Countries from the Middle East continue to be the top recipients of US non-military financial aid according to the report for 2009 of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The stats do not include the money going to the region through the military budget /the official and the black one/.
Middle East has been absorbing billions of dollars of financial assistance for years. The question for the US is: can the region be weaned away from this welfare?
Part of the budget is a humanitarian aid like the one needed in the situation caught in a picture from the USAID report.
The man was displaced by the military offensive launched in late April by the Pakistan military against the Taliban. He carries food supplies donated by USAID as he makes his way from the Swabi internally displaced people (IDP) camp to a transport that will return him home.
The United States remains the largest donor of official development assistance in the world. Significant part of the aid budget is the investment in people. Training them and making them self-sufficient. Much like the Work First program that Bill Clinton signed in 1996 to reform the welfare in the USA. Today volunteers and humanitarian workers are trying to teach the folks in the Middle East how to thrive by themselves. Here are some colorful examples from the USAID report.
The cover of the report depicts Afghan farmers that harvest wheat in a field on the outskirts of Kabul. Nearly 80 percent of Afghans earn their living by farming. USAID’s agriculture programs—active in all 34 provinces—promote alternatives to illicit poppy production.
Graduates of Afghanistan’s Kunar Construction Center, funded in part by USAID, received vocational training in carpentry, masonry, electrical work, and painting. First launched in 2008, the center has graduated more than 500 students, many of whom have found jobs in the country’s construction industry.
May be after few years we may get some money back. Remember what Barack Obama said on the first Presidential debate with John McCain:
Let me tell you another place to look for some savings. We are currently spending $10 billion a month in Iraq when they have a $79 billion surplus.
US sure could use some savings with the wild debt we are running.
December 4th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
The above non-military humanitarian financial aid is pittance compared to the military obligations that the US is spending. If you can publish the military obligations as well, it will give a better view of where the US can cut back and save money
December 4th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Very true, Sam, very true. The most fascinating would be to take a look behind the 50 billion black military budget that they are not require to give explanation or accountability for – but non of us have that info
December 4th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Careful.
Hes setting you up to take a position against spending in Israel.
The first area he’d like to cut back and save on would be Israel and not those that have said they want America destroyed.
December 4th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
In the category of USAID the money go mostly to the West Bank – I am sure Sam wouldn’t mind that.
The report was pretty boring to read, but pictures are fascinating, don’t you think? What do you read in those men body language?
December 4th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Sam loved it when I informed him that Obama pledged to give 900 million to Hamas. True, the money is supposed to be handled and channeled through UN bodies or the Palestinian authority run by Abbas. The only problem is that these fund are designated to repair damages from the last incursion with Hamas. So why should we keep dishing out funds to repair damages to Gaza and the west bank caused by Israel simply defending itself against terrorist funded by Iran ?
Let Iran pick up the freeking tab or tell the Palestinians to vote out the terror element of its parliament