Right from the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001, some version of Provincial Reconstruction Teams were in theater. They have become an integral part of the long-term strategy to transition the lines of security, governance, and economics to the indigenous people of Afghanistan and serve as major combat multipliers for maneuver commanders engaged in governance and economics.
The Center for Army Lessons Learned describes the importance of PRTs this way:
Military forces must defeat enemies and simultaneously help shape the civil situation through stability operations. Shaping the civil situation in concert with other U.S. government agencies, international organizations, civil authorities, and multinational forces is important to campaign success. Stability operations may complement and reinforce offensive and defensive operations, or they may be the main effort of an operation. These operations may take place before, during, and after major combat operations and seek to secure the support of civil populations in unstable areas. Forces engaged in an operation predominated by stability tasks may have to conduct offensive and defensive operations to defend themselves or destroy forces seeking to challenge the stability mission. Following hostilities, forces conduct stability operations to provide a secure environment for U.S., coalition, multinational, and local civil authorities as they work to achieve reconciliation, rebuild lost infrastructure, and resume vital services.
The Soldiers that make up these forces are called PRTs. They are designed to help improve stability by building up the capacity of the host nation to govern; enhance economic viability; and deliver essential public services, such as security, law and order, justice, health care, and education.
And this is a photo honoring Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul in Afghanistan. Photo by Senior Airman Grovert Fuentes-Contreras.
