The Foreign Service Journal, July/August 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2018 73 unable to play the role they could have played with more time and training. The surge was massive, and it was short-term. By 2011 USAID had 323 direct-hire Americans in Afghanistan, just above 20 per- cent of the agency’s staff worldwide. But it was only temporary. Even as the surge in the field peaked, the Obama administra- tion decided to begin quickly decreasing the number of civilian staff, especially outside Kabul. The timetable for the military-led closures outside of Kabul dictated a steep withdrawal of USAID and other civilian U.S. government agency personnel. By the end of September 2013, the number of USAID direct-hire Americans had fallen to 217. The decrease continued, and two years later the count was approximately 100—all in Kabul. Given its whiplash nature, with the pullout of the surged civil- ians almost as fast as the buildup, it is hard to see any enduring benefits from the civilian surge. Author William Hammink, left, at a meeting with Afghanistan’s Minister of Agriculture Asadullah Zameer in 2015. Below, a cold storage facility funded by USAID is filled with Afghan fruit bound for export. PHOTOSCOURTESYOFWILLIAMHAMMINK