The US Provincial Reconstruction Team led by Air Force Lt. Col. Gordon Phillips in the Nangahar province of Afghanistan has made “significant progress” in its first four months on the job. Army Sgt. Sara Wood reports that the PRT has completed 11 projects worth about $800,000, and perhaps the key accomplishment is completion of a month-long effort to finalize a provincial development plan. On the PRT’s agenda are 33 projects, including building roads to link all 22 districts in the province to the main route through the region.
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…