ambush, and called in the guns. An estimated 10 to 12 militants were killed. "Where the Russians went wrong is they alienated the population," said Polk, who was with the convoy. "We're showing we're guests, but at the same time that doesn't mean being a pansy when you're shot at." |