Why supporting the Middle East and Central Asia matters

The Middle East and Central Asia remain vital to American national security. The region is at the strategic intersection of global energy markets, critical trade routes, and counterterrorism operations. It is also home to key U.S. military missions and partnerships that help deter extremism and promote regional stability. More than 50,000 U.S. troops serve across the broader Middle East, often alongside local partners who share America’s interest in a safer, more prosperous future.

Many of the challenges confronting these partners fall into the space between what governments can provide and what is needed. A damaged school becomes a recruiting opportunity for extremists. A lack of emergency communications leaves communities vulnerable. A partner military lacks critical training and reporting equipment, making it more difficult to deter threats. Families displaced by conflict lose faith in institutions meant to protect them.

These seemingly local problems carry global consequences.

The Middle East and Central Asia are experiencing a period of extraordinary change. Iranian-backed actors continue to exert pressure on governments and communities, seeking to exploit regional instability. At the same time, Russia and China are working quickly to expand their presence and influence. Across the region, populations are youthful, connected, and increasingly important to the future political and economic trajectory of their countries. Whether these societies move toward greater stability and partnership with the United States or toward disorder and malign influence will have lasting implications for American security.

Spirit of America Regional Program Managers Wisam Khaleefah and Alex Ebsary review the Medical Force Readiness platform at the Peshmerga First Division (Photo by PASSAR Agency for Spirit of America).

Spirit of America’s mission in this region is not simply humanitarian—it’s tactical. By strengthening our trusted local partners, demonstrating American generosity and friendship, and helping communities solve practical problems, we create conditions for stability to take root and endure. When America is seen as a reliable partner, extremist narratives lose power, local institutions gain legitimacy, and the burden to U.S. forces on the ground is reduced. This is national security philanthropy in action.

Regional Program Manager Alex Ebsary attends an Afghan Future Campaign Event at American University of Central Asia (Photo by Homayoun Sarwari for Spirit of America).

The Challenge and Spirit of America’s Unique Role

As a privately funded nonprofit working directly alongside U.S. troops and diplomats, Spirit of America provides capabilities governments often cannot. We move with private-sector speed and flexibility to solve problems, pilot innovative solutions, test new ideas, and scale successful efforts. Most importantly, we can respond to needs identified directly by Americans on the ground, working toward diplomacy and security cooperation.

Our work spans from supporting displaced military families in Lebanon to strengthening partner force readiness in Iraqi Kurdistan, rehabilitating schools that serve populations recovering from conflict, completing infrastructure projects in Central Asia, and helping regional partners build the skills and relationships needed to address future crises. And the result is asymmetric: relatively modest philanthropic investments that generate significant strategic returns for the United States and its partners.

Below are two examples of our ongoing work to support military partners and civilian communities in the Middle East:

Delivering critical assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces
In the wake of military strikes in Iran, Spirit of America mobilized quickly, connecting with our network of trusted experts and partners to assess how to respond constructively. In the weeks following the attacks, we delivered over $100,000 in humanitarian assistance to 6,000 displaced family members of Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) personnel affected by the recent escalation.

Volunteers package food, water, and hygiene supplies for families of the Lebanese Armed Forces in Beirut, Lebanon (Photos by Karim Saqr for Spirit of America).

While many other organizations have provided humanitarian support for displaced civilians, our U.S. military partners identified a gap in assistance for LAF families, including food, water, and essential hygiene supplies. This support ensures Lebanese Army personnel can remain focused on their operational responsibilities and reinforces the resilience of one of Lebanon’s most critical and widely respected institutions.

Strengthening the medical readiness of the Peshmerga

Regional Program Manager Alex Ebsary speaks to Dr. Reza Seniar, the Director of Medical Affairs in the Ministry of Peshmerga (Photo by PASSAR Agency for Spirit of America).

In 2025, Spirit of America partnered with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Peshmerga Forces to launch the Medical Force Readiness Initiative, a first-of-its-kind digital platform that modernizes how military health information is collected, shared, and acted upon across Iraqi Kurdistan.

Information that once took months to compile can now be reported in minutes, significantly improving readiness and operational effectiveness. The system is now active in more than 50 Peshmerga medical units, giving commanders real-time visibility into troop health, streamlining medical evacuations and treatment, and helping leaders deploy medical personnel where they are needed most.

The Medical Force Readiness Initiative highlights Spirit of America’s ability to deliver high-impact solutions that strengthen U.S. partners at a fraction of the cost and timeline of traditional approaches. Rather than providing a temporary resource, this investment leaves behind a lasting, modernized capability. By helping the Peshmerga modernize a critical aspect of military readiness, we are enabling a long-standing U.S. ally to operate more effectively in a region still challenged by instability and extremist threats.

Lasting impact

Spirit of America’s work in the Middle East and Central Asia generates returns that far exceed the size of our investments. By filling small but critical gaps identified by U.S. troops and diplomats, we help unlock impactful outcomes that government funding alone often cannot achieve.
Since 2003, we’ve supported more than 165 projects across the Middle East. Our support takes many forms:

• Infrastructure rehabilitation for schools and community facilities
• Housing, generators, and operational equipment for partner security forces
• English-language training and professional development programs
• Border-security and surveillance capabilities
• Support for displaced military families and vulnerable communities
• Educational and vocational opportunities for Afghan refugees and youth
• Medical supplies and field-training equipment for multinational military exercises

In Iraqi Kurdistan, the Peshmerga security forces have stood shoulder to shoulder with American troops for decades, helping liberate northern Iraq from ISIS control. Working with U.S. Special Operations, Spirit of America has for many years provided nonlethal assistance to help the Peshmerga take back and stabilize their communities.

In Central Asia, educational and professional-development initiatives have helped Afghan refugees and local youth build professional skills and access opportunities otherwise unavailable to them. Honoring our commitment to our friends and allies means more than helping them survive a crisis — it means helping them shape their own futures with dignity and purpose. Over the last three years, Spirit of America has provided $1 million in support to Afghans around the world through our Afghan Future Campaign.

Spirit of America has provided support in Lebanon for over a decade, ranging from infrastructure improvements to humanitarian aid to military assistance. This assistance has strengthened the LAF’s ability to serve as a stabilizing national institution and build trust in local communities.

Our work in action

Here are a few examples of our past work in the Middle East and Central Asia:

Supporting Security in Lebanon
Prior to March 2026, our team worked alongside U.S. Special Operations Forces and State Department partners to support the Lebanese Armed Forces as they secured key areas in South Lebanon, after Israeli and UN forces withdrew from the area in late 2024.

Spirit of America provided a $1 million investment in critical infrastructure — prefabricated housing units, power generators, and vehicle repair kits — to the LAF as they deployed in areas long influenced by Hezbollah. This support boosted morale, sustainment, and operational reach for the LAF, sharpening their ability to hold territory and enhancing their legitimacy as Lebanon’s security provider.

Delivery of pre-fab units at a handover ceremony to the Lebanese Armed Forces in 2025 (Photo by Hadi Bou Ayash for Spirit of America).

Restoring life to the Aral Sea
The Aral Sea in Central Asia was once the third-largest lake in the world. Decades of Soviet agricultural and industrial mismanagement caused the Aral Sea to dry up and turn what once served as a livelihood for farmers and fishermen for centuries into little more than a desert. The lakebed, full of dust, salt, and leftover agricultural chemicals, allows storms deposit a toxic dust mixture throughout the region, posing a risk to plants, animals, and people alike.

A desert where the Aral Sea used to exist (Photo by Spirit of America).

American experts at the USAID Mission in Central Asia partnered with the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea to help the Aral region recover through a project planting the black saksual plant at scale, reducing erosion and protecting millions of people from the effects of toxic dust storms. The chief problem was that the project site was over 10 hours from the nearest saksual nursery by road. For the project to succeed, USAID and Central Asian scientists needed an on-site nursery capable of raising the plants.

Working with USAID and our Central Asian partners, Spirit of America constructed a 2-hectare nursery capable of delivering 100,000 saksual saplings per year to the Oasis project site, as well as future sites. This nursery had an outsized, asymmetric impact on the fight against desertification and supporting other international efforts to scale up the planting of black saksual for the region’s recovery.

Through cooperation between American development experts, Central Asian scientists, and local communities, Spirit of America helped bring life back to the Aral Sea.

Strengthening Stability Through Education in Syria
Following the fall of the Assad regime, Syria entered a pivotal period of transition. Recognizing a rare opportunity to support long-term stability, Spirit of America partnered with local organizations, volunteers, and U.S. partners to rehabilitate schools in the Damascus suburb of Jaramanah.

Jaramanah is one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse areas in Syria—home to Christians, Druze, Shia, Sunnis, and Kurds—which makes it an ideal location to demonstrate inclusive, community-centered support. This spring, more than 3,000 kids returned to newly renovated classrooms and repaired facilities. Students, teachers, and families that had endured years of conflict, displacement, and deteriorating public services were greeted with a profound sense of normalcy, a critical step on the path to a foundation for a more stable and unified Syria.

Schools are often the most visible and trusted institutions in a community. This project helped create tangible evidence of American partnership in Syria, strengthened local civic engagement, and provided young people with a safe environment to learn and build their futures. At a critical moment in Syria’s history, this investment reinforced community resilience and helped reduce the conditions that instability and extremism can exploit.

Your contribution provides essential Middle East support, delivering humanitarian aid and critical resources to U.S. forces and their partners working to strengthen security and stability across the region.