area. Core Role 3: Support to the restoration and extension of state authority Restoration of state authority is increasingly recognized as a key element of the stabilization of fragile states and a critical requirement for keeping and building peace. This is clearly reflected in many of the recent UN Security Council resolutions including, for example, Security Council resolution 1974 (2011), which calls for the Government of Afghanistan “to improve governance” and “to pursue continued legislative and public administration reform in order to ensure good governance”. In the case of Haiti, meanwhile, Security Council resolution 1892 (2009) “calls upon MINUSTAH, consistent with its mandate, to continue such support to strengthen self-sustaining state institutions, especially outside Port-au-Prince, including through the provision of specialized expertise to key ministries and institutions”. In exceptional circumstances, the Security Council has also authorized peacekeeping missions to temporarily assume the administrative and legislative functions of the state through provision of a transitional administration, as was the case in Kosovo and TimorLeste. However, it is important to emphasize the specificity of the circumstances under which these two missions were established and the fact that executive mandates are generally seen as a last resort in situations where a territory is virtually deprived of any functioning state institutions. U.S. Military Civil Affairs According to the U.S. Army, "The force that the Army employs to compete and win within the population is Civil Affairs." With their knowledge of governance and diplomacy, Civil Affairs soldiers are the principal experts in assisting a commander on the conduct of civil-military operations, and the sole force trained and tasked to conduct Civil Affairs Operations. All Active Component Army Civil Affairs personnel undergo rigorous assessment and selection, followed by extensive training in foreign languages, advanced survivability skills, and negotiations techniques in order to operate autonomously as a small team, in any kind of environment, to achieve strategic end states. A Civil Affairs Team of 2 to 4 soldiers will often be the only U.S. military personnel in an entire country, working for the U.S. ambassador as well as their military chain of command. Reserve Component Civil Affairs personnel support the conventional military in post-conflict stabilization. The fundamental role of Civil Affairs forces is to build networks of formal and informal leaders to accomplish important missions in diplomatically or politically sensitive areas. SOF Civil Affairs operate as reconnaissance elements within the population, performing their core task of Civil