Nangarhar PRT discusses accomplishments, sets goals

By U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Casey Osborne

PRT Nangarhar public affairs

NANGARHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – After over three months in Afghanistan, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Anderson, Nangarhar Provincial Reconstruction Team commander from Dallas, and U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Billy Smith, Nangarhar PRT senior enlisted advisor from Blythewood, S.C., took time at Forward Operating Base Finley-Shields Feb. 13 to reflect on the successes they’ve had and the long road ahead of them before they can declare “mission accomplished.”

Both men agree that the largest hurdle they’ve faced so far, and the focus of future operations for the unit, is the transition of the PRT from focusing on building infrastructure for the Afghans to advising officials in the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

“We’ve kind of taken a step back from the development side of the house and been pushing forward in the foxhole where it comes to governance,” said Smith. “I think that that has been the real focus of this team: governance.”

The PRT adopted a two-pronged approach to increasing governance capacity, said Anderson.

The first prong is centered around district-level officials. A district, roughly equivalent to an American county, represents the lowest level of GIRoA representation in an Afghan’s life, with the district subgovernor being their main avenue to air frustrations with the government.

One district that has seen major success is Kuz Kunar, said Anderson. The PRT has taken a special interest in helping the Kuz Kunar GIRoA officials expand their capacity.

“Kuz Kunar’s plan is moving ahead well. Just last week, they gave us a series of goals, and a lot of those goals are not infrastructure projects. They’re associated with service delivery,” said Anderson. “They want more kids in school, better water management to prevent floods and drought, improved quality and availability of seeds and fertilizer, an expanded cheese production economy, expanding fish markets, other expanded economic opportunities for their people. They are really focusing on service delivery, which was one of our goals when we set out to work with them.”

The second prong focuses on provincial line directorates. The line directorates are agencies that deal with a particular subject, like education or healthcare. They have significant control over where to allocate funds in the province and, as such, are influential players on the provincial level.

However, the concept of long-term planning and budgeting is largely foreign to Afghan culture. The PRT has made it a top priority to educate GIRoA officials on how to successfully budget.

“With the change in the way the budget is being worked, we’re probably at the crawl phase if you put things in the perspective of crawl, walk, run,” Smith said. “We’re at the crawl phase with the Afghans and how a budget works and how they get money from Kabul. By the time we leave here, I’d like to see us at least walking. I think we’ll make it.”

Of course, mentoring the Afghans on how to properly provide for their constituents presents a number of problems. One obstacle to success is the corruption common in Afghan politics. However, Nangarhar has made significant progress combating rampant corruption recently, and signs point toward future success on that front.

“You’ve got pockets of individuals in the government who are idealistic in moving forward, and you’ve got pockets of people that are largely sinless, but we recognize have their flaws,” said Anderson. “We’re trying to give government room to expand while the rule of law or transparency or some of the bureaucratic processes mature. We’re trying to empower those people that are doing the right thing.”

“We just have to keep after it and keep after it with the corruption,” Smith added. “That may be the key that’s slowing everything down.”

Closer to home, the plodding progress associated with governance capacity building can potentially breed exasperation in the result-driven culture of the U.S. military. Anderson and Smith both recognize these concerns, but are pleased in their team’s performance thus far and confident the PRT’s hard work is making headway for the Afghan people.

“We’re not going to be the ones that are in place to solve all the problems,” said Anderson. “That can be frustrating for the people on the ground who see the children who need clothes or need medicine and knowing that we’ve got money that we can spend that way. As soon as we spend it, there’s no money behind it,”

“It’s only giving somebody that short-term handout without a long-term solution,” Anderson continued. “That really energizes us to work more on the governance side, so we’re taking pictures and stories as tangible motivation for GIRoA to have more urgency in what they’re doing, to put aside the corruption, to put aside the selfishness and the bickering and focus on the needs of the Afghan people. Hopefully, that will work and we can move this forward.”

Rather than stagnate and become bored and complacent with the day-to-day routine of the PRT’s mission, Smith sees his service members stepping out of their traditional roles and working to serve multiple functions while they’re out on mission.

“There’s a few of our security force Soldiers I saw during our first missions that really, really like to talk to the people and still talk to the people and are a really good tool as far as (civil affairs) goes,” he said.

U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Billy Smith (front), Nangarhar Provincial Reconstruction Team senior enlisted advisor from Blythewood, S.C., and U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Anderson, Nangarhar PRT commander from Dallas, preside over the unit's daily update brief Feb. 14 at Forward Operating Base Finley-Shields. (Photo by U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Casey Osborne, PRT Nangarhar public affairs)