War In Afgahanistan

The Pir Mohammed School

Captain Jeremiah Ellis is the captain in charge of reopening the Pir Mohammed school in Senjaray, Afghanistan. Captain Ellis has a degree in outdoor education from the University of New Hampshire. His future plans is to use outdoor activities like rock climbing and hiking as a form of therapy for veterans coming home.

The Pir Mohammed school was built by Canadiens in 2005, in Senjaray a town outside the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. Most of the civilians in Senjaray loved that their children were learning to read and write except the local Taliban. The Taliban closed the school in 2007, booby trapping it with explosives, daring the Canadiens to reopen it. The Taliban was just too big and the Canadiens were overmatched.

The Army's new counterinsurgency doctrine (COIN) is to protect the people and provide them with security and government services, and they will turn away from the insugency. This doctrine changed the rules of engagement. General McChrystal has banished most forms of air support. American soldiers can't fire warning shots, not even pen flares to stop suspicious vehicles. If a man shoots at you then puts down his weapon and runs away, you can't fire back because you might harm civilians. Captain Ellis understands the rationale for the rules - "It's what distinguishes us from the Taliban."

Ellis has gathered the town elders of Senjaray to tell them about projects that could be given to them if they agreed to stand with him against the Taliban. Some of the programs besides the reopening of the school would be a new medical clinic, solar powered wells, paved highways, bridges and irrigation canals. Captain Ellis has been facing all kinds of obstacles from NATO, American government, and from the Afghani elders who fear the Taliban.

President Obama has put a timeline on the war in Afghanistan which will probably not be met and it will cost American taxpayers, but I feel these measures are what it will tke to win the war on terrorism on the terrorist who attacked us during 911.
I feel that opening the school in Senjaray and starting others like it will help us prevail. We will have to stay there and see that they stay open so the next generation of the Afghani people Can get the education they need. Some Afghani people think that we are the russians still occupying their land. The Taliban keep the Afghanistan people ignorant and scared. The land is a lush farming area irragated by water from the Arghandab River. If we stay and teach them to farm, read,and write the future generations there will realize we care about them and the Taliban does not. In return then maybe they will refuse to let the Taliban tell them how to think and live.