LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan - The first Nangahar province public affairs shura took place at Operation Base Fenty, Afghanistan, Nov. 12, 2014. Although it was hosted by Capt. Matthew Kukta of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment Police Advisor Team, it was heavily attended by a variety of members of the Afghan National Security Forces.
Afghan representatives in attendance were Maj. Hazraf Hussain, public affairs officer with the Afghan National Army, Ghulamullah Habibi, spokesman for the 2nd Brigade Afghan Chief of Police, Ahmadzia Abdulai, spokesman for the Nangahar provincial governor, Col. Neman Hatefi, Public Affairs Officer for the Afghan National Army's 201st Corps, Capt. Abdul Assad, PAO with the Afghan Border Patrol, and Maj. Sheren Aga, PAO with the 4th Brigade, 201st Corps.
U.S. advisers in attendance were Kukta, Maj. Vance Trenkel, 3rd Cavalry Regiment PAO and military adviser team member, U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Marcus Cornelius, Afghanistan - Pakistan Hands member, and Capt. Brit Waters, police advisory team member and squadron surgeon.
Abdulai, the spokesmen for the Nangarhar provincial governor, began the shura by suggesting the meeting be a monthly occurrence.
"I want to create a press hall at our facility in Jalalabad," he said.
The press hall would serve as a centralized location for media conferences where different members of the Afghan National Security Forces, government spokespeople and local journalists could meet.
He said the idea behind having a centralized location would be to increase the ability to synch messages and create togetherness among the different pillars and create more transparency among the different government agencies. Consistent media conferences would give a steady flow of information to all of the different media outlets and journalists would know directly where to go for queries, he added.
The ANSF pillars addressed many similar issues they are facing.
In Nangahar many do not have access to unfiltered internet, making social media interfacing next to impossible, said Neman, the 201st Corps PAO.
"Afghans first get their news through the radio, then TV, then social media like Facebook or Twitter," he said.
Attendees expressed their concerns about their recent loss of "Radio in a Box," portable radio stations recently transferred and under complete control of the information operation officers and discussed ways to disseminate information.
"This will reduce our ability to share information with the people of Afghanistan," said Capt. Abdul Assad from the Afghan Border Police. "Feeding the people information about their respective units is the best way that public affairs officers can complete their mission to build the peoples' trust and confidence in the Government and ANSF." The attendees of the shura are committed to finding ways to continue to provide information to the local residents.
ANSF refers to all pillers of the Afghan National Security Forces, which includes the Afghan National Armed Forces, Afghan National Police, Afghan Border Police and Afghan Local Police. Meetings like this help ensure that all apsects of the ANSF are cooperating and working together to be able to function independently as coalition forces reduce the number of troops and functions in Afghanistan.
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