Governor Mohammad Omar Sherzad told SBS Pashto that Australian forces had a “very positive impact” on life in Uruzgan, especially due to their efforts in developing political and economic infrastructure.
Defence Force personnel were deployed to the central Afghan province in 2006, as part of a collaborative reconstruction team with Dutch troops, with the military base in the capital Tarin Kowt serving as the headquarters.
Australian forces "were helping a lot" during that period, especially through the provision of aid to the agricultural, health and education sectors, Mr Sherzad said.
"In building schools and in paying teachers, high schools and clinics were built with the help of Australia.
"This was the aid of the Australian government and these places still exist here and the people of Afghanistan are taking advantage of them."
In the presence of Australian troops, Mr Sherzad said, "hundreds of people were engaged in the Provincial Reconstruction Team projects" and "the economic life of people was very good and [Afghans] remember that".
When Australian forces withdrew from Uruzgan in 2013, troops were deployed to other cities to assist Coalition forces during the conflict, before the .
Mr Sherzad said "better systems", established during the Australian deployment, have lasted to this day.
“The areas where we have made improvements [since the ADF withdrawal] are the institution buildings, the administrative system of government, the courts, the attorney general and the provincial administration itself have been strengthened and developed from the point of view of human resources," he said.
“It means the administration system of the government, the judiciary institutions, the civil service agencies, as well as the police and the army are comparatively reformed and developed.”
However, he said fierce fighting between government forces and the Taliban has led to “problems” in Uruzgan, especially after the insurgent group captured key roads between the province and other districts.
“The Taliban have blocked most of the roads, especially for the government people. Even the Kandahar-Tarin Kowt road has been blocked by the Taliban, for civilians as well as the government.
It is problematic and has made people's lives miserable. It has made lives very difficult, in some of these areas people are in trouble and do not have good access [to the road].
The Taliban on Friday claimed to be in control of
It’s part of a sweeping offensive launched by the group as Coalition troops pull out of the conflict.
Fierce fighting has continued across Uruzgan, which saw an escalation when President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of US forces in April, Mr Sherzad said.
“The Taliban started their aggressive attacks on army and police bases, as well as in the capital Tarin Kowt," he said, adding that Afghan soldiers were withdrawn from some Uruzgan districts as a tactical move.
“Some of the areas where we could not provide supplies because of good security measures and good security plans, we left those areas. The reason was that we did not want to have military and civilian casualties there.”
Despite reports that the Taliban has captured five of the six districts of Uruzgan, he believes that the possibility of the group taking full control of the province “does not exist”.
“For better security measures we left a number of areas and coordinated our forces, and transferred a number to the capital Tarin Kowt. [We] assigned them in the security belt of the capital."
'Under siege'
Qudratullah Rahimi, an Afghan parliament member from Uruzgan, said while the security situation is “stable” in Tarin Kowt, the city is “under siege” due to the road closures.
He believes that if heavy fighting did break out in the city, government forces “would not be able to resist".
“Uruzgan has six districts, about five of these are totally in the hands of the Taliban. Only in Deh Rawood district, there is a battalion of Afghan troops, where the police, district office and National Security offices are located. Just that battalion is in the hands of the government.”
'Now is very different'
Mr Rahimi believes the security situation was “comparatively better” in Uruzgan when Australian forces were deployed as there were more projects implemented and “the life of people was different to now”.
“There is a big difference between the present and that time.
Security was good then, governance was good at that time, there was coordination between the government and people. Now that is not the case, now it is very different.
However, Mr Sherzad said Uruzgan in 2021 is safer because the "intensity of the war” was greater when Australian troops were in the province.
“When the Australians were here I was also here, there were suicide attacks. There was a suicide attack on the governor's office, there was a suicide attack on the offices of radio and television and suicide attacks took place in other districts.
“Now we luckily have security which is much better than the times when the Australians were here.”
'Come and build' Afghanistan
As Coalition efforts in the conflict draw to a close, the Morrison government has accelerated the processing of asylum applications for Locally Engaged Employees (LEEs) who worked alongside Australian troops.
The Department of Home Affairs that more than 1400 visas have been granted to Afghan LEEs and their eligible family members since 2013.
Mr Sherzad said he would not consider moving to Australia, and requests that "all Afghans should come and build" the country.
"Our first wish and hope is to have permanent peace and security in Afghanistan, and people could live their lives in their homeland.
"It is the right of the people if they want [asylum] and Australia is giving them asylum, I cannot say anything about this."
