Mr. Gregory Burton, Foreign Service, US State Department, volunteered for duty as a member of a provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in Afghanistan. From duty in 2005 as an economic officer with the American Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, Burton returned to the United States for training with the US Agency for International Development and the State Department's security element. Burton knew which position his posting would fill in Kandahar. He focused his own reading and professional development on that area of Afghanistan and its people. Burton arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August 2006 for duty with a Canadian PRT. His position had not been resourced by a Foreign Service officer initially, though a contractor serving as the USAID representative was present. After several weeks of briefings and then navigating the military aviation system within Afghanistan, Burton arrived in Kandahar. The Canadian-led PRT had experienced a vehicle-borne suicide bombing that had killed a senior diplomat in a PRT convoy. Canada provided military resources under the NATO commitment to Afghanistan as well as diplomats from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, in addition to civilians from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Military elements made up approximately two-thirds of the PRT, with the total strength rising to 300 - 200 of the contingent being military. These numbers were important as security set the boundaries for PRT members' accessibility to the Afghan government at provincial, district and local level. Aid and reconstruction projects, often quick impact projects, gave way to local governance and community contracts and projects. These initiatives required a dynamic balancing among the PRT, Afghan officials and the development agencies in Kabul. Public diplomacy and media outreach were important not only to reinforce themes of Afghan legitimacy but also to inform domestic audiences - especially in Canada - about the positive effects in country. Burton found that tribal and ethnic dynamics in Kandahar (Pashto), far from the Afghan capital but close to Pakistan, influenced most dealings with local leaders and their citizens. For all these complications, the PRT balanced development, diplomacy and defense. At the end of his year in Kandahar, another US Foreign Service officer relieved Burton after a brief but vital face-to-face transition.

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