Operation ‘Sob Bakhair’, endstate: uniting Afghanistan through the completion of Highway 1 in Badghis

HERAT, Afghanistan (1 August) – Operation ‘Sob Bakhair’ (good morning, in dari language) has entered a new stage since last April. Its aim is to expand the security bubble in place around Bala Murghab (northern Badghis Province), in order to progressively include an increasing number of villages, which had been abandoned by their inhabitants for fear of the insurgents. The operation requires boots on the ground and time, to achieve steady progress.

At a pace of one km per day, kandak 2/1/207 of the Afghan National Army, along with Italian Mountain Troops (Task-Force North) and US Task-Force Fury have established, in a range of 25 km about FOB Columbus-Todd, several Observation Posts. Cavour, Stingray, Marchauk, Déjavu, Prius: these are some of the names of the outposts set-up by the Afghan troops shoulder-to-shoulder – shana ba shana, in dari – with their Italian and American comrades, patrolling on foot, digging trenches, returning enemy fire and controlling 24-7 the access to Murghab Valley. Succesfully: the number of attacks is decreasing while the number of villagers coming back after months of absence is raising.

From a technical point of view Op. ‘Sob Bakhair’ is a ‘clear’ operation, aimed at clearing the area from hostile activities while forming a bubble wherein the population may feel secure and return gradually to a normal life. The bubble becomes a space to be filled with new military actions: quick impact projects – like the supply of aid and medical care to people who have for experienced distress for months – but long-term projects as well, like the refurbishment of a bridge over river Darya-Ye-Murghab, that will ease links between communities, and the construction of a school in Bala M.

In a long term perspective op. ‘Sob Bakhair’ is the first stage of a path leading eventually to the completion o fan important section of the Highway One (also known as Ring Road), the axis of communication linking Kabul to Herat and passing through Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif.

The section currently connecting the province of Faryab in the north and that of Badghis (wherein Bala Murghab is located) in the west is not paved and is out of bounds for long periods throughout the year even for off-road vehicles, thus hampering the economic development of two crucial regions of Afghanistan, bordering with Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Plans to expand and pave the Highway One in the area of Bala Murghab already exist but the security requirements have to be improve to allow the establishment of the construction sites.

The security bubble shall be expanded in the next months, when ‘clear’ operations will be followed by ‘hold’, to maintain the advantage achieved, and finally conduct the ‘build’ operations.