The Foreign Service Journal, December 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2018 27 will not be able to stand up to the challenges that face them. FSJ: Something that came out of Afghanistan, but is perhaps better known for its application in Iraq, is the provincial recon- struction team (PRT) mechanism. Did your experience oversee- ing PRTs while serving with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad influence your use of them during your subsequent tenure as chief of mission in Kabul? Should the U.S. government continue using PRTs in conflict or post-conflict zones? REN: PRTs were in Afghanistan when I arrived, but were not used in Iraq until after my time there. The situation in the two countries was different. In Iraq there were local govern- ment arrangements and personnel, and the task was to help them become more efficient. When PRTs began in Afghanistan, there was no provincial government. It had been completely destroyed by years of war. The PRTs were initially a stand-in for a nonexistent local government; flawed perhaps by being foreign, but also the only way to deliver any aid to a distressed population. As the Afghan government grew, the challenge changed to how to diminish the PRTs’ role as a parallel govern- ment, to help the real one, and then for us to go away. Each of these phases had its own problems. There may be occasions in the future where we will need this mechanism. If we do, I hope we will understand that we’re not very good at standing in for other people’s government. We don’t have the detailed expertise; and while our money will be welcome, our authority won’t. So I hope we’ll keep our expec- tations in check. At AAD we are embarking on a new study of areas for managerial improvement in the department, including a fresh look at some problems for FS specialists and Civil Service personnel. American Diplomacy Award