The withdrawal of U.S. funding for demining efforts in Vietnam marks a significant reversal in the decades-long progress made in healing the scars of the war. Vietnamese deminers, who play a crucial role in safely removing remaining explosives, found themselves sidelined without U.S. support during a Lunar New Year break. This funding halt has resulted in the dismantling of key U.S. agencies involved in engagement with Vietnam, leading to the cancellation of numerous contracts and projects that addressed the legacies of the Vietnam War, creating uncertainty for future initiatives.
Fifty years after the end of the Vietnam War, decades of progress in redressing the conflict's legacy, fostering reconciliation between the United States and its former enemy, are coming undone.
The two U.S. agencies that led engagement with Vietnam's communist government and its people - the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) - have been effectively dismantled.
At least 34 of 43 USAID contracts with Vietnam have been axed, and 100 or so USAID employees terminated, leading to uncertainty in key collaborative projects.
They asked why, when this land still has so many explosives that continue to go off, the funding was halted.
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