Today, Americans honor those who have served in our nation’s armed forces and especially the sacrifices they and their loved ones have made because of war. These men and women know, better than most of us, the terrible costs when human conflicts turn violent.

soldiers at tomb of the unknown soldier

The U.S. Institute of Peace, too, aims to honor our veterans through daily work enshrined by Congress at the Institute’s founding: “to promote international peace and the resolution of conflicts among the nations and peoples of the world without recourse to violence.”

In the three decades since USIP was founded, our researchers, trainers, mediators and other experts have increasingly found themselves pursuing their mission of global peacebuilding in the same difficult environments as U.S. service members: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Colombia, Yemen, Uganda, and the Central African Republic, for example. Members of the military understand from experience the importance of resolving conflicts peacefully wherever possible. They understand the need to sustain a hard-won peace by rebuilding war-torn societies and communities.

USIP helps local citizens in countries worldwide build inclusive communities, improve governance and prevent or stem violent conflict, often to sustain a peace that our veterans fought and died to achieve. Peacebuilding work in nations that are at risk of violence can reduce the number of our men and women called to combat and bloodshed.

The service of our veterans and their wartime sacrifices obligate us at USIP—and indeed all of us as Americans—to prevent violent conflict wherever possible. Today, amid seemingly intractable or ever-burgeoning conflicts worldwide, the Institute recommits itself to this goal, for our courageous veterans and for the nation.

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