While much attention has focused on protecting
Afghan interpreters and others who worked
with the U.S. military, soldiers were only a
portion of the U.S. personnel who operated in
Afghanistan over the last two decades.
Organizations, including USAID, elements
of the Agriculture Department and others,
began arriving in Afghanistan as early as 2002,
within months of the toppling of the previous
Taliban government, focused on developing
the country’s infrastructure, educational and
agriculture sectors.
As recently as June, USAID announced the
U.S. was providing more than $266 million in
additional humanitarian assistance to help
Afghans. Total humanitarian assistance for
Afghanistan totaled more than $543 million
since fiscal year 2020, according to the USAID
press announcement.
The money brought the total U.S. humanitarian
assistance to nearly $3.9 billion since 2002, the
release said.