Military Officer - February 2007 - (Page 50)

T HE MORNING OF Nov. 1, 2004, was like any other in Afghanistan’s remote Paktika province. The terrain was harsh, yet there was a beauty and serenity to its brutality. There, Afghanistan melts into Pakistan and Pakistan ﬂows back into its neighbor. The porous border had remained an al-Qaida stronghold even three years after the Taliban was ousted from power. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Steven Morgan and 28 members of his provincial reconstruction team (PRT) found themselves traveling in one of the most treacherous areas of Afghanistan — if not the world. Suddenly, Spec. James Kearney’s body slumped over his .50-caliber machine gun atop the “up-armored” lead Humvee, shot in the head by a sniper. The nine-vehicle convoy was squeezed into a dry riverbed generously named Surobi Pass as automatic weapon ﬁre and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) rained down on them. Ambushes are but one of the challenges facing Afghanistan’s PRTs. outlined a plan for PRTs. These teams would be multinational, multiservice, and multiagency. Their mission: to enhance security, extend the reach of the Afghan central government, and facilitate reconstruction in a country devastated by decades of war. According to Michael J. McNerney, director of international capabilities in DoD’s ofﬁce of stability operations, who was involved with PRT planning from the beginning, there was a discussion about the PRTs’ primary mission — stabilization or reconstruction — a chicken-egg debate of sorts. One camp was sure that reconstruction should take precedence, because security would certainly follow. The other camp saw security and stability as paramount. McNerney says the latter group’s theory proved closer to the truth, though he is the ﬁrst to acknowledge that a PRT rarely ﬁts neatly into higher headquarters’ theories. Road warrior Morgan was the ﬁrst commander in the Sharana PRT, standing up the unit in Paktika’s provincial capital. He and his PRT met at Bagram air base, outside Kabul, headquarters for Combined Joint Task Force 76, the lead in the stability and reconstruction operations in-country. At that time it was an eight-hour drive from Sharana. There were no ﬂights between Bagram and Sharana — not enough aviation (helo) assets. There were a few of the safer, up-armored Humvees, but most of the PRT’s vehicles were “thin-skinned” Humvees and nontactical vehicles. Morgan’s vehicle — a thin-skinned Toyota HiLux — he had to drive himself; no one else could drive a manual transmission. Although he knew security would be an issue, nothing could have prepared Morgan for his arrival in Sharana. He describes Sharana as part Clint Eastwood movie, part Mad Max adventure, and part bar scene from Star Wars. This was a dust bowl “city” of 2,500 with unpaved streets strewn with trash and human waste with “goat-eyed,” gun-toting men wandering around. But the need for reconstruction also was apparent in the decaying hospital with its blownout windows, where bandages were washed and reused; the limited electric power from a hodgepodge of gen- Stabilize or rebuild? In December 2001, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1386 established an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to maintain security in and around the Afghan capital of Kabul following the expulsion of the Taliban from power by U.S.led coalition forces. It was clear to commanders on the ground and to advisors in Kabul and Washington, D.C., that the program would have to be expanded to the provinces, as Afghanistan’s stability was crucial to the success of the new central government. What was not so clear was how to do this effectively. In the summer of 2002 U.S. Central Command and members of the ofﬁce of the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Stability Operations 50 MILITARY OFFICER FEBRUARY 2007 Meeting the mission can give PRT members new perspectives. Army Staff Sgt. Josh Bacon patrolled on camelback while in the city of Qalat to conduct a PRT survey of roads for possible reconstruction.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - February 2007

Military Officer - February 2007 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Cover Story: Building Stability Reaching Out, Reaching Up 5 Tax-Season Strategies A Capital Event MOAA Member Services Pages of History Information Exchange Advertising Index Member Books Sounding Taps MOAA Calendar Encore

Military Officer - February 2007

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