Friday, February 7, 2003
Opinion Journal brings in this pointer to a little story about the continuing efforts to get Afghanistan back on its feet. Nice to see this type of thing. Money is one thing (and we're sending a lot of it), but people and faces on the ground are something even better.
Nation-Building
The Pentagon recently unveiled a new plan to set up what it calls Joint Regional Teams in towns across Afghanistan. These will be manned by 60 government and military officials, including special operations soldiers, Civil Affairs troops, State Department officers, and representatives from other coalition partners. Though these teams will be armed with assault rifles, their most potent weapon will be their calculators, tape measures, and laptop computers. They will act as middle men--and women--to help get contractors in and construction projects done for local villages.