What We’re Doing in Afghanistan : Health Care for the Locals

(Cross-posted from The Phantom Observer.)

There’s another positive story about the Canadian military in Afghanistan that really needs to see more play out there. (The story is published in today’s Windsor Star, but it’s behind a subscriber firewall at their website for some reason. However, Doug Schmidt’s blog offers a more detailed version.)

What the VanDoos are doing, as part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team, is help set up and protect a medical clinic in the village of Zangabad. Let me quote from the story as taken from the DND clippings site:

To ensure no Taliban surprises, members of the “Van Doos,” 1st Battalion Quebec’s Royal 22nd Regiment, set up a razor-wire perimeter and posted sentries around the temporary clinic in a rented compound that came complete with protesting roosters. Bolstering their ranks were British commandos and Afghan National Army regulars.

One woman in a burka said she and her children deserved the same medical attention afforded by those with transportation and the necessary funds to see private doctors in the city.

“We are a very poor people and not given anything — no one sees us,” she said, adding of the foreign soldiers: “If they support the people, that is good.”

Better still, have a look at Schmidt’s blog. He’s got some additional human interest details as well as photos of the locals. Nothing humanizes a story quite like a photo.