FRIDAY FOTO (April 22, 2011)

It’s 2011, Not 1120 A.D.

U.S. ir Force photo by Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson.

The carpets, mud walls, beards and turbans … except for the plastic water bottles, the occasional wristwatch and — oh yeah, the machine guns and sandbags on the guard posts in the corners — it wouldn’t be hard to imagine this scene in 12th Century Afghanistan instead of the 21st Century.

With all the high tech attack and surveillance drones, satellite and wireless communication, Kevlar body armor and mine resistant vehicles in use by coalition forces, it’s easy to forget the conflict in Afghanistan is largely an infantry exercise. It’s also important to remember that success  in any counter insurgency effort includes working with the local people.

Troopers from the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, assigned to Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul, attended a shura, or consultive decision-making gathering, April 20 in Now Bahar District, in Zabul Province, not far from the Pakistani border. The 2nd Cavalry is one of the oldest regiments in the U.S. Army.

In this photo, residents of Now Bahar District listen as Zabul Deputy Gov. Mohammad Jan Rasulyaar speaks during the shura at the district center.

To view a Defense Department slide show of the shura, click here.

(Don’t forget to click on the photo to see a larger image.)