State building: Comparative assessment of the PRT engagements of the USA, Germany and the Czech Republic in Afghanistan

The master thesis examines the involvement of the United States of America, Germany and the Czech Republic in post-conflict reconstruction and state building in Afghanistan through their Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT). The aim of the thesis is to find out to what extent the Provincial Reconstruction Teams represent their founder countries' effort of state building in Afghanistan, and to deduce the differences among their attitudes to state building in Afghanistan by comparing their PRTs' activities. Countries directly found their PRTs and therefore their attitude to state building in Afghanistan should be reflected in the activities of their PRTs. The PRTs should reflect the priorities of their founder countries in reconstruction of Afghanistan. This thesis begins with outlining the links among the PRTs, state building and NATO's comprehensive approach and counterinsurgency strategy which pays attention to the civilian aspects of fighting wars. The U.S., German and Czech preferences regarding the state building are examined through their foreign policy documents. Activities of the U.S., German and Czech PRTs are analysed to verify, whether they correspond to their countries' proclaimed aims in the field of state building in Afghanistan