What’s in store for the future of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs as the U.S. military drawdown continues in 2014?
In an exclusive interview, we asked USAID Assistant Administrator Larry Sampler, who said that, for the time being, he is not comfortable using the words “normal” and “Afghanistan” in the same sentence — but his office is working nonetheless to draw the country into a more productive long-term economic relationship with its neighbors.
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Afghanistan and Pakistan are USAID’s two biggest “critical priority countries.” The agency obligated $13.3 billion between 2002 and 2013 for the Afghanistan reconstruction effort.
This is the second of three clips from our discussion in the coming days, and the full interview with Sampler will be published next week.
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About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.