Though its former ruling faction has essentially been ousted, Afghanistan continues to face problems, and a Vicksburg Army reservist is among those working on them.

Capt. Patricia Morris is one of two Army attorneys in her unit in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, providing legal support, she said in a telephone interview.

“I have a pretty big job right now,” she said.

Morris normally works as assistant division counsel for the Corps of Engineers’ Mississippi Valley Division in Vicksburg. In her Reserve deployment as a staff judge advocate, she is supporting projects including reconstructing schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and water-supply equipment, she said.

She is also handling some combat-related matters.

“The soldiers need to know how to react to different threats,” she said. “They need to know how to operate within the bounds of the law and the rules of engagement.”

In Afghanistan, leasing housing for 100 people expected to join the deployment can be complicated since the country has been in civil turmoil for more than 20 years, was occupied by the former Soviet Union from about 1979-1989 and continues to experience tribal warfare.

“It’s quite an interesting problem to sort out,” Morris said. “I sometimes go to the Afghan court to learn which party we are supposed to be dealing with.”

Though Afghanistan’s upper courts were reportedly not functioning as of 1995 and some local courts were said to be operating under Islamic law, Morris said she had not seen any such courts.

“Afghanistan has a constitutional history,” she said. “My perception is that the judges are following standard Afghan law as they know it to be. They’re applying the same real estate principles we’re familiar with in the U.S.”

Sgt. Barry Melton of U.S. Central Command, based in Tampa, Fla., said U.S. military personnel numbering about 7,000 to 8,000 remain in Afghanistan.

With the battle against a fundamentalist Islamic sect known as the Taliban believed won, the focus is on reconstructing the country’s public works, which have reportedly been neglected for years. Morris plans to help with them until she is transferred, probably in November, to work as a liaison to the country’s ministry of women’s affairs. She said she plans to remain in the country until about May.

She said she feels safe in Kabul, thanks to the International Security Assistance Force, which Central Command’s Sgt. Maj. Lewis Matson said is led by Turkey and composed of U.S. coalition partners.

“We go out every day and rebuild schools and all kinds of things with no problem,” Morris said.

Army civil affairs work in the country so far has resulted in about 61 rebuilt schools, benefiting more than 75,000 Afghan students, Morris said.

She said the children seem eager to learn and don’t mind using a makeshift “classroom.”

“We’ll set up a parachute and let them learn under the shade of a parachute,” she said. “They’re like kids anywhere. They’re excited about going to school.”

Morris said she reviews proposals and contracts for the projects to make sure they meet requirements for funding. Most of the actual work on the projects is done by Afghans, who are benefited by having jobs, she said.

Afghan refugees are reportedly returning to the country, which is about the size of Texas but has some 6 million more people, unexpectedly rapidly. The landlocked country, which is highly dependent on farming and sheep- and goat-raising and may lead the world in production of opium poppies, is “struggling to take care of them,” Morris said.

“Some of the greatest needs are right here in Kabul,” she said.