The Senate concurred with the House yesterday on another three week extension of the current continuing resolution, and it is now ready for the President’s signature.  Earlier this week, General David Petraeus testified before both the House and the Senate Armed Services Committees.  He couldn’t have been clearer when asked by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to comment on the significance of the “civilian personnel, economic activities, (and) aid work” in Afghanistan.  “It is absolutely central to what we do,” Petraeus said.  “I am concerned that levels of funding for our State Department and USAID partners will not sufficiently enable them to build on the hard-fought security achievements of our men and women in uniform.”  Also this week, to help educate the new members of Congress, the USGLC just released a user-friendly snapshot on the International Affairs programs, including examples of how the programs impact us at home.  Feel free to download a copy.

Must Reads

Who’s In the News

Pentagon defends foreign aid as essential to national security (Josh Bennett, the Hill)

Senior Pentagon officials are making an impassioned argument against cuts to America’s foreign aid budget, putting them at odds with conservatives in the House. Some lawmakers argue that the billions of dollars spent on global aid should be targeted for reductions as Congress looks to bring down the deficit.

Smart Power

U.S. Congress Weighs Aid Package to Post-Mubarak Egypt (David Elkins IPS)

As Egypt braces for Saturday’s vote on constitutional amendments in its first referendum since the revolution, lawmakers here are seeking to address the North African country’s economic situation in addition to immediate political developments, by introducing legislation that seeks to stimulate foreign direct investment (FDI).

Politics/Foreign Policy

UN votes to impose Libya no-fly zone (Laura Rozen, the Envoy)

The United Nations Security Council voted Thursday to impose a no-fly-zone on Libya in order to protect civilians from attacks by Libya’s Muammar Gadhafi. The resolution passed with ten nations voting for, zero against, and five countries — including Russia, China, Brazil, India and Germany — abstaining.

A Pay-for-Performance Evolution (Tina Rosenberg, NYT)

Every discussion about foreign aid is a heated discussion.  Readers of Tuesday’s column on a new idea for foreign aid — paying for outcomes instead of providing money in advance — had plenty of suggestions about how to fix foreign aid (or why to abandon it).   But before we get to them, we should make sure we know what we’re talking about when we say “foreign aid.”   “It would be better if the citizens understood that ‘foreign aid’ is a misnomer,” wrote Millie Bea of Washington (25).

Obama seeks another reset button on trip (Kara Rowland, the Washington Times)

The U.S. has lacked a coherent Latin American policy for the past decade, regional experts say, leaving a vacuum that China and other potential adversaries have filled by showering the area with attention, investment, arms and foreign aid.

US relief agencies defer to Japan in disaster relief efforts (WSJ)

The images from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami are as staggering as those from the quake 14 months ago in Haiti. Yet relief agencies in the U.S. and elsewhere are responding with far more restraint as they defer decision-making to the Japanese.

There Is No Neutral (Nadia Schadlow, FP)

Clear. Hold. Build. These are the unquestioned ABCs of the counterinsurgency strategy that won the war in Iraq and now hold the hope for delivering victory in Afghanistan. Clear and hold are military operations, but “build” is increasingly the purview of the development world, which considers the notion of choosing sides in a conflict anathema.