burning houses to the ground , killing local leaders and sending people fleeing into the mountains with just the clothes on their backs . That summer , CAI helped the Barg-e-Matal refugees , delivering tents , food , shovels , and other emergency supplies via helicopter .
Since then , Afghan forces have regained control of Nuristan ’ s populated areas , “ maybe 30 percent of all the province ,” said Abdul Hanan , a Nuristani elder and businessman . But Taliban control of the road makes getting to those areas virtually impossible — especially for anyone attempting to help the local people .
EDUCATION The Nuristani elders are undeterred . They want at least one school , maybe two , in Barge-Matal and / or Kamdesh districts .
A few years ago a Provincial Reconstruction Team ( PRT ) working in the area tried to help . PRTs were internationally funded efforts to build support for the Afghan government with quick-impact reconstruction projects . The Nuristan PRT issued a contract to rebuild a Barg-e-Matal school destroyed by the Taliban .
But the effort failed miserably , Ghulam Allah said . The construction company ’ s owner just poured a cement foundation and then “ ran away with the money ,” he said . “ The government said it could not do anything about that . The PRT is out of Afghanistan . Money is wasted .”
Government corruption is also an issue . Early in 2014 , the Nuristan governor , Tamim Nuristani and the head of his disaster-management and rural-development authorities were accused of misusing hundreds of tons of wheat given in foreign aid to the province , Khaama Press ( Afghanistan ) reported . [ Despite Nuristan ’ s bounty , wheat is not produced in abundance given the lack of flat land .] The officials were summarily dismissed .
The government is not going to be helpful , the elders concluded .
They resumed their lobbying of CAI last spring . They contacted Wakil Karimi , CAI ’ s Kabul-based program manager , whom they knew from the 2010 refugee assistance effort , and asked for help . Karimi lined up a meeting with CAI Co-Founder Greg Mortenson in Kabul in June . The results were promising .
The elders told Mortenson that they have local labor and building materials in abundance , and that they would protect any school from insurgents .
“ We are really trying to accommodate the Nuristanis ’ request for a school , given that no
Typical Nuristani construction includes timber . schools have been built there in recent years , as it is one of the most difficult-to-access places in Afghanistan ,” Mortenson said afterwards . “ This is the culmination of years of relationship building , but it is an extremely complex project and will need support from many sectors — including local shura , the district , provincial and national governments , CAI , and the militants in the area .”
BARG-E-MATAL & KAMDESH The elders — male and female — agree with CAI ’ s premise that girls ’ education is a priority .
“ Girls ’ education is no problem ,” Hanan said in August . “ Nuristanis are bright-minded people and they are OK with girls ’ education . In Barg-e-Matal we have many women teachers . In Kamdesh , girls study , but in the mosque because there is no school . We understand why girls ’ education is important . We much like . We are progressive for such isolation . Even the mullah , he is a powerful man in all Nuristan , he wants education for girls .”
Rashidi concurred . “ There is no difference between girls and boys for education .”
There was a girls ’ high school in Barg-e- Matal , but it was destroyed three years ago , said Hanan ’ s wife , Atifa Nuristani , a provincial council member .
“ When I was a student , we had a 16-room girls ’ high school in Barg-e-Matal , but after I graduated it was burned by the Taliban ,” said Atifa , who left the area for two years to study medicine in Jalalabad before returning home to marry , have a child , and win election to the
Nuristan Province
( also spelled Nurestan or Nooristan )
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Geography : This remote mountainous province bordering Pakistan on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush is one of the most impassable regions of eastern Afghanistan . Only in the extreme south and southeast does the mountainous terrain — which composes 98 percent of the province — flatten out to form the Kabul River basin . The area gets sufficient rainfall to sustain lush forests — in stark contrast to the barrenness of other parts of Afghanistan — and irrigate crops directly or through a network of canals . However , limited natural resources have , in some cases , led to centuries-old feuds between clans .
History : The area was known as “ Kafiristan ” ( Persian for “ land of the nonbelievers ”) until the 1890s because its inhabitants practiced an older form of Hinduism mixed with animism , polytheism , and shamanism . In1895-6 Amir Abdul Rahman Khan forcibly ( at sword point ) converted the population to Islam and renamed the region Nuristan , or “ land of the enlightened .”
Alexander the Great passed through Nuristan on his way to India in 331 [ or 337 ] BC , and made note of the fierce-fighting mountain tribes . It is thought that some of his soldiers intermarried with
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