Author: DAVID RISING Associated Press, ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Associated Press, ABC News
Published on: 19/03/2025 | 09:29:55
AI Summary:
The Trump administration’s broad cuts to USAID also halted efforts to clear unexploded American munitions and landmines. The cuts risk jeopardizing hard-won diplomatic gains with Vietnam. Funding for the Agent Orange cleanup was unfrozen about a week after it was stopped. Vietnam is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. It was a slow road back from the war, which saw more than 58,000 Americans killed before it finally ended in 1975. Starting in the 1990s, the U.S. Began helping its former enemy address wartime legacies like Agent Orange. A U.S. Project to clean up from the former Da Nang Air Base was successfully completed in 2018, giving rise to the Bien Hoa cleanup effort outside of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. As of 2024, the province in which Bien hoa is located had more than 8,600 people still suffering from Agent Orange-related health issues. Work began in 2020 on a 10-year project funded by USAID and the Department of Defense. Embassy in Hanoi and USAID referred all questions on the war legacy projects to the State Department in Washington. Asked to elaborate on how long the Bien Hoa project was shut down and what operations had resumed. Vietnam’s Defense Ministry referred questions to the Foreign Ministry, which did not respond to requests for comment. It’s too early to say exactly how the abrupt decision will affect relations, but it is likely to call into question whether Washington is still a reliable partner in other dealings. One joint program not affected by USAID cuts is ongoing efforts to find and identify missing American troops. But funding for the effort falls under the U.S. Defense budget rather than foreign aid. Rieser: “Right now it’s a museum of American war crimes and the whole point of this is to show that we didn’t just walk away from what happened” Rising reported from Bangkok.
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