Of Bamyan: Beneficiaries

The primary intent of the visit to Bamyan was to highlight some of our agricultural support programs. The Ambassador delivered a speech to a potato cooperative, which has benefited greatly from the Afghan government's financing assistance and some USAID-sponsored potato storage facilities. It did inspire one of the weirder requests I have fielded in my career, when the Ambassador asked for someone to find him a potato a few minutes before his speech, for use as a visual aid during his remarks. Afterwards, the gathered U.S. and Afghan officials distributed big sacks of fertilizer to the farmers. We will leave that scenario without further comment, other than to note that many, like the guys pictured above, were pretty happy with the event.