U.S. Department of State - 02.14.2002

U.S. Department of State

Operation Provide Hope: Ten Years and Counting

By Ambassador William B. Taylor, Jr.

Ten years ago the world witnessed the implosion of the Soviet Union and collapse of most social infrastructures there: an immediate nightmare for ordinary citizens in the twelve new independent states. 

Donor nations met in Washington, D.C. in January 1992 and pledged emergency assistance, much like the recent Tokyo conference did for Afghanistan. A few days later, on February 12, 1992, then U.S. Secretary of State James Baker stood on the tarmac at Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany, alongside many other foreign ministers, watching an historic event, reminiscent of the Berlin Airlift of 1948 and 1949.

That day, from Rhein-Main and from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, seventeen U.S. AirForce cargo jets departed for destinations deep inside the former Soviet Union. Twelve flights landed in the twelve capital cities; five others landed in cities inside Russia that were also deemed to be most in need. During the next two weeks, the U.S. Air Force flew 70 humanitarian sorties, taking in over two thousand tons of food, medicines, emergency supplies and clothing, much of it provided by Europeans and Japanese.

Monitoring teams from the U.S. military's On Site Inspection Agency and from USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance had been inserted beforehand, under extraordinary conditions, at each location to ensure that the emergency supplies reached intended orphanages, soup kitchens, hospitals, and other care centers. Worldwide media were allowed on the flights to observe the airport deliveries. Local media were encouraged to monitor actual deliveries to the specific care-giving locations.

Throughout the entire airlift phase, no serious diversions or losses were reported. Deliveries continue to this day by air, sea, and land. That airlift marked the tangible U.S. commitment and a symbolic effort to encourage other nations around the world. Multifaceted U.S. assistance programs are still helping the nations of Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

Americans remain committed to improving the lives of all those who braved Soviet-style communism and its variations, in cities like Warsaw, Prague, Sofia, Chisinau, Zagreb, Tirana, Tbilisi, Baku, Kiev, Yerevan, Almaty, Tashkent, and other population centers across the Eurasian land mass. The United States continues to build on its nearly $3 billion [$3,000 million] worth of humanitarian assistance and commodities provided to countries of the former Soviet Union, including fifteen hospital projects with medical equipment declared excess to U.S. military needs in Europe.

Planning is underway for a sixteenth such Defense Department hospital project later this year, for Uzbekistan. Over 450 private volunteer organizations have participated, and many continue, in donating medicines, food, clothing, and volunteer medical expertise in this effort.

To cite one example, since 1997 the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. private voluntary organization CitiHope International, and the Meerim Fund of Kyrgyzstan have joined to provide millions of dollars worth of critical pharmaceuticals. These drugs support treatment protocols for leukemia, pneumonia, sepsis, and cancer in five hospitals in Bishkek, including a children's ward at the main oncological facility in the capital. U.S. technical assistance projects are helping in long-term transitions of societies.

More than $14 billion [$14,000 million] in U.S. economic assistance has been committed since the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. This wide array of programs is helping people in ways like: implementing legal and political reform; organizing issue-based political parties; engaging in open commerce; seeking business counseling and credit; bringing more nutritious crops to market; and improving hygiene, women's health, and the overall quality of lives throughout the various countries. Many U.S. government agencies and non-government organizations, and dozens upon dozens of foreign counterpart organizations and local governments, are involved.

These assistance programs are aimed at improving the lives and fortunes of all recipients, be they Muslims, Orthodox Christians, or those with other religious beliefs. Secretary of State Colin Powell called this month for attacking poverty, despair and hopelessness.

As our decade-long effort in Europe and Eurasia shows, the struggles to overcome years of domination and oppression will be generational. The sad legacies that still face the Eurasian landmass show that reconstruction of social infrastructures must by necessity be long term in nature. Americans are proud of their country's distinguished record of such long-term assistance, in a situation unlike any in modern times.

(Ambassador William B. Taylor, Jr., is the coordinator of U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia. Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage was the first coordinator of Operation Provide Hope in 1992 and 1993.)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)