Khas Konar District government executes VETCAP

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan– In a significant sign of progress, the government of Khas Konar District, Konar province officials executed a Veterinary Civil Assistance Program with minimal assistance from coalition forces.  

The June 13 event, which occurred in the village of Haquimabad in the northern part of the district, was a giant step forward in terms of the district providing services to its residents.

According to U.S. Army Maj. Mike Leeney, executive officer of the 40th Infantry Division Agribusiness Development Team, previous VETCAPs have planned and executed throughout Kunar province by the ADT, with various officials of the local district governments in attendance in a learning capacity.  In the first five months of the year, the ADT executed approximately 15 programs, often treating more than 1000 head of livestock in a given day. Their record was 3000 in the Khas Konar district last March, a day which saw the ADT request its own QRF to deliver additional medications and supplies as they faced an onslaught of animals and farmers.

However, according to Leeney, a resident of Calabassas, Calif., the ADT’s focus all along was really on training the local government to do the job themselves.

“The number of animals we treated was irrelevant,” said Leeney. “The only important thing was our effect in improving the local government’s ability to provide services to the people.  Often, we’d get so focused on providing the service that we had to remind ourselves what the real task was and its desired effect – a better government for the people of Konar Province.”

Realizing the need to shift the operations squarely onto the local government, 40ID ADT Commander, U.S. Army Col. Eric Grimm, of La Habra Heights, Calif., decided the unit would no longer execute VETCAPs and would only serve as a mentoring and resourcing force for the local governments.  The first district to be the focus of the new model was to be Khas Konar, the same district that saw the overwhelming 3000-animal day.

In order to ensure success, the ADT and leaders from Cougar Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, Task Force No Slack, met several weeks in advance with Dr. Gulab Rang, the Khas Konar District Agriculture Extension Manager and the district veterinarian.

In a change from previous practice, which had used a dedicated team from the Afghan Veterinarians’ Association, the Khas Konar officials hired local vets for the project, using AVA personnel only for additional help.  This ensured that the local vets didn’t lose any income to outsiders, and that the event truly was a local delivery of services.

On the morning of June 13, Soldiers from C/2-327 IN worked with Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police personnel to establish security in Haquimabad, while the district officials, joined by their provincial counterparts, organized and set-up the site.  ADT soldiers arrived an hour later to deliver the required medicines and ensure the set-up was effective. They quickly discovered their presence was largely unnecessary.

“The district government had really done a great job,” said Army Sergeant 1st Class Elias Medina, the ADT’s Agribusiness platoon sergeant.  “We had to make only minor adjustments, primarily because the area they’d cordoned off was too large, which is a mistake we’ve made more than once.”  According to Medina, a resident of Baldwin Pak, Calif., who works as a production supervisor for Inland Empire Foods in Riverside, Calif, it quickly became clear that the Afghans had the situation well under control.  

“As soon as they started letting animals in, we were standing around with nothing to do,” said Medina.  “They were capable and prepared and executing well, so we left within an hour.  And that was exactly what we’d hoped to see.”

The Khas Konar vets gave inoculations against eight different diseases as well as treatments for parasites that are a common affliction throughout the province.

“We have never received this kind of service from our government” said Ahmad Zia, son of the Haquimabad village elder.  “We are very pleased with the district government.”

By the end of the day, some 1600 head of livestock had received inoculations and medical evaluations. In all aspects of the operation, the Afghan government leaned forward to execute, said the ADT soldiers.

“Just after we arrived, we set up a tactical check point to check cars that were coming near the VETCAP site,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Jeffrey Johanson, a dismount team leader for the ADT Security Platoon from Redding, Calif,. “A team of ANA soldiers came over and motioned for us to leave, ‘we got this’ they said. It was clear they were taking pride in doing the job themselves, and doing it right.”