The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2008

development and governance priorities, and monitor the many U.S.-sponsored development activities in their province. Our officers are uniquely effective. Unlike in Iraq — where the PRTs have large civilian contingents, including contractors as well as civilians from other agencies — in Afghanistan personnel from the Foreign and Civil Service are the only nonmilitary representatives at their PRTs. As such, they wield great responsibility, often at reasonably junior ranks. Among the few civilians assigned to remote Forward Operating Bases, each provides a value far in excess of what could be expected from one person. In one case we received information that a particular terrorist group was so concerned over the impact that one officer was having that they issued orders to kill the individual (in response, we took appropriate steps). Our opponents are right to be afraid. By openly and persuasively engaging tribal leaders, we are able to con- vince them that sending their daughters to school is a good thing and that it is better that their young men build roads rather than behead road builders. By their efforts, our people are at once helping Afghanistan and counter- ing the insurgency. While military personnel do engage in these tasks, they recognize the expertise that civilians bring — and want more. Last fall, we began examining how to bolster the civilian presence at our PRTs. Some argued for a replication of the model that has proven successful in Iraq, where the PRTs have a robust civilian presence. This approach was rejected, however, primarily because PRT bases in Afghanistan are small, so adding extra civil- ians would not only increase the logistical burden but transform a compact, well-running institution into a larg- er, less nimble bureaucracy. Additionally, very few of the Afghanistan PRTs are based at or near major military facilities. In any case, there simply aren’t the spare bod- ies to go around. “PRT Plus” Instead, it was decided that the same effect could be achieved by adding State and USAID personnel to the embassy and to the brigades that oversee the PRTs. After some interagency polishing locally, Embassy Kabul’s “PRT Plus” concept was approved by Washing- ton and will be funded through a supplemental to be implemented as soon as funding is available. In addition to quantity, we also focused on quality through changes in focus, planning and training. An important step occurred earlier this year when the embassy’s State PRT office was given the interagency lead for local governance, a key element in our effort to connect the Afghan people to their government. This transformed the office from an operational shop into a policy section. The embassy’s hard-working political sec- tion is primarily focused on issues of national governance. The PRT section, which directly controls the officers deployed to the provinces, is able to reach much deeper into the local level, developing an expertise that is diffi- cult for a Kabul-based officer to master. Innovative work is also taking place in terms of our counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan. USAID staff working with U.S. forces are successfully integrating development interventions into combat planning and operations, which is helping achieve greater success for the “clear, hold, build” counterinsurgency strategy in remote and insecure areas. This has had great success in mitigating negative reactions following combat opera- tions. Civilian advisers follow the forces, assisting to repair damage and implementing quick-impact projects that make an immediate and measurable difference in the lives of local residents. Examples include “micro- hydro” projects, small hydroelectric facilities that can bring power to a village for the first time in its history. Such seemingly small steps can make the difference in determining whether a village supports the insurgents or turns toward the government. We are also making strides in preparing our people for working closely with the military in a foreign environ- ment. State’s Office of the Coordinator for Stabilization and Reconstruction and USAID’s Office of Military Affairs have broken new ground as they work to refine the three-week training course for incoming civilian PRT staff. The course, conducted at Ft. Bragg, brings togeth- er the military and civilian elements of each team. Additionally, we have focused on promoting continu- ity, to ensure that we do not repeat the Vietnam-era syn- drome of fighting a series of “one-year wars.” The first step was taken when the State PRT offices became inter- agency lead for local governance. Our next effort involved the dispatch of S/CRS teams to each of the U.S.- led PRTs. These teams drew on proven private-sector strategic planning instruments, already used extensively by the military services and intelligence community, to design, test and validate an integrated planning process. F O C U S 34 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 8