Dipnote solicits a post for the occasion from a top State Department official involved with UN peacekeeping. Her words echo ours:
[W]hile UN peacekeeping can’t resolve every conflict, the U.S. firmly believes that it can be a valuable tool for helping parties to a conflict restore peace and stability.
The truth of that statement can been seen in places like Sierra Leone, Guatemala, and Mozambique, which are at peace today with the help of successful peacekeeping missions. The U.S. strongly supports the UN’s “blue helmets,” and in part that support stems from the fact that multilateral peacekeeping allows the U.S. to share the burdens and risks of peacekeeping with the world community.
[W]hile UN peacekeeping can’t resolve every conflict, the U.S. firmly believes that it can be a valuable tool for helping parties to a conflict restore peace and stability. And this support is more than merely rhetorical. For the first time in years, the administration’s budget allocates full funding to all UN peacekeeping missions. Now it will have to make sure that Congress does not attempt to wedge in any cuts to this important funding.
(image of Pakistani peacekeepers in Haiti, from UN Photo)