海角大神

As it deals with the challenges presented by poor countries like Yemen, the United States aims to elevate development assistance to equal footing with the traditional foreign-policy tools of diplomacy and defense.

That is the message that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offered in a speech Wednesday, in which the nation鈥檚 top diplomat explained a vision of strengthening American development work to further such national interests as spreading American values and enhancing US national security.

鈥淲e cannot stop terrorism or defeat ideologies of violence and extremism when hundreds of millions of young people see no hope鈥� for improving their lives, Secretary Clinton said. Not just by more development work, she added, but by doing it better, relying more on partnerships with benefiting countries, and leveraging government work with private-sector assistance, can progress be made in reducing the ranks of the world鈥檚 poor.

Defense Secretary Gates agrees

Clinton鈥檚 vision of a foreign policy where development 鈥渋s as essential to solving global problems as diplomacy and defense鈥� reflects Obama administration priorities. As Clinton noted in her speech, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates 鈥� a holdover from the Bush administration 鈥� is one of the administration鈥檚 most forceful advocates of a robust civilian development effort to relieve some of the burdens that have gradually fallen on the Defense Department.

The speech, delivered at the Center for Global Development in Washington, came a day after the US embassy in Yemen reopened following a closure Sunday connected to Al Qaeda threats.

Clinton referred to Yemen as 鈥渁n incubator of extremism鈥� and said that even though 鈥渢he odds are long鈥� for achieving rapid progress with development assistance in such countries, 鈥渢he costs of doing nothing are potentially far greater.鈥�

Clinton on Monday praised the Yemeni government鈥檚 recent efforts to disrupt Al Qaeda-linked activities, but those words were met by calls from the Yemeni government for more international assistance to address the roots of extremism.

A spokesman for Yemen鈥檚 ruling party said the government was up to the task of confronting extremists, but that it is up to the international community to promote 鈥渃omplete economic development to treat the sources of terrorism.鈥�

Transparency and efficiency essential

On the other hand, Clinton said a new focus on development must include demands for transparency and efficiency 鈥� two qualities that are likely to be hard to come by in countries like Yemen or Afghanistan, another development-stunted priority Clinton highlighted in her speech. Yemen is listed as the second-most corrupt Arab country (after Iraq) in a report last year by the monitoring group Transparency International.

Clinton cited success stories such as Ghana, Rwanda, and Tanzania, where she said smart development assistance is making a measurable impact. And she called on her own diplomats and private international development advocates to do more to explain to an American public that is hurting economically why America鈥檚 international development assistance is in their interest.

Clinton鈥檚 speech was mostly serious policy talk, including when she riffed on her personal commitment to promoting the role of women and girls in advancing development. But she elicited chuckles and applause when she reminded her audience of the old adage about teaching a man to fish so he can eat for the rest of his life, only to add, 鈥淚f you teach a woman to fish, she鈥檒l feed the whole village.鈥�

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