by Karisha Kuypers, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and
Professor David A. Anderson, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College

To assist the nation in rebuilding its agricultural economy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has provided advisors who have worked on Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). Based largely on their end-of-tour reports, this paper examines and evaluates the challenges, successes, and modes of interaction of USDA advisors with their PRT and Afghan colleagues and concludes with recommendations for the future.