by Diana Ohlbaum “Between 2001 and 2017, U.S. government efforts to stabilize insecure and contested areas in Afghanistan mostly failed.” Those are not my words. They’re not from some partisan pundit or ideological crusader. It’s the conclusion reached by the… Continue Reading
by Diana Ohlbaum Narcissus? No, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. In fact, I don’t want to talk about Trump any more. Frankly, I don’t even want to hear about Trump any more. My outrage meter is broken. I’m talking… Continue Reading
by Diana Ohlbaum If nothing else, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson seems determined to retool the mechanics of the State Department, a process he calls “redesign. There’s a full head of steam behind reform efforts, with more than 60 reports… Continue Reading
by Diana Ohlbaum For those who recall the relentless attacks on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the recent outpouring of support for the institution and its mission is simply stunning. A discussion… Continue Reading
by Diana Ohlbaum Buffeted by a double whammy of restructuring proposals—one from the White House recommending a transfer of the State Department’s Population, Refugees, and Migration Bureau (PRM) to the Department of Homeland Security, another from development experts recommending a… Continue Reading