Iraq PRTs to Double in Number by Year’s End, Official Says

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

Plans are under way to double the number of provincial reconstruction teams now operating in Iraq by the end of the year, a senior U.S. official said during a news conference in Iraq today.

“We will both double the number of PRTs and we will double the number of individuals who are working in the PRTs,” said Rick Olson, chief of the national coordination team in charge of provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq.

According to plans, the number of PRTs will increase from 10 to 20, Olson noted, while numbers of PRT personnel will expand from 300 to 600 individuals.

“We expect to be at that level by the end of the year,” he said. Core members of the new teams are undergoing training now, he said. Afterward, the new teams will be embedded into brigade-level combat units.

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