Gates Proposes $2 Billion in Funds to Aid Unstable Countries - Mary Beth Sheridan and Greg Jaffe, Washington Post.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has proposed a major overhaul of the way the Pentagon and State Department do nation-building, seeking to end friction between the bureaucracies by putting them jointly in charge of three huge new funds aimed at stabilizing strife-ridden countries. The proposal is aimed at addressing problems that have dogged the U.S. effort in Iraq and Afghanistan - particularly, disputes over whether civilians or the better-funded military should be in charge of stabilization.
But Gates' proposal goes beyond those conflicts to address what the military increasingly sees as the greatest threat to the United States - failing states such as Yemen and Somalia that could provide a haven for terrorist groups. The proposal would concentrate existing and new money in three long-term funds totaling as much as $2 billion. They would be dedicated to training security forces, preventing conflicts and stabilizing violence-torn societies around the world. The funds would exist separately from the war budgets, and allow for quicker and better-coordinated response to looming or actual conflicts, officials said. In a memo to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Gates noted that the huge increase in Pentagon funding for stabilization efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan has prompted complaints about the militarization of U.S. foreign policy...
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