An estimated 50,000 are feared dead in the aftermath of a 7.0-magnitude quake Tuesday evening.

The U.S. has promised to send $100 million in aid, and aid teams from the U.K., France, Spain and China have arrived recently in the country.

For more about relief efforts, Daljit Dhaliwal interviews Michael Kocher, vice president of international programs for the International Rescue Committee.

What role should the United States play in rebuilding Haiti?

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For more Worldfocus coverage of Haiti, visit our extended coverage page: Haiti’s Poor.

U.S. soldiers training Afghan military and police. Photo: Flickr user USAarmy

In a reminder of just how bad the problem of corruption is in Afghanistan, today’s Washington Post quotes an American official as saying that the Afghan minister of mines accepted a $30 million bribe to award its largest mining project to a Chinese firm.

According to the report, the minister received payment in exchange for awarding the Chinese company the rights to one of the world’s largest reserves of copper. The minister is now also reviewing offers for an iron ore project, and the Chinese bidder is said to be the front runner.

Should the United States continue to give aid if Afghanistan doesn’t clean up corruption?

A young woman in Minas de Oro. Photo: Flickr user lonqueta

The United States has been actively engaged lately in solving the Honduran presidential crisis. The U.S. State Department officials have helped broker a deal to end the sometimes violent dispute between Mel Zelaya, the deposed Honduran president, and Roberto Micheletti, designated as president when the Honduran military escorted Zelaya out of town in his nightclothes. Let’s hope the crisis is resolved once and for all today.

Consider me an idealist, but I’m thinking beyond that — about steps that might solve the underlying social issues that plague Honduras.

As the months-long battle between the two presidents in Honduras moves toward a rational resolution, what about the abjectly poor Honduran majority?

Honduras needs financial support, economic relief, and definitely social help - why can’t the U.S. and other nations increase their involvement? Fifty percent of Honduras’ 7.7 million people are below the poverty line, and almost 40 percent are children. There is talk of a national unity government by the end of the year. Will that government be able to change the paradigm without international aid?

Inevitably, the U.S. has a role. It has characteristically abandoned social concerns once it finishes with its little wars and interventions. Don’t we have an ongoing responsibility in Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the rest of the region?

Twenty-five years ago, probably the only positive part of turning Honduras into a U.S. staging base for American adventurism in Central America was that American military field hospitals scheduled regular health clinics in the countryside.

I remember seeing poor people waiting in line weekly medical screening, checkups and even surgeries that otherwise would not have taken place. I’m positive that thousands of Hondurans who rarely otherwise had seen a doctor benefited from American military largesse, even though the ulterior motives were not crystalline. It was part of the “hearts and minds” doctrine.

But development aid and social support are more than a handout. Stability in the Hemisphere is good for everyone.

First things first: Solve the political problem and then deal with underlying issues.

Honduras has taken a step backward during this crisis, according to Human Rights Watch.

“Honduras urgently needs to address the serious damage to human rights since the coup,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas Director at Human Rights Watch. “Honduras needs to roll back repressive legislation and give unequivocal orders to security forces to end their abuses and cooperate with the investigations of the human rights unit of the Attorney General’s office.”

- Peter Eisner

But since Zelaya’s ouster in a coup late June, most foreign donors have cut off aid to Honduras’ de facto government. If the Honduran political crisis continues, the legitimacy of next month’s elections will be called into question.

This would mean that the cessation of foreign aid could continue, leaving many impoverished communities to fend for themselves.

Craig Mauro of Al Jazeera English reports from the village of La Ceibita.

Should the United States cut off aid to governments it considers illegitimate, if ordinary people end up suffering?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please remember to be respectful and on-point in your comments. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted and repeat offenders will be banned.