Some State Dept. employees joining new Provincial Reconstruction Teams

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad at the formal inauguration of a PRT in Iraq in November, 2005. "Think of the tourism potential here," he said. Provincial Reconstruciton Teams (PRTs) were first used in Afghanistan, and 30-40% of those are severeley understaffed, according to General Craddock. The teams include both civilian and military specialists,and intelligence gathering is among the team's mission goals.

Ten veteran diplomats and four representatives of the Agency for International Development will depart for Iraq in coming days as the civilian core of 10 new provincial reconstruction teams, the first step in what the Bush administration has promised will be a significant increase in efforts to accelerate local economic and political development.

State Department and Pentagon officials said that these additional team members were leaving on schedule.

Still, the pace of the political and economic buildup is expected to be behind that of the military’s, and some military commanders have been asking why they have not seen much in the way of assistance for the president’s new Iraq strategy from the rest of the civilian agencies of the United States government.

Read the rest at the NY Times

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