The protection racket angle is a good one.
Back when we were entering Iraq I proposed paying Iraqi families/tribes/communities to guard a portion of the pipelines and critical infrastructure and paying them a portion of the proceeds moved through said point, thus incentivizing a large swath of the Iraqi population to keep the oil or whatever flowing. This could be applied to many critical infrastructures.
It wasn’t ever tried. This could also work in the remote areas of Afghanistan and is sometimes used, but inconsistently.
The Dept. of State doesn’t believe in capitalism or individual liberty. It would have saved us a lot of money and blood. They made it impossible for entrepreneurs to even operate to restore services. It all had to come from government.
I suppose it’s good (?) to know that our State Department remains consistent with the rest of the government.