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WASHINGTON, March 21, 2008 – A provincial reconstruction team is working to build capacities in Iraq’s Wasit province for the long-term benefit of its citizens, a military official said yesterday. The 30-member PRT, which includes various experts from the U.S. State Department as well as military personnel, is engaged with all levels of the Iraqi government to help them provide better services to citizens, Army Col. Peter Baker, the 214th Fires Brigade commander, told online journalists and “bloggers” in a teleconference. With incidents of Shiia extremism still occurring in Wasit, Baker said, security remains a top concern in the province....

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2008 – A joint office that oversees the rebuilding of Baghdad’s infrastructure is making progress to address the city’s sewage, water and electricity needs, senior U.S. and Iraqi officials announced in Baghdad yesterday. Video Citizens’ complaints about Baghdad’s worn infrastructure prompted the establishment of the Joint Reconstruction Operations Center, Tahseen Sheikhly, civilian spokesman for Operation Fardh al-Qanoon, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. Fardh al-Qanoon, which means “enforce the law” in Arabic, is the Iraqi government’s campaign to defeat the insurgency and restore essential services to Iraq’s citizens. Recent surge-fortified operations against insurgents have brought...

Hutchinson’s Martin Miller, Kansas Department of Transportation public affairs manager, left in December to take a one-year post as a public diplomacy officer as part of the U.S. State Department’s Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq. PRTs are the civilian component of the U.S. surge strategy – designed to support and reconstruct Iraqi neighborhoods. Miller writes about his experiences based in Kirkuk, Iraq’s fourth-largest city, with a population of about 700,000. The city is 155 miles north of Baghdad at the foot of the Zargos Mountains in northern Iraq. Hello All, I tried to stay up to watch the Super Bowl,...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2007 – Provincial reconstruction teams are extending the reach of the Afghan government and helping stabilize Iraq as its government transitions to self-reliance, a panel of Defense Department officials told Congress yesterday. Panelists told the House Armed Services Committee’s oversight and investigations subcommittee that while these teams are making a strong impact, sustaining their efforts will require more civilian reserve capability beyond what the Defense Department can provide. In Afghanistan, PRTs have matured since November 2002 from a single U.S.-led pilot project in Gardez to an international effort involving 25 teams in most of Afghanistan’s 34...

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2007 – Plans are under way to double the number of provincial reconstruction teams now operating in Iraq by the end of the year, a senior U.S. official said during a news conference in Iraq today. “We will both double the number of PRTs and we will double the number of individuals who are working in the PRTs,” said Rick Olson, chief of the national coordination team in charge of provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq. According to plans, the number of PRTs will increase from 10 to 20, Olson noted, while numbers of PRT personnel will...

Integral ingredients in Iraq’s long term success are the Provincial reconstruction teams. They help rebuild the war-torn country. Specifically they help provincial governments develop a transparent and sustained governing capability and to promote security, stability and rule of law. “There are a lot of hospitals and schools that have opened. A lot of roads have been fixed. There are a lot of positive things happening. The quality of people’s lives has improved,” said Rashid of the Ninewa PRT. Rashid, who chooses to use only his first name for safety purposes, has been a bi-lingual, bi-cultural PRT advisor for nearly a...

Iraqi soldiers, from the 2nd Iraqi Army Division, lead the way during a medical screening that took place in the Asad neighborhood in Mosul Tuesday. The Mosul Provincial Reconstruction Team supports such initiatives as well as many others designed to rebuild the province. Department of Defense photo by Cpl. Leigh Campbell. Provincial Reconstruction Teams consisting of civil, military, and aid organizations are working together to help Iraq become a prosperous nation. The teams are a key component of helping Iraq rebuild, officials said. Nowhere is this more evident than in Iraq’s third largest city. Mosul, an ethnically and religiously...

Officials are happy with the progress of 11 provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan and are looking to expand the program throughout the country. Eleven PRTs are operating in Afghanistan, with a 12th becoming active this week. Coalition partners operate three of these teams. New Zealand and the United Kingdom each operate a team, while Germany runs one under the auspices of NATO, the top American general in Afghanistan said Feb. 17. Army Lt. Gen. David Barno, commander of Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan, explained that a PRT is a catalyst. "It forms a focal point in a particular area with...

STAFF: All right. I think we have the technical difficulties worked out, so let's go ahead and get started. Again, welcome. Thank you for joining us early this morning. Today we have the commanding general of the Combined Forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General David Barno. He's joined by Colonel Richard Perry, who's the commander of the Civil Military Operations in Afghanistan. General Barno is going to discuss the security strategy, and then Colonel Perry is going to talk to you about the PRTs -- the Provincial Reconstruction Teams -- and how the function and the value that they are bringing...