N HER TESTIMONY BEFORE THE Senate Foreign Relations Commit- tee this April, Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton presented an image of an egalitarian relationship between civilian and military actors: \u201cFirst, civil- ians complement and build upon our military\u2019s efforts in conflict areas like Iraq and Afghanistan. Second, they use diplomatic and development tools to build more stable and peaceful societ- ies, hopefully to avert or end conflict that is far less costly in lives and dollars than military action.\u201d We in the devel- opment community welcome the idea of an equal partnership after a period of time in which funding for defense assis- tance has exponentially trumped that of development assistance; we welcome the call for a \u201ccivilian surge.\u201d

As the Obama administration looks to define itself in the world generally and in Iraq and Afghanistan in par- ticular, a new opportunity is emerging to redefine civil-military cooperation as a true partnership in which both com- munities participate fully. The admin- istration\u2019s evident emphasis on wom- en\u2019s issues (President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law his first day in office, created a White House Council on Women and Girls on International Women\u2019s Day and has created the new position of Ambas- sador-at-Large for Global Women\u2019s Issues in the State Department) cou- pled with recent developments in the mandate of civil-military mechanisms such as the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) indicate an opportunity for the engagement of women as lead- ers and partners in the quest for global security and development.

realm of civil-military cooperation, there is some evidence that this is not only possible but already an emerging reality. The PRTs provide an interest- ing case study.

Originally designed as a forum for equal partnership between civilian and military actors engaged in the recon- struction efforts in Iraq and Afghani- stan, the PRTs quickly became mili- tary-dominated. Inability to fill civilian positions on the PRTs meant that the men and women of the armed ser- vices were increasingly called upon to perform development tasks for which they often lacked necessary expertise. Troops were tasked with such tradi-