One Montanan’s Take On USAID And Trump’s Hit List
By Susan DeCamp
In 2008, I took an oath to the Constitution as a new Foreign Service Officer while standing under the flagpole in front of the Tactical Operations Center on a Provincial Reconstruction Team base in Farah, Afghanistan. I would go on to spend a total of 10 years in Afghanistan, working for USAID. It was my thing.
Fighting Poverty Under Fire In Afghanistan
As a USAID Development Officer, I lived on remote bases in containers, barracks, and on the Embassy compound. I have been under small arms fire, mortar fire, rocket fire, bombs, and the occasional earthquake. My military colleagues were the most intelligent, strategic and impressive people I have ever met in my life. We worked closely together to actualize counter insurgency initiatives based on the book written by General Petraeus. The military sought to protect the population from the Islamic terrorists as represented by the Taliban, ISIS and what have you. USAID sought to stabilize the country through poverty mitigation.This included: access to education for boys AND girls, access to healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure like roads and schools, government systems, and business support.
The Afghanistan president at the time, Hamid Karzai, insisted we call it reconstruction. In fact, it was building an entire economic system from scratch. (For a history of the Afghanistan conflict, read Ghost Wars by Steve Coll). We may have bitten off more than we could chew, but here is the most important point – these are the basic building blocks of a thriving, growing economy, any economy, anywhere.
Mission and Purpose of USAID
USAID is a “soft power” agency used by the government to head off potential military conflict and terrorist safe havens through the alleviation of poverty and ignorance. We were the “hearts and minds” approach that would hopefully promote democracy around the world, embrace diplomacy, and prevent our young people from being sent off to die in wars in foreign countries.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) was created in 1961 via executive order of President Kennedy. Its creation was based on the success of the Marshall Plan after World War II. It became its own agency in 1998 by an act of Congress. USAID serves as part of the executive branch of government, but it is Congress that provides the budget. USAID funding amounts to less than 1 percent of the total national budget. USAID personnel were posted alongside the military to keep them apprised of who was doing what, where, and when throughout the country. We were part of the counter insurgency (COIN) strategy adopted by the coalition of the willing – known as the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF).
Women’s Empowerment In Afghanistan
I managed a program in Afghanistan called “Promote.” Promote received a special appropriation of funds from Congress and was strictly for Afghan women’s empowerment projects. We were required to touch the lives of 75,000 Afghan women. Security was poor. Pakistan had been steadily sending Taliban, ISIS, and other terrorists into the country. (If you are interested, read the book The Wrong Enemy by Carlotta Gall).
I busted my chops making sure that all was above board with Promote. Having served for so long in the country, I knew most of the players, and I worked hard to make sure internal controls were in place and the projects were documented and effective.
A Special Inspector General With An Axe To Grind
In 2012 John Sopko was appointed Special Inspector General for Afghanistan. We had just about reached the end of the first year of Promote. This was the phase we called rollout, which entailed opening offices around the country and hiring over 90 percent Afghan staff to reach Afghan women. Sopko announced he would be auditing the program. It was the first year of a 5 year program, violating normal audit standards. He tortured us with endless meetings, demands for data, and began to issue his own press releases attacking USAID, and attacking Promote.
The lies came easily to Sopko. I spent time on the phone with Congressional staffers, debunking the lies. I was told by USAID leadership that I could not issue my own press release or correct the record. In the meantime, Promote clipped along doing some amazing work for Afghan women. Politico published an expose of Shopko’s behavior in 2016 titled, “The Donald Trump of inspector generals” https://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/john-sopko-afghanistan-reconstruction-goats-222418
Trump Handed Afghanistan To The Taliban
I was there when Trump sent McMaster to Kabul to seek an end to the continuing conflict. Ignoring McMaster’s advice, Trump sent his team to negotiate with the Taliban terrorists, ignoring the Afghan government we had spent blood and treasure to strengthen.
Trump was responsible for the deal that handed the country to the Taliban. He deliberately spat on the lives of American soldiers who had died and were disabled in the fight against the international threat of Taliban terrorism – just to make people think that we had failed. Lest we forget, Osama Bin Laden was operating out of Afghanistan to attack Americans. My heart was broken, as we knew what giving billions of dollars in US investment to the Taliban meant for Afghan women. Under the terrorist regime, the schools for girls were closed immediately. (See Politico, Sept. 17, 2020 “McMaster Rebukes Trump Over Taliban Talks”)
One More Page In The Republican Play Book
This is how it’s done, folks. These tactics also work on the Department of Education, Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, US Postal System, Social Security Administration, Medicare, etc. Republicans have been quietly gutting these important public support agencies, and lying about it, for years with their malicious political appointees who are only there to destroy. All because billionaires want even more power and do not want to pay taxes or contribute to the well being of our country. What takes centuries to build can be destroyed in days by evil, power seeking men and women.