The State Department plans on adding a number of new foreign service positions in Afghanistan over the course of the year, according to a report by The Washington Post.

The move is part of a new Obama administration strategy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan, the newspaper said. The administration is expected to increase the number of civilian personnel in the country by 50 percent to 900 people. That is on top of the additional 17,000 troops Obama ordered for deployment there.

It's not clear what role these new officials will play, but the announcement signals a priority shift on a number of different levels.

First, it shows that Afghanistan, not Iraq, is going to be the administration's top priority in the coming years. Iraq, by most accounts, has stabilized. It's now a waiting game until the withdrawal planned for 2011.

Second, a number of new contracting opportunities are likely to open in Afghanistan, particularly for NGOs and other development groups.

Third, the State Department continues to offer what seems to be the best employment opportunity for development professionals around. Many NGOs and private development groups are in the middle of hiring freezes if not job cuts. Not so for the State Department, which is committed to expand USAID's workforce.

Finally, security of workers – development or otherwise – in hostile environments, is gaining traction as one of the biggest challenges for the Obama administration. By most counts, hundreds of development workers have been killed in Afghanistan as it slipped deeper into chaos this year. There is also a growing sentiment in Washington that development workers are not getting enough protection and that more needs to be done to make sure they can do their work safely.