Quote Originally Posted by Global Scout View Post
USAID appears to be somewhat effective (for a USG organization) in nations that are not experiencing serious conflict, but I haven't seen much success (despite herculean efforts) in hostile areas like Afghanistan and Iraq.
in Viet Nam, Laos and other places before Clinton and Albright destroyed the agency by rolling it into State. The Aid folks in Nam did not engage in combat but they had no qualms getting right in the middle of it to do their thing.

I saw them operate in half dozen nations and they really were competent. So was the USIA before the same crew fouled them up in one fell swoop in 1998...