The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2019

48 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL strengthened positive perceptions of the U.S. government in a country living in the shadow of both Russia and China. More broadly, success at Khan Bank opened the door to expanded commercial relations with the United States, most notably on the part of Boeing, which sold its first aircraft to Mongolia as the national airline transitioned toward an all-Boeing fleet; General Electric, which exported medical equipment, locomotive engines and wind turbines; and Caterpillar, which supplied heavy equip- ment during the rapid expansion of Mongolia’s mining sector. Looking back, the engagement with Khan Bank remains in a special category, one that has been a point of pride on return trips to Mongolia, where the familiar green and white Khan Bank logo that was introduced by the USAID-funded management team is visible everywhere. Without a doubt, it was one small USAIDmission, supported by a patient embassy country team willing to trust its USAID colleagues to take informed risks, that made this possible. A five-time USAID mission director (India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Mongolia and Central Asia), Jonathan Addleton also served as U.S. ambassador to Mongolia; USAID representative to the European Union in Brus- sels; and U.S. senior civilian representative for Southern Afghanistan in Kandahar. His most recent books include Mongolia and the United States: A Diplomatic History (Hong Kong University Press, 2013) and The Dust of Kandahar: A Diplomat Among Warriors in Afghanistan (Naval Institute Press, 2016). He retired from the Foreign Service in January 2017 and is now an adjunct professor at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, where he also serves as executive director of the American Center for Mongolian Studies. On the Economic Front Lines in the Vietnam War Vietnam, 1964 By Theodore (Ted) Lewis I was assigned to the joint State-USAID economic section in Saigon from1965, when the Americanmilitary buildup in Vietnam got seriously underway, through 1967, the eve of the Têt Offensive. It was a dangerous and difficult assignment, but the economic section teamdisplayed the core disciplines of the Foreign Service: willingness to confront any challenge, nomatter how daunting; readiness to accept any assignment, nomatter how difficult; and determination tomeet any deadline, nomatter how short. The 1954 defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu had resulted in their withdrawal fromVietnam and the division of the country into North and South Vietnam. North Vietnamwas left to the communist-inclined Viet Minh (later Viet Cong), with the anti- communist Ngo Dinh Diem as president of South Vietnam. For some years the South remained quiescent, but in the early 1960s the local Viet Cong, supported by the North, became increasingly active. When the South proved unable to contain them, American military support was extended, first with advisers and then with combat troops; American troop strength reached nearly 400,000 by the end of 1966. The military buildup necessarily injected vast purchasing power into an economy in which production, especially agricul- tural production, had already been disrupted. Much more money was chasing far fewer goods, with a high potential for runaway inflation. The resulting general instability would undercut or even negate the military effort. The economic section’s task was to work with the South Vietnam government to contain the inflation and assure a sufficient supply of basic goods, especially food, for the civilian population. The pressures were unrelenting. We worked long hours, often seven days a week. Our assignments often involved the risk of being killed or captured. Yet, believing that the war’s outcome might depend on what we did or failed to do, we persevered. And as brilliantly led by the economic counselor, we largely succeeded. The staple Vietnamese food was rice. Prior to the war Vietnam had been a major producer and exporter of rice; but because of An advertisement for Khan Bank over a busy thoroughfare in Ulaanbaatar. COURTESYOFJONATHANADDLETON