Today, the global spotlight is on Gaza and Ukraine. But remember when it was Afghanistan and Iraq?
The two war-ravaged countries have faded from our collective memory as the news cycle moved on to more immediate conflicts and crises. But top officials from the United Nations Development Programme recently visited Washington, D.C. in an effort to keep Afghanistan and Iraq on the radar of United States policymakers.
“There's so much happening in the world, and particularly with Israel-Palestine, that’s sucking up all the oxygen, that Afghanistan and other places … are likely to be overlooked,” UNDP Afghanistan Resident Representative Stephen Rodriques told Devex during his visit this week to D.C., where he met with officials from the World Bank, Congress, the State Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, among other agencies.
About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
