U.S. reaps huge benefits from foreign assistance programs

One of the most recognizable symbols of America’s commitment to improving the lives of the downtrodden around the world is the U.S. Agency for International Development, which came into being in 1961 through the Foreign Assistance Act. The act reorganized the U.S. foreign assistance programs, including separating military and non-military aid, and mandated the creation of an agency to administer economic assistance programs. On Nov. 3, 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the USAID, and since then the true character of this nation has been on display in the far reaches of the world.

Yet, the mere mention of foreign assistance causes many Americans to rise up in moral indignation — that billions of the dollars are being spent abroad while there are people at home in desperate need. Such reaction is especially acute in times of economic turmoil, such as those we’re experiencing today.

But as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday, a day before the new administrator of the USAID, Dr. Rajiv Shah, was sworn in, “We cannot stop terrorism or defeat the ideologies of violent extremism when hundreds of millions of young people see a future with no jobs, no hope and no way ever to catch up to the developed world. We cannot build a stable global economy when hundreds of millions of workers and families find themselves on the wrong side of globalization, cut off from markets and out of reach of modern technologies.”

The $36.7 billion budgeted for the USAID for fiscal year 2010 is a small price to pay for America’s stability and security. Let there be no mistaking the impact the world’s economy has on the U.S. (the global recession exacerbated the domestic recession) and the feeling of hopelessness and despair on the part of people around the world has on the spread of terrorism.

It is no accident that many Third World countries, especially in Africa, are fertile ground for recruitment by al-Qaida and other worldwide terrorist organizations.

Dedicated staff

Dr. Shah, who was sworn in Thursday as the new head of the international development agency, praised the work of the agency’s staff, noting that 40 percent of the foreign service officers have serve in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan.

“Every time we enter this building for work, we pass a powerful display on the wall with the names of colleagues who have given their lives in service of our mission,” he said. “This personal courage and commitment to serve others is a side of America most people need to see. Our workers in the field are the face of America in the communities we serve.” Dr. Shah told the USAID staff that they “embody America’s values and commitment to help lift up others along with ourselves.”

In the midst of an expanding war in Afghanistan against the Taliban and al-Qaida, the continued presence of American troops in Iraq, increased forces operating along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and now a possible new front in the war on global terrorism in Yemen, the need for the United States to win the hearts and minds of people around the world has never been greater. The face of this nation must not only be the face of the soldier. It must be that of an aid worker in some remote village helping to build a school, or a water system or a road. It must be the rescue worker giving comfort and shelter to a victim of a natural disaster. It must be a medical professional comforting the sick and administering to babies dying of starvation.

And, the face of America must be the face of democracy.

That has been the role of the USAID since its inception. And while there have been lapses in the operation of the agency and the management of the budget — the new administrator must address the issue of dollars being wasted, especially in countries like Pakistan — there can no denying that the United States has benefitted a great deal from having this non-military assistance program.

Secretary of State Clinton has made the role of women central to U.S. development work, saying they are one of the world’s greatest untapped resources.