The village NZ troops left behind
It is a place whose name is tragically familiar.
A small village about as far away from New Zealand as could feel possible, a place synonymous with tragedy.
Baghak, in the Bamyan province of Afghanistan, was the location of the fiercest firefight New Zealand regular forces had been involved in since the Vietnam War.
In August 2012, two Kiwi and four Afghan soldiers died in the Battle of Baghak.
In April this year, elders from the notorious village drove the dangerous and rough road through the Shikari Valley to meet with Stuff Circuit in Bamyan town.
Hajji Bismila, head of the village shura (council), and fellow shura members Mohamad Umar and Meralam, remember that fateful day in 2012 well.
But their main reason for meeting us now is to thank New Zealand for the protection offered by the Provincial Reconstruction Team, which was based in Bamyan from 2003-2013 - and to plead for on-going help.
‘‘We were happy that the foreigners were here bringing us security, because maybe if they weren’t, others would have come to fight us,’’ says Bismila.
Baghak is in a precarious part of the province, in the dangerous northeast where most of the 10 New Zealanders who lost their lives in Afghanistan were killed.
Just across the border in the neighbouring Baghlan province is a nest of insurgents, responsible for many of those attacks.
On the day of the battle, Afghan authorities had gone to arrest a suspected bombmaker, Hajji Abdullah, who, it was alleged, had connections with the insurgents.
His house was on the road through the valley, near to the village. Somehow, he knew the Afghan soldiers were coming and he attacked them as soon as they arrived in the early hours of the morning.
The village elders say that before the battle Abdullah was not known by them as an insurgent, although he was famous as a crack shot. ‘‘He was good at hunting and firing,’’ recalls Mohamad Umar. If he was shooting a bird, to avoid destroying the meat, he could shoot the beak off the bird.
On the day of the battle, Abdullah kept the Afghan and New Zealand forces at bay, with help from others suspected to have come from over the border.
He escaped alive, although he sustained injuries, writing in blood on a rock he hid behind ‘‘God is Great’’, say the village elders.
Baghak is home to 700 families who get by tending gardens and agricultural crops. Life is tough.
A hydro-power generator installed in the village broke, so there is no electricity. Parts necessary to fix it are too expensive, they say. And so, each night, the families sit in darkness.
Even more worrying is the situation for women in labour - there are no maternity services in or near the village.
The closest are in Bamyan town, about 80km away, a journey that takes four hours because of the bad condition of the roads and carries the risk of insurgent attacks.
Women have died giving birth, both in the village and on the journey, says Bismila.
The village elders say they never spoke to the New Zealand PRT about the need for a clinic.
Instead, they were grateful for the roads, bridges and other infrastructure which the PRT built or provided in and around the village during the decade-long deployment.
‘‘We did not ask for clinic because our need was too much,’’ says Bismila. In other words, they felt too embarrassed to ask because they were already getting so much.
But, if New Zealand wanted to provide maternity services now, they would certainly be welcome, he says. ‘‘It’s very hard for us.’’