SecNav: PRT projects help fight Taliban

SecNav: PRT projects help fight Taliban
By Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 26, 2007 17:06:04 EST

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter paid a visit Monday to sailors working in this turbulent region near the Pakistani border.

Winter visited a trade school being constructed here by the provincial reconstruction team responsible for the area. The provincial reconstruction teams are joint efforts between the military and the U.S. Agency for International Development, focused regionally throughout Afghanistan.

The team is commanded by Cmdr. Larry LeGree, who is tasked with coordinating development projects and educating local civic leaders in basic governance.

Both are tough assignments in an area ruled for thousands of years by tribal customs. LeGree guided Winter through the school project and a hydraulic power plant the team supports in the small village of Watapour.

On the sunny morning of Winter’s visit, a few dozen local laborers mixed mortar and laid block for what will eventually become the Kunar Trade School, as Army soldiers provided security around the perimeter.

The workers are paid $4.50 a day — the best daily wage in the region, LeGree said.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/navy_afghanprt_071126w/