Provincial reconstruction teams did not exist in 2002 when we were last in Kandahar and only started to come into existence in 2003 and 2004. Today the PRT network is at the core of what international military forces are doing in Afghanistan. Combat is no longer the name of the game. Yes, some still takes place. Indeed, this spring people have been somewhat dismayed by the strength of the insurgency even after presidential elections had taken place. But that does not take away from the fact that it is still a low-level insurgency. Every one of these groups, once they are detected, faces very long odds of survival and they are unable to disrupt the activities in the Afghan government. We saw they were unable to disrupt the elections in any significant way.

The focus is on stabilization activities. Across the country, there are 21 provincial reconstruction teams covering 34 provinces-therefore in two out of three provinces-under ISAF and coalition command. Canada will be taking over command of one of those, one of the most important of them, from the U.S., so initially under coalition command, with a view to preparing the way for assumption of command of three quarters of the country by NATO sometime in 2006.

Lt. Col. Jim Faldwell
Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces (DND/CF)

When we establish the PRT in August 2005, they will actually work for the Americans, who control the region down south, who respond to Combined Forces Command Afghanistan-the U.S.-led coalition force "war against terror." Then as ISAF and NATO transition and take control of the area to the south in February 2006, then Canada will step up and provide the regional command headquarters for that, as well as providing potentially a task force of up to 750 in addition to the PRT of 250.

We will have the element from CIDA and Foreign Affairs embedded right into the PRT, so it is completely a 3D team that we are taking down to Kandahar. Right now, because of the security situation, the military will sort of lead it with the biggest element, but realistically we do see in the future that the military requirement will lessen and the public and private sector reform portion will build.

Yannick Hingorani
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

We are also funding large programs like the Afghan Stabilization Program, which is a vehicle by which the government seeks to extend its administrative presence into the provinces by building up the government infrastructure, government buildings and courthouses, training civil servants and building their capacity to develop and design provincial development plans down the road. This is a huge program for CIDA. We have put in $12 million already, so it is quite significant. We will complement the work of the Canadian provincial reconstruction team, due to establish itself in Kandahar in August, the goals of which will be to stabilize the province and promote a level of stability that will allow development actors to come into Kandahar and start to operate.