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Oral Histories: Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq and Afghanistan

The Oral Histories Project on Stability Operations

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Robert M. Perito

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Jeannette Rankin Library Program
October 2011 | Oral History

The Oral Histories Project on Stability Operations collects the full text of interviews with individuals involved in stability operations to draw lessons learned and address the challenges of post-conflict intervention.

The experiences of Americans who served in Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Afghanistan and Iraq provide important lessons for current and future peace and stability operations. PRTs are small civilian-military teams intended to help provincial governments deliver essential services and govern effectively.  PRTs were first fielded in Afghanistan in 2002, and then introduced in Iraq in a modified form in 2005. 

In 2009, USIP was invited to participate in a U.S. government interagency effort to capture and institutionalize lessons learned and best practices from the U.S. experience with PRTs.  From 2009-2011, USIP interviewed 200 returning government, military, and NGO representatives who had served in PRTs in Iraq and Afghanistan.  This project was conducted under the direction of the Interagency Reconstruction and Stabilization Best Practices Working Group and the Center for Complex Operations at the National Defense University.  The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training conducted the interviews under a contract with USIP.

USIP has engaged in a study of lessons learned from PRTs since 2004.  From 2004-2005, the Afghanistan PRT Project interviewed 52 government, military, and non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives who had served in Afghanistan.  From 2008-2009, the Iraq PRT Project interviewed 73 government, military, and NGO representatives who had served in Iraq. 

Related Publications

Afghanistan PRT Interviews (2009-2011)

Iraq PRT Interviews (2009-2011)