#112 Diplomatic Assignments in Iraq & Afghanistan

Allan J. "Alonzo" Wind is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), having worked on and off with the Agency primarily overseas on diplomatic assignments from 1990 to 1992 and 1999 to 2019 in the Peru, Nicaragua, Angola, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and South Africa and the Southern Africa USAID Regional Missions. He provided oversight to U.S. government foreign aid development and humanitarian assistance, and supported U.S. Ambassadors as their senior development officer on multiple U.S. Embassy Country Teams. In South Africa he helped establish the Southern Africa Regional Leadership Center as part of President Obama’s Young African Leadership Initiative, and contributed to other youth development efforts and business incubators.

He previously worked as the Global Programme Coordinator for the International Save the Children Alliance Secretariat and as a Country Director and Health Sector Coordinator for different nonprofit private voluntary organizations including CARE and PLAN International in a range of countries including Ecuador, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Wind began his career as a Rural Public Health U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador from 1980-1982, where he was widely known as "Doctor Alonzo." The Alonzo nickname stuck throughout life in many countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

He graduated from the University of Chicago. He is originally a New Yorker, and as a high schooler he was a "subway rat" attending the famous Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. There he studied creative writing for two years with his teacher, the famous Irish American writer and raconteur Frank McCourt. He has always been an avid science fiction fan and sometime writer, and notes that writing science fiction and other creative writing under McCourt was invaluable for future U.S. government work. His recent book ANDEAN ADVENTURES: An Unexpected Search for Meaning, Purpose and Discovery Across Three Countries has been a best-seller on Amazon and is available in paperback and ebook formats, in English and a Spanish translation. There is also now a recently released audio book narrated by the author on Audible, available on Amazon and iTunes.

He and his wife currently reside in Fairfax County Virginia in the United States, while their adult daughter is in Africa on her own adventures. Mr. Wind serves on the Boards of Directors of different non-governmental organizations, including Hunger Relief International, supporting any way he can, their efforts with the most needy in Guatemala and Haiti.

What we Discussed:

- Peace Corp

- USAID

- How host countries react

- Diplomatic assignments in Iraq

- Afghanistan and the Withdrawal of Troops

- Iraq after the War

- Discussing the US involvement in creating leaders in other countries

- Who foots the bill of restructuring

- Chinese engagement in Africa

- Selling Armaments to Terriorists

- His Book