PRESS RELEASE | Oct. 1, 2010
Detainees complete Pashto literacy course
By Sgt. Jason Boyd , JTF 435
PARWAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Sixty-six detainees were awarded certificates during a ceremony here Sept. 30 for completing Afghan Ministry of Education-certified language training at the Detention Facility in Parwan.
A group of 66 detainees completed six months of training in Pashto literacy as part of the DFIP’s reintegration program with the Afghan Ministry of Education certifying their capabilities.
The Pashto course is six months long, three hours per week, training detainees to read and write to at least a third grade level in the detainees’ language. Advanced courses in Pashto and English are offered to the detainees after they complete this course.
“Thank you for this opportunity,” said one of the detainees during the graduation. “I will use this education and training to get a job when I go home.”
In addition to literacy training, the DFIP also offers courses to detainees in tailoring and agriculture, taught through the reintegration directorate. These courses allow detainees to develop skills that will enable them to be contributing members of their villages upon their release and reintegration. All courses are offered to the detainees on a voluntary basis.
As part of a comprehensive reintegration effort at the Detention Facility in Parwan, Afghanistan, detainees enrolled in agriculture training learn more efficient growing methods to increase yield and profits when crops are harvested. The DFIP agriculture program is designed to teach detainees skills to enable successful rehabilitation and reintegration into Afghanistan society upon their release from detention. Acquiring skills, such as how to use drip irrigation to gain a higher yield from their crops, ensures detainees are less likely to turn to the insurgency for economic gain.
The tailoring course teaches the detainees how to use sewing equipment to make clothing and other items for their personal use or for the use of others in their village. While in the facility, detainees have used their tailoring skills to mend clothing and to make curtains for a detainee shura room and the family visitation center.
Combined Joint Interagency Task Force-435, in partnership with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and U.S. interagency and international partners, conducts operations in detention, corrections, judicial sector and biometrics. Ultimately, the CJIATF will transition detention operations to Afghan control while promoting Rule of Law practices.
The 46th Military Police Command, Task Force Peacekeeper, a subordinate CJIATF-435 command, oversees all detention operations in Afghanistan. The task force ensures the safe and humane custody, control and care of detained persons in the Detention Facility in Parwan.
The DFIP, a state-of-the-art theater internment facility, located several kilometers from Bagram Airfield, was completed in September 2009 and occupied by detainees in late December 2009. The DFIP is equipped with a medical facility, on-site family visitation center, vocational facilities and educational classrooms. The design of the DFIP accommodates detainee reintegration efforts and enables CJIATF-435 to better align detainee operations with the overall strategy to defeat the extremist insurgency in Afghanistan.