Africom

History illustrates that without unity of command and a mechanism to enable unity of effort, achieving strategic and regional objectives is rare. AFRICOM, a newly established Combatant Command, faces innumerable challenges within the continent of Africa from failed and failing states, terrorist organizations, a plethora of wars and ethnic cleansing, massive starvation, poverty, and disease to name but a few. With every challenge, however, there exist just as many opportunities to enhance strategic partnership, provide diplomatic, economic, and military assistance to failing states, improve regional security capacity, provide humanitarian assistance, and build both physical and economic infrastructure. The most immediate challenge for AFRICOM is developing a mechanism, or a means, that will ensure the accomplishment of US strategic and regional objectives. This mechanism must be enabled through a command and control structure that provides unity of command for all elements of national power in order to alleviate bifurcated direction and guidance that currently plagues PRTs in Iraq and Afghanistan. AFRICOM must make bold recommendations to achieve unity of command that will establish trust within supporting US Government departments and agencies as well as with African nations. As a means, AFRICOM should focus on results via a Provisional Reconstruction Team-Enhanced (PRT-E) to facilitate unity of effort and the accomplishment of US strategic and regional objectives.