Musa Qaleh rebuilding aided by security

MUSA QALEH, Afghanistan, April 2 (UPI) -- British military officials say the rebuilding effort in Musa Qaleh, Afghanistan, is making progress after troops established modest security in the region.

It has been three months since British and Afghan troops launched an offensive to recapture Musa Qaleh. Officials say signs of the town returning to become a center for commerce are beginning to show as reconstruction and development projects are making headway. Defense officials say the progress is a result of a comprehensive stabilization and reconstruction strategy, the British Ministry of Defense reported.

"The comprehensive approach is really all about ensuring that all the elements of government necessary to rebuild and stabilize an area like Musa Qaleh fall into place," Provincial Reconstruction Team Stabilization Advisor Richard Jones said in a statement. "It is really a reflection of the complexity of conflict nowadays that you have to have the involvement of not just the military but also the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development."

Jones says the security situation has allowed for a local school to reopen in February, and British forces were also able to prevent a Taliban plan to open a madrassa in the town. The reconstruction progress has largely been buoyed by what British officials say is the success of the road-building program that resulted in the resurfacing of large sections of Musa Qaleh's road infrastructure.