An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : News : Article View
NEWS | Feb. 4, 2010

Georgia Guardsmen set up radio stations for Afghan villagers

By Sgt. Tracy J. Smith CJTF-82 PAO

SHINWAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - In a perfect world, accurate information would be as close as a radio. For a country at war, accurate information is invaluable.

Georgia Army National Guardsmen of 1st Squadron, 108th Cavalry Regiment are giving the Shinwari and Muhmandari Mountain border villagers of Afghanistan their own voice through the gift of radio.

The two stations, located in the Shinwar and Muhmand Dara provinces, will give outlying villages communication security and while countering Taliban propaganda.

Popularly known as the Radio in a Box, the new media program is one of the initiatives of the International Security Assistance Force counterinsurgency process, and will belong entirely to the Afghan people.

"It will not be a facilitator of military or security mandates," Afghan Border Police, 6th Kandak commander, Col. Niazy said. He punctuated the importance of the mission by stressing how the station's messaging will embrace the needs of the community. "It will be a powerful tool to give our people a voice - a resource. Our mullahs, district government leaders, or our local shop keepers and villagers will have full access and know that they can come to us in a crisis for honest information."

The Kandak headquarters is a temporary location for the Shinwar radio station. It was also once the site for Radio Spin Ghar, part of a 2005 independent media opportunity project called Support for Independent Radio Stations in Afghanistan, which was co-sponsored by U.S. Agency for International Development.

Both stations are fully funded by the coalition with Afghan National Security Force partners offering security, and employ full-time local Afghan station managers and on-air personalities.

"The Gate" (102.1 MHz FM) began airing full-time Jan. 17 at Forward Operation Base Torkham in Muhmand Dara province near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

The Shinwar station [95 MHz FM] celebrated its debut Jan. 21 during the anti-Taliban Shinwari Pact jirga. The gathering of about 170 tribal representatives, a first of its kind, was organized by the 6th Kandak ABP and prominent tribal leaders. It was held embracing the strictest traditions of the six district Shinwari tribal councils to denounce Taliban tyranny and passive governance. The radio station gave prominent Afghan leaders and security forces a new media platform to announce their solidarity during the station's first broadcast.

"It brings us together as one community," Malik Usman said of the opening and the reading of the council's decision to stand with their uniformed brothers in arms. "We can share information with the people immediately when a crisis is identified and ensure their safety."

Council elders received gifts of hand-held radios at the conclusion of the jirga. The same radios will also be distributed by ANSF and coalition forces during patrols to outlying villages.

Niazy welcomes the new media as an extension of service to the people and says programming will be created by local people with call-in segments and unique on-air radio talk shows that will engage government and village officials.

"The station will have a strict traditional format, from the reading of mourners' names, to jirga results and the distribution of public service information," Niazy said. "They will celebrate with music programs, but we can reinforce their personal security with information."

 

 

Related Articles
Senior Airman Alexa Reeves, 105th Security Support Squadron Phoenix Raven, poses for a photo in front of a Raven painting, at Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York, Mar. 3, 2025. As a Raven, Reeves provides protection for the 105th Airlift Wing’s C-17 Globemaster III aircraft and crews transiting through austere locations where security is unknown or additional security is needed to counter higher threat levels. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Sarah Post)
New York Air Guard’s Journey to Becoming a Phoenix Raven
By Senior Airman Sarah Post, | April 30, 2025
STEWART AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.Y. – Alexa Reeves never expected that her decision to join the New York Air National Guard after high school would lead to becoming a member of Air Mobility Command’s specially trained...

Lt. Gen. Jon Stubbs, director of the Army National Guard, speaks with Virginia National Guard Soldiers and Airmen during the 2025 annual Virginia National Guard Military Ball on April 26 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Lt. Gen. Jon Stubbs Highlights Virginia National Guard Excellence at Military Ball
By Maj. Cibeles Ramirez-Rodriguez, | April 30, 2025
Virginia Beach, Va. — Lt. Gen. Jonathan "Jon" Stubbs, director of the Army National Guard, joined Virginia National Guard leaders, Soldiers, Airmen and families at the 2025 annual Virginia National Guard Military Ball on...

President Santiago Peña, the President of the Republic of Paraguay, left, presents the Order of Merit
Paraguayan President Awards Top Honor to Massachusetts National Guard General
By Senior Airman Julia Ahaesy, | April 29, 2025
ASUNCION, Paraguay – U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Gary W. Keefe, adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard, has been awarded the distinguished Order of Merit “Gral Div Bernardino Caballero” in the grade of “Gran Cross”...