“They might have a hundred noble qualities,/but the world would judge them only by their foibles” (Moliére – The Misanthrope). This “creed” of the second rotation of the HUN PRT is literally carved into a rock in Camp Pannonia, the base of the Hungarian PRT. Arriving in Pol-e Khomri after the trailblazing first contingent, the second rotation was working in the spirit of this thought all along, and perhaps this was also among the reasons why it spent one of the most successful six months of the provincial reconstruction teams in the Asian country.
PRT-2 , February 2007 – September 2007.

“They might have a hundred noble qualities,/but the world would judge them only by their foibles” (Moliére – The Misanthrope). This “creed” of the second rotation of the HUN PRT is literally carved into a rock in Camp Pannonia, the base of the Hungarian PRT. Arriving in Pol-e Khomri after the trailblazing first contingent, the second rotation was working in the spirit of this thought all along, and perhaps this was also among the reasons why it spent one of the most successful six months of the provincial reconstruction teams in the Asian country. 

“Our start was somewhat extraordinary”, says Brig.-Gen. László Szabó, the Chief of the MoD Defence Staff Training Directorate while recalling the beginnings. (Holding the rank of colonel as the operations and training chief of the HDF Land Forces Command, the general was appointed the commander of the second rotation in 2007, so we continue to use his then rank in the text. We will “meet” him in the sequels of our series too, since he was the commander of the seventh rotation of the HUN PRT, and subsequently in the winter of 2011–2012 he was the chief of staff at the ISAF Regional Command North (RC North)).

 The beginning was extraordinary because the designated commander of the HUN PRT-2 had a car accident at the end of the training in Hungary, so Col. Szabó “took over the part at a moment’s notice”.

 “In fact, I first met my would-be contingent on the culmination exercise (CULEX) of the training, but thanks to my well-trained commander comrades and deputies, I was able to pick up the tempo soon”, Col. Szabó says. And thanks to the soldiers of the contingent – as his words subsequently reveal –, who gave proof of their professional attitude and readiness during the operations as well. They overcame the obstacles in a short time, never complained about the difficulties and quickly learned how to “handle” the entirely different culture there. 

 The tasking was clear for the HUN PRT-2 too. Based on the conditions created by the first contingent, they had to reach Full Operational Capability (FOC) by April, continue the projects in progress and launch new ones. But what does it all mean when expressed in a “not soldierly” way? The allied forces soon realized that the situation in Afghanistan cannot be returned to normal by using solely military means, without creating the basic living and working conditions for the Afghan people who have been living in wars for decades. Among others, this was the reason for setting up the provincial reconstruction teams whose primary tasks were to provide comprehensive assistance to the civil population, to “resurrect” the public administration and to create the basic conditions of security. At the beginning there were several (American, German, Dutch etc.) models available, and Hungary put together its own variant from these. As the PRTs’ projects stood “on two legs” in every variant, the core principles remained valid, to the effect that the Hungarian Provincial Reconstruction Teams’ main tasks are to assist with the establishment of security conditions needed for the implementation of the civil projects and to create the essential prerequisites for implementing their own projects. In 2007 the Hungarian state allocated HUF 500 million to this mission, and the PRTs spent this sum in a prorated way. (This is important because up to three contingents may rotate each other per year in the area of operations.)

  In the case of the PRT-2 this meant that of the HUF 500 million, the defence portfolio spent 75 million, the health portfolio 25 million and the justice and law enforcement portfolio 160 million. The staffs of the Hungarian Ecumenical Aid and Baptist Aid as well as that of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – which had been actively present in the region for years – were responsible for the effective spending of the remaining amount. The additional HUF 125 million CIMIC-budget of the defence portfolio was sufficient to fund the mission’s own projects aimed at winning acceptance for the Hungarian presence.

   Returning to everyday activities, the PRT-2 was the first contingent to start shaping the organizational structure that is today considered as general and familiar, and it already possessed part of the special capabilities as well. This was the first Hungarian-led “international” reconstruction team, since for the first time ever, Croatian, Slovak and Bulgarian soldiers were serving with it. Ambassador Dr. György Busztin, Political Advisor represented the civil sphere, and it was the first time that policemen from the staff of the Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement had joined the work, participating in the training of the Afghan police and security forces.

  Returning to the beginnings, after his arrival, Col. Szabó was introduced by Col. Kálmán Zsigmond, the commander of the PRT-1 to the “big four” of the Afghan province in his area of responsibility, that is, to the governor, the police chief, the commander of the security forces and the leader of the Shura (provincial assembly). Acts like this are not part of the protocol at all. This meeting too was focused on handing over the so far developed relations, guaranteeing the continuation of the projects in progress and building mutual trust. (Thus far, almost all PRT commanders have told us that in Afghanistan, almost everything is a matter of bargaining. They knew that if a provincial leader requested assistance for a project, then he would guarantee the soldiers’ safety as well. And not only there, but elsewhere as well – up until the next bargaining.)

  Col. Szabó, too, acquired all these pieces of knowledge in the area of operations. And, as he adds, he learnt them from the background materials of the already well-running CIMIC and from a handbook compiled for the PRTs, which introduced battlefield awareness as well as religious, cultural and other customs.  

  Speaking about the issue of security: the PRT-2 was lucky in this field as well. During its mandate the tension was slight in the province, and they came under “only” one attack as compared with the nine attacks launched against the PRT-1. Later even this attack turned out to be a force majeure, in fact the attackers confused the uniforms. Of course, the security of the contingent was not only a matter of this incident. Through the activity of military security and intelligence specialists, EOD technicians, the systematic patrolling conducted by the Close Protection Teams extended to larger terrain sectors and the operation of checkpoints (together with the Afghan security forces) to demonstrate presence, the contingent let the potential attackers know that “we are here, we’re on our guard – do not even attempt it!”. This was one of the reasons why its Mission Teams were able to safely reach the farthest districts and villages in the province, thereby accomplishing their mission, the assistance of the population.

 Apart from the restorations, building works, well-drillings and other investments that are carried out by every PRT, the PRT-2 led by Col. Szabó also had two outstanding projects. One was the renovation of roof structure on the large mosque in Baghlan district, and the other was the construction of a 30 kilometer-long water pipeline (it was started by them and continued during the PRT-3 and 4 rotations). The first task was significant because the local people saw that Christian (Hungarian) soldiers restored a mosque to a usable condition. Although no religious issues emerged during the project, they did respect the gesture very much. The construction of the water pipeline remained memorable because of the international cooperation, since by transporting the pipes to the mountains, the CH–53 helicopters of the German armed forces significantly contributed to the success of the Hungarian project.

  After the lessons learned by the PRT-1, there was an obvious question: How much better was the PRT-2 off in other fields like weapons, supplies, accommodation etc.?

   “Much better”, the former commander says, “as our predecessors had created the basic living and working conditions for us, introduced us to the life of the province and started the work. It was only our water supply that caused us some initial inconvenience, as we had to use water-cars because the local water was infected. And let me add to this the “beneficent” activity of our Indian and Philippine cooks working in the kitchen of the camp. We resolved the first problem by drilling a new well, and we taught our cooks that cinnamon does not go with the stew… Returning to more serious issues, I am also told that thanks to the favorable security situation, during the PRT-2 mission the soft-skin all-terrain vehicles with ballistic Kevlar-padded covers proved to be sufficient. The small arms, machine guns, sniper and anti-materiel rifles as well as the 30mm automatic cannons of the BTR–80A armored personnel carriers represented a sufficient degree of deterrence and protective force. They already had night vision capability (helmet-fitted night vision goggles (NVGs)), and they did not miss the night sights of the weapons because their core duties did not include nighttime combat actions.

  As a closing remark, the commander of the PRT-2 adds that this mission was a good school. They learned to tolerate religious differences, other cultures and a mentality which is very different from that of Europe. And they also learned that the average man is extremely grateful for any assistance, although not everybody thinks this way: therefore, the contingent had to be ready to ward off harmful intentions around the clock throughout six months.

(Béla Szabó, photo: PRT-2)