Plan Colombia Redux

By John Liang / June 14, 2011 at 4:10 PM

In a speech yesterday at a Center for Strategic and International Studies conference on Colombia, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg highlighted an effort developed under former President Clinton to address drug trafficking, civil war and economic stagnation in the South American country. That "Plan Colombia" holds lessons for the United States in handling conflicts in other parts of the world, Steinberg said, adding:

I think that the biggest success of Plan Colombia, what we’ve done together . . . is, first, we had a strong bipartisan basis for this in the United States. And on the big challenges, whether it’s providing security and moving forward on social inclusion in Colombia or dealing with democratic transformation in the Middle East, these things don’t happen overnight. They require a sustained commitment of both policy and resources to make it happen. And there needs to be a sense among all the parties that you’re in it for the long term. If you don't have that, then people will game the system because they'll assume it's a flash in the pan or that the kinds of benefits -- the costs are often upfront in -- or front-loaded and the benefits are in the long term. . . .

That's what we did in Plan Colombia. We were able to be convincing because we had bipartisan support, because there was a strong commitment to what we could do this; it wasn't one congressional session or one presidential administration. Those are hard to do. . . . But when it's done, it's America at its finest. And I think that's something that we all need to focus on is how do we build these strong commitments that have the support of both parties -- the people as well as government, and in both countries -- to sustain these kinds of long-term challenges. And the fact that we've done it together in Colombia, I think shows it can be done and that can give people some confidence and encouragement to look for ways to replicate that.

For some background on Plan Colombia, check out InsideDefense.com's coverage from a few years ago:

RAND: Military Aid To Colombia Sparked Surge In Small Arms Trafficking

SOUTHCOM Chief Gives Positive Report On U.S. Military Aid To Colombia

DOD Appeals Funding Cuts In Counternarcotics Aid To Colombia

Lawmakers Reject Proposal To Cut U.S. Military Aid To Colombia

U.S. Government Deals Helicopters, New Aid Restrictions To Colombia

Lawmakers Suggest Expansion Of Security Assistance To Colombia

Lawmakers Await Bush Administration Plan After Colombia Resolution

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