Announcement

Barg-e-Matal Villagers Rebuild Their Town and Way of Life

Villagers see that Afghan and Coalition Forces are committed to long-term assistance.

Barg-e-Matal, Nuristan, Afghanistan  | Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Photo: USAID/Nuristan PRT

A shopping street in Barg-e-Matal, taken before attacks by insurgents.

In remote Nuristan Province, the people of Barg-e-Matal have lived a peaceful, agrarian lifestyle for centuries.  However, insurgents disrupted that lifestyle twice last year by attacking the district center. Local authorities, supported by villagers, defended their town and repelled the aggressors.  This June, the situation was different.  Before another attack by the insurgents, the village leaders fled, first to the mountains of nearby Badakhshan and later to Kabul.  In Kabul, the leaders requested reinforcement from Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).  By that time, Barg-e-Matal had been severely damaged by the attack, and residents no longer trusted their local leaders to protect them.

To restore that trust and improve lives, the Provincial Reconstruction Team, Coalition Forces, and ANSF have worked with the leaders to engage the community in its own recovery – despite daily insurgent attacks.  Some 100 school boys arrived at their school to "clean it up and prepare it for classes," as one explained.  The local Provincial Reconstruction Team supports the boys in their endeavor and is compensating them for their work.  Similarly, adults are separating burned wood from still-useful stone and other building material so that the reconstruction and repair of damaged homes can begin.  Each person earns a wage, bringing needed income into the community.  Villagers now see that Afghan and Coalition Forces are committed to long-term assistance, and they have also started to provide needed information to soldiers.  Coalition Forces and the U.S. Government are currently looking for ways to help the community prepare for winter.