"But good offices and influence can have real impact. The presence of a military force can be useful in avoiding conflict."
The PRTs can only draw on US$12 million to US$18 million of direct US government funding, a drop in the ocean compared with Afghanistan's needs.
Lanigan says this will be bolstered by money doled out by USAID officials attached to PRTs, which will reach parts of the country where the UN and aid agencies fear to tread.
This does not impress Care's O'Brien.
Trickle down
"They are not able to demonstrate a significant impact on security, and the resources they can bring to bear are too little to have a significant impact on reconstruction," he said. "It gives the veneer of engagement ... but we are concerned this is an attempt to do it on the cheap."
The UN's Charles Petrie says aid agencies are wrong to want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Better to accept PRTs and work with them so they do a better job.
"The needs are such, the difficulties are such, you can't discount the positive role potentially PRTs can play," he said.
US soldiers offer a more emotive argument. "What you have to understand," said one, "people just want to help."
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