Procedural Control: The Future of the Provincial Reconstruction Team

Abstract

Abstract : President Karzai, in his February 2011 speech to the Munich Security Conference, argued that Afghanistan's Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) have performed below expectations due to conflicts in goals and coordination among the various organizations involved, specifically among parallel PRT command and control structures. These parallel command and control structures have resulted in major command and control issues, particularly a lack of flexibility and coordination, which counter the two command and control tenets of timeliness and coordination. The apparent failure of the PRT control method (positive control) to correct these command and control issues raises questions about its effectiveness. In contrast, the ballistic missile defense (BMD) structure uses a different control method (procedural control) to resolve issues associated with parallel command and control structures, and inflexibility and lack of coordination are not prevalent in this structure. So, should procedural control be used to correct some of the PRT command and control issues? The author concludes that the use of procedural control may successfully resolve the PRT command and control issues of flexibility and coordination.