Three Authors: Diego Marroquin (CSIS), Tony Wayne (American University/ Inter American Dialogue) and Chris Hernandez Roy (CSIS)

Former Minister Daudzai shared his perspective on recent interactions by the Taliban government, by the Afghan opposition factions and by other prominent actors. Peter Yeo shared his perspectives on his recent visit of Afghanistan looking at UN and related assistance missions operating in the country. Jeffrey Grieco shared his views of Istanbul donor conference where international public and private actors exchanged views on the state of play involving international assistance for Afghanistan as well as private sector activities aimed at improving trade and commerce with Afghanistan. Rohullah Osmani and Earl Anthony Wayne guided the meeting.

This private meeting discussed priorities for Andrew Seelee, Migration Policy Institute staff, and others for migration in the weeks and months ahead

Tony Wayne, former Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs and US Ambassador to Mexico, pulls apart the strands.  First, what is an import?  How many times would you guess a raw material or auto part crosses a Canadian or Mexican border in the process of making and assembling a car?  4?  5? Each crossing carries a 25% tariff.  That’s a lot of crossings!  And a whole lot of tariffs!  And the point?  To make our neighbors tougher on smuggling into the US things we don’t want...

An hour plus of discussing US-Mexico relations to gathered undergraduates from the University of New Haven

Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama,

This is an appeal to each of you individually or ideally, collectively, to speak to the American people about the values you each represented during your administrations.

These are the bedrock foundations upon which our Republic has thrived. These values – respect for the Constitution and the three equal branches of government it created; respect for the rule of law; and respect for each other – are being violated daily by the new administration.

At this perilous time, you are uniquely suited to use your voices to sound the alarm that our democracy is being undermined by actions that are not consistent with our principles. Our privacy is being violated by those accessing government data bases without proper clearances and without a clear mandate consistent with government regulations. Our national security is being undermined by the improper handling of employee data from the CIA and FBI, the destruction of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the callous treatment of our devoted public servants at home and abroad.

You each encountered setbacks during your tenure, but in all cases, you respected the Congress, the Supreme Court, and the will of the people. Your experience and your wisdom are much needed to guide the American people in their reaction to the current threats to our democracy.

It is time for you to lead once again; to speak to those
in your parties who are unwilling to counter the threats to our country; and to provide comfort to those who are being maliciously and callously treated in contravention of established personnel policies and common courtesy.

Thank you for your past leadership and for the contributions you can make to preserving our democracy. God Bless America.

Eric Rubin, former U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria

Nancy Powell, former Ambassador to Uganda, Ghana, Pakistan, Nepal, and India; Director General of the Foreign Service

Amb. (ret.) Alexander Vershbow, former US Ambassador to NATO, Russia and the Republic of Korea, and former Assistant Secretary of Defense

Amb. Beth Jones, Former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia

Ambassador Daniel B. Smith (retired)

Steven Pifer, former US Ambassador to Ukraine

Amb. William Monroe (ret.)

John D. Feeley
US Ambassador (ret) & former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs

Christopher Dell, former ambassador to Angola, Zimbabwe, and Kosovo, and former Deputy to the Commander U.S. Africa Command

Ted Osius, former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam

Laura Kennedy, former Ambassador to Turkmenistan and to the Conference on Disarmament.

John R. Beyrle, Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and Bulgaria

Greg Delawie, Former Ambassador to Kosovo

Nancy Ely- Raphel. Former US Ambassador to Slovenia

John Heffern, former U.S. ambassador to Armenia

Barbara Bodine, former U.S. ambassador to Yemen

Mark C. Storella, former US Ambassador to Zambia

Joseph E. Lake, Ambassador (ret.)

James D. Melville, Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to Estonia

Steven R. Mann, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan

Jess Baily, former U.S. Ambassador to Northern Macedonia

Alexander Arvizu, former U.S. Ambassador to Albania

Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Ukraine

Karen L. Ogle, U.S. Foreign Service (retired)

Sheila Gwaltney, former U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan

Avis Bohlen, former U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria

Kenneth Yalowitz, former U.S. Ambassador to Belarus and Georgia

Thomas Countryman, former Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation

Annie Pforzheimer, former Charge d’Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission to Afghanistan

Elizabeth G. Verville, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Deputy Legal Adviser

Donald Camp, Former Senior Director for South Asia, National Security Council

Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, Former U. S. Ambassador to Malta and Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism

Eileen A. Malloy U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, retired

Janet Bogue, U.S. Foreign Service (retired)

E. Anthony Wayne, former Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico and Argentina

Kathleen Doherty, US Ambassador to Cyprus (retired.)

Amb. Richard Miles, former U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria and Georgia and Chief of Mission to Serbia

Amb. Joseph E. Lake, former U.S. Ambassador to Albania

Amb. Deborah Malac, former U.S. Ambassador to Liberia

Ambassador (ret) Charles Ray, former ambassador to Cambodia and Zimbabwe

Amb. Harry Thomas, former Director General of the Foreign Service and U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and the Philippines

Aurelia E. Brazeal, former U.S. Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia, Kenya, and Ethiopia\

Amb, Michael Marine, former U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam

Ambassador Nancy McEldowney, former National Security Advisor to the Vice President and U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria

Pamela Spratlen, former U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan

Wanda R. Nesbitt, former Ambassador to Namibia

Christina B. Rocca, former Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, former Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament

Amb. Karl Inderfurth, former Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs

Peter W.Bodde, former Ambassador to Malawi, Nepal, and Libya

A group of former government officials who served in national security and humanitarian positions have sent a letter to congressional leadership urging them to “take all steps” in their power to convince the Trump administration to stop its freeze of U.S. foreign assistance and the ongoing dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development.The scathing letter, which was provided to U.S. News, was sent Wednesday night and addressed to Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, S...

February 12, 2025
The Honorable John R. Thune, Senate Majority Leader
The Honorable Charles E. Schumer, Senate Minority Leader
The Honorable Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House
The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader
United States Capitol, Washington, DC
Dear Senators Thune and Schumer, and Representatives Johnson and Jeffries:
As former U.S. government officials who served in national security and humanitarian positions
in both Democratic and Republican administrations, we write to ask you to take all steps in your
power to urge rescission of the Trump administration executive orders and directives aimed at
freezing U.S. foreign assistance and dismantling USAID. These directives inflict irreparable
damage on hundreds of millions of people around the world, harm Americans by crippling our
ability to protect U.S. citizens from disease and other harms, and invite China and other
competitors to fill the gap we have created, thereby increasing their power and influence at our
expense.
In the some 200 countries where hundreds of millions of people have benefitted from U.S. aid,
the bulk of such support has been economic and humanitarian assistance. When Presidents,
Cabinet Secretaries, and Members of Congress are welcomed in countries of Africa, Latin
America, the Middle East and South Asia, and Europe, the concrete manifestations of U.S.
government support have been the humanitarian and development programs supported by
USAID and the State Department’s humanitarian operations.
These operations represent less than one percent of the federal budget. At the same time, U.S. aid
has amounted to between a quarter and a third of global assistance, roughly the same as the U.S.
share of GDP among wealthy countries. It has given the United States enormous capacity for
influence, while making our country the global leader in efforts to reduce human suffering and
abject poverty.
These are the programs that President Trump and Elon Musk are decimating, as we write, while
depriving the U.S. Congress of its constitutional and legislative roles.
It is difficult to capture in one letter the scope of what the Financial Times has accurately called
the “willful sabotage of U.S. soft power.” But the human suffering that these cut-offs have
caused is catastrophic and heartbreaking. Elon Musk’s measures have halted critical and highly
effective life-saving initiatives, including programs that provide clean water to infants;
healthcare to mothers who are expecting; food, shelter, and refuge for those fleeing persecution
and disaster; and life-saving support to those suffering from disease.
In Kenya, Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere, aid to survivors of torture was stopped in its tracks.
Children and adult victims of war and terror who have relied on the United States have been left
without care. And in poorer countries around the world, thousands of women and girls will die in

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the next 90 days due to complications of childbirth that might otherwise have been avoided
through interventions funded by Congress and administered by USAID.
Even the highly visible PEPFAR program to combat AIDS, started by President George W. Bush
and responsible for saving some 25 million lives, was frozen. Clinics were closed and HIV
sufferers were denied access to antiretrovirals. While some services were resumed, crucial
programs remained suspended and millions are affected.
In our own country, the suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has led to tragic
stories of thousands who were ready to travel to the United States, including Afghans who helped
to support U.S. goals in their country. This modest and carefully managed program has
revitalized declining communities and strengthened the U.S. economy, and persuaded other
countries to do their fair share.
The tragic stories go on and on and on, from the curtailing of remarkable U.S. efforts to limit the
spread of tuberculosis and eradicate polio, to the ending of programs that have built local
economies and have thereby discouraged migration to the United States, to the abrupt halt of the
USAID-supported Famine Early Warning System (FEWS), the gold standard for anticipating and
monitoring famines worldwide.
Due to horror stories shared with Members of Congress about the impact of the funding freeze,
Trump administration officials have added some exemptions to the ban. But this piecemeal effort
is a wholly inefficient, inadequate, and cynical way to proceed with reform. It has merely left
hundreds of millions around the world in disbelief at how the United States could act in such an
arbitrary and cavalier manner.
History will not look kindly on this avoidable tragedy – for the hundreds of millions in need, for
U.S. leadership and moral authority around the world, and for U.S. national security, as global
competitors like China and Russia rush to fill the gap we have created. It will be part of the
legacy of this Congress if not reversed.
We implore you to urge President Trump to rescind the freeze, which curtails U.S. efforts to
provide critical humanitarian aid and development support around the world, and undermines the
Constitutional authority of Congress. In particular, we ask that you urge the President to resume
the funding and operations of USAID and its overseas offices, as well as the humanitarian
programs of the Department of State.
Sincerely,