Issue 66 Coalition Page 1 IN THIS ISSUE 4 Coalition Partners Honor Poland with Ceremony Finnish Air Force’s Expeditionary Unit Passes NATO 5 Evaluation Operation Rah-e-Nijat (‘Path to Salvation’) 6 Pakistan Armed Forces’ Crackdown on Taliban The Italian Provincial Reconstruction Team at Chairman 8 BG Gilles Lemoine, France Work for Afghanistan Chief of Coalition Public Affairs Team 10 Kapisa Provincial Reconstruction Team Col. José D. Arias, Dominican Republic Coalition Bulletin Staff 11 Polish - British Exercise Senior Editor CPT Dritor Papa, Albania 12 Georgia’s Significant Contribution to ISAF Mission Editorial Staff LTC Michel C. Escudie, USA Provincial Reconstruction Team of Ghowr Supervise LTC Ali E. Al Kuwari, Qatar 14 Projects Implemented on Lithuania’s Funding MAJ Ghazanfar Iqbal, Pakistan U.S., Pakistan Air Forces Conduct CPT Ehab El-Saheb, Jordan 15 Air Refueling Information Exchange Editor’s Note By the generous permission of our NATO partners, the Coalition is pleased to bring you stories covering the activities of the International Security Assistance Force. As ISAF and the Coalition are separate entities, ISAF stories will be de- noted by the NATO logo at the top of each page when they appear. Cover Pages Front Cover: Herat, Afghanistan - Italian soldiers conduct a patrol du- ring training at Camp Arena, ISAF, Regional Command West Headquarters (ISAF photo by U.S. Air Force TSgt Laura K. Smith) Courtesy of: www.nato.int/isaf Back Cover: Kandahar, Afghanistan--Senior Aircraftman Joe Ralph, a soldier from the 3rd Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment A-flight, hands a bottle of water to a local child during an International Security Assistance Force patrol. (ISAF photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Collins, U.S. Navy) Courtesy of: www.nato.int/isaf The views expressed in the Coalition Bulletin cannot be attributed to any one nation. They are items considered newsworthy by the volunteers from various nations that make up the Public Awareness Working Group (PAWG). Contri- butions from all Coalition countries are encouraged. All contributors to the Coalition Bulletin are responsible for adhering to PAWG policy pertaining to the accuracy and copyright laws in the content they provide. For questions concerning PAWG policy, contact the Coalition Bulletin editor at +1 (813) 827-1728, or write to us at [email protected] For an electronic copy of the Coalition Bulletin, visit: www.centcom.mil Page 2 Coalition Issue 66 Issue 66 Coalition Page 3 editorial news in brief On Saturday April 10, 2010, a monumental tragedy unfolded Afghan Doctors Attend Trauma Course when Poland’s President Lech Kac- zynski, his wife Maria and several KABUL, Afghanistan (April 2010) - Thirty-six Afghan other senior public figures were doctors attended a two-day emergency care trauma course at killed in a plane crash outside the Kabul Ataturk Hospital. western Russian city of Smolensk. ISAF’s Regional Command-Capital (RC-C) sponsored President Kaczynski and se- the seminar that covered the theory and practice of several nior officials were en route from trauma subjects. Warsaw to attend an event marking the 70th anniversary of Twenty doctors from the Afghan National Army, 10 the Katyn massacre near Smolensk, where 22,000 Poles were doctors from the Afghan Health Ministry, six doctors from massacred by Soviet forces in 1940 during World War II. Ataturk Hospital and two doctors from the French hospital In what is called by Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk attended the seminar. “the most tragic event of the country’s post-World War II his- nato.int/isaf tory” the Army chief of staff General Franciszek Gagor and other senior Polish military officers also died. General Ga- New Hospital Opens in Herat gor, according to the militaries that met him, was a powerful thinker, a diplomatic statesman, a superb military leader and KABUL, Afghanistan - The Herat Department of Health a strong and highly respected voice in the councils of NATO. along with the Italian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) We have loss a great supporter to the fight against terrorism. opened a new hospital in the Gazar Gah district, on March We offer our condolences to the people of Poland on the 18. irremediable loss and pray that God with his infinite grace The medical center is composed of a large main entry would grant the deceased eternal rest. area which also serves as a waiting room, a wing for women In this issue we emphasized the outstanding contributions and children, and another for men, which also includes ge- of the Italian Provisional Reconstruction Team (PRT) located neral services. in Herat, the major city in western Afghanistan. They have The hospital, valued at €95,000, was completed by local the mission of supporting the Government of the Islamic Re- contractors with funds made available by the Italian Ministry public of Afghanistan in the development of a stable and se- of Defense. cure environment within their assigned AOR. nato.int/isaf We have articles about the Kapisa PRT, a U.S. military team inserted with French Task Force La Fayette and the PRT of Ghowr, which is being funded by Lithuania. First AF-PAK Hands grads deploy overseas We also highlighted the recent deployment of the 31st bat- talion of the Georgian Armed Forces to Afghanistan, as part WASHINGTON (April, 2010) – “It’s been my experience of the NATO led ISAF mission in the Helmand province. The my whole career, that if you go into a country and you make Georgian contingent is composed of 750 military servicemen an effort to speak their language, it has an enormous impact,” and will get down to fulfilling the mission integrated into the Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of USMC Regimental Combat Team. Staff, told the Afghanistan-Pakistan Hands Program inaugu- Major Ghazanfar Iqbal introduced us to operation Rah- ral class on Nov. 12, 2009. e-Nijat (Path to Salvation), a Pakistan Armed Forces’ Roughly five months later, the first group of 32 soldiers crackdown on the Taliban and airmen from a cross section of career specialties boarded At the end allow me to thank in the name of the Coalition their plane at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Public Affairs team and myself to Captain Ehab El-Saheb Marshall Airport, near Baltimore, in the late hours April 21 from Jordan, our departing Public Affairs Community Rela- and departed for Kabul. tions Officer, who is finishing his duty assignment at this of- The service members have completed a rigorous 16-week fice and is going back to his country to continue serving with training program consisting of culture and intensive langua- the same professionalism that he did during his time here. ge training at the Defense Language Institute, in Monterey, Calif., followed by service-specific deployment training. Col José D. Arias Dominican Republic centcom.mil Chief of Coalition Public Affairs Team Page 2 Coalition Issue 66 Issue 66 Coalition PagePage 33 Coalition Partners Honor Poland with Ceremony Story by Captain Dritor Papa Albanian Armed Forces Senior Editor of Coalition TAMPA, Florida (April 15, 2010) — Coalition partners and of Poland, Lech Kaczyński with his wife among the 96 passen- representatives from U.S. Central Command gathered at Mac- gers of that tragic flight of April 10, 2010. Dill Air Force base on April 15 to offer their sincere condo- Maj. Gen. Jay W. Hood, Chief of Staff of USCENTCOM, lences to the Polish Liaison Team after the tragic plane crash opened his speech regretting being joined together in such a that took the lives of the Polish president, first lady and other somber occasion. high level military and political leaders on April 10. On behalf of General Petraeus, Commander of USCENT- The service was at held at the Base Chapel and was at- COM, he emphasized the shock and sadness of all the people tended by more than 300 people, including special guests, rep- in the U.S. Central Command for the tragedy suffered by Po- resentatives of the local Polish community (Priests of Mercy land and their friends. of God Polish mission St. Petersburg, Polish Center of John “The loss of President Kaczyński, first lady Maria Paul II and the Polish Highlanders Association.) Kaczyński, Chief of Defense Staff General Gagor and many The service started at 3 p.m. with a processional song senior government leaders traveling with them in memory of followed by an opening prayer and an introduction of reflec- 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre is a tragic loss and we tion given by the Polish Senior National Representative, Colo- grieve with you. The power of Polish national character has nel Zbigniew Lenarczyk. been toughened over the centuries through many challenges In his speech, Col Lenarczyk welcomed and thanked the and hardships and this ensures that you will not only get over participants for showing their deepest condolences and their this tragedy but also a stronger Poland emerges," Hood said. sympathy for this unimaginable tragedy that hit Poland, taking The service concluded with the respective anthems of Po- the life of the Superior of the Polish Armed Forces, President land and the United States. Several CENTCOM and Coalition officials gathered on April 15 to honor those lost in the plane crash that claimed the life of Poland's president and other top leaders. (Photo by Captain Ehab EL-SAHEB, CPAT) Page 4 Coalition Issue 66 Issue 66 Finnish Air Force’s Expeditionary Unit Passes NATO Evaluation Story and Photos Courtesy of the Finnish Office at USCENTCOM The 2004 Government Report on Security and Defense Po- In the fall of 2009 the unit deployed to the German Air For- licy set the Air Force the objective of generating a capability for ce base in Trollenhagen, Northern Germany, for the final eva- participating combined military crisis management operations luation.