{"id":3608,"date":"2011-02-20T19:00:38","date_gmt":"2011-02-20T19:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/?p=3608"},"modified":"2011-02-20T19:00:38","modified_gmt":"2011-02-20T19:00:38","slug":"a-logistical-game-changer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/a-logistical-game-changer\/","title":{"rendered":"“A logistical game changer”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A logistical game changer<\/h3>\n

101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs<\/p>\n

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Peter Mayes<\/p>\n

BALKH PROVINCE, Afghanistan \u2013 An ambitious railroad project could see an increase in cargo supply movements and potentially create strong economic development and stability for the northern Afghanistan community.<\/p>\n

The 101st Sustainment Brigade Commander Col. Michael Peterman and members of his staff spent several days visiting with key government officials in the Hairaton district to discuss plans to re-establish a distribution network in the north from Europe. <\/p>\n

Most of the ground freight in that region comes through Pakistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo say that it\u2019s problematic is an understatement,\u201d Peterman said. \u201cFor all the interruptions, attacks, theft, corruption \u2026it has a negative effect on combat power. It can be a game-changer logistically if we get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hairaton Gate crossing is the only border crossing point with a rail line, according to Peterman. The Lifeliner\u2019s role in the project would be to tie the infrastructure in northern Afghanistan to that network, he said.<\/p>\n

The brigade sent a team to Hairaton Gate to help build container yards for the project. Peterman referred to Gen. David Petraeus\u2019 initiative on helping get the Northern Distribution Network \u2013 a network of trains, ports and airplanes coming directly from Central Europe into Afghanistan- run efficiently.<\/p>\n

It would also mean the brigade would coach, mentor and teach Afghan commerce, business and military leaders on how to conduct cross-border logistics in Hairaton, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is, that freight is going to come. We have to figure out how to educate the Afghans to make sure it moves efficiently down to rest of the battle space. We\u2019ll be critical to have in terms of coaching and monitoring, along with our Afghan partners,\u201d Peterman said.<\/p>\n

The commander said while the focus in Regional Command East has been counterinsurgency and security (with the intent to gain a space for economics to grow), the northern region has a strong governor and security.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an opportunity, with that rail line and commercial trucking, to move that portion of the country forward economically and also reinforce governance for tens of millions of dollars that\u2019s going to come across that port in the next year that\u2019s going to go directly to Afghan taxpayers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peterman said he has spent time with the Hairaton District Gov. Atta and other key officials trying to understand, \u201cAfghanistan\u2019s human terrain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a great dialogue with Gov. Atta, as well as daily meetings with the port authority \u2026 to let him know what this means to him economically. He\u2019s a very smart man, and he understands developmentally what this means to his country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peterman said conversations with the district sub-governor raised concerns about the negative impact the projects would have on the community, such as children being struck by trucks<\/p>\n

\u201cThose concerns are no different than a small town in America that\u2019s right next to a rail hub, if you can picture it,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we put Afghans to work, it will have less negative effects on his community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peterman said engagements by USAID, the European Union and others are also coming into play regarding Afghanistan\u2019s economic future.<\/p>\n

He also said the project fits in with President Obama\u2019s intent of having combat troops leave Afghanistan by 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trains are going to have to get that combat power out some way,\u201d he said.
\nSource: DVIDS<\/a>, 2011-01-11<\/cite>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A logistical game changer 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs Story by Sgt. 1st Class Peter Mayes BALKH PROVINCE, Afghanistan \u2013 An ambitious railroad project could see an increase in cargo supply movements and potentially create strong economic development and stability for the northern Afghanistan community. The 101st Sustainment Brigade Commander Col. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[56,64,79,87,127],"class_list":["post-3608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afghanistans-railways","tag-dvids","tag-freight","tag-hayratan","tag-isaf","tag-ndn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}