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Insights From Acting Administrator Alonzo Fulgham

FrontLines - May 2009

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On March 27, President Barack Obama announced a comprehensive new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan—the culmination of a thorough, 60-day review that gave USAID a prominent seat at the table with its interagency partners.

At the White House announcement, I was seated next to U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, and our new Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry. This symbolically reinforced the substance of the president’s remarks, which called for enhanced roles for defense, diplomacy, and development in carrying out the new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan—what he called “two countries but one challenge.”

One of the major shifts in the strategy is to emphasize our diplomatic and development efforts. This means resources to put more civilian expertise on the ground and greater emphasis on regional diplomacy—all backstopped by high-level focus in Washington. As the president said, a “campaign against extremism will not succeed with bullets or bombs alone.”

The Monday following the White House event, Jim Bever, director of the Agency’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Task Force, and I traveled with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Deputy Secretary Jack Lew to The Hague for the U.N. International Conference on Afghanistan. There the delegation briefed over 80 countries and 20 international organizations on the new approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

When Special Representative Richard Holbrooke led the U.S. delegation to the Pakistan Donors’ Conference on April 17, USAID was also prominently represented. I was pleased to join Ambassador Holbrooke in announcing the U.S. government’s pledge of $1 billion over two years—a down payment on the proposal by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) to provide $1.5 billion a year in direct support to the Pakistani people over the next five years. The conference resulted in over $5.2 billion in pledged assistance for Pakistan’s economic development.

The Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy underscores the central importance that development will play in the Obama administration. But the confidence that is being placed in the Agency also requires that we implement significant changes in the management of our resources.

With the appointment of Special Representative Holbrooke, the administration has put one of the nation’s most seasoned diplomats in charge of a reinvigorated engagement strategy with principals in both countries as well as America’s allies. Moreover, where before military assistance was privileged, Secretary Clinton has indicated that three-quarters of the new funding requested for Afghanistan and Pakistan will be managed by State and USAID. And this funding will be more strategically programmed to deal with issues that better answer to the needs of combating political extremism—alternatives to poppy production in Afghanistan and more services provided to the tribal areas of Pakistan.

At the field level, USAID’s staff ceiling in Pakistan was recently increased by 81 positions, and we have pledged to provide an additional 150 staff for Afghanistan by the end of the fiscal year. USAID will utilize its full range of hiring mechanisms (including the new Civilian Reserve Corps) to meet these commitments. I appeal to all of our staff to step forward and serve at this critical moment in our nation’s history. As I have told our senior leadership, I am willing to curtail assignments to ensure that we are meeting this challenge with the greatest talent the Agency has to offer.

The Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy can be a showcase for the “smart power” that the Obama administration is calling for and the beginning of a new template for this nation’s foreign policy. The new emphasis on development in the architecture of this nation’s foreign policy will require all of us to meet the challenges before us. We must and we will rise to the occasion. . ★

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