Agreement was extended for the next 5 years to continue Voice of America’s (VoA) programs to be broadcasted via the channel of the Radio Television of Afghanistan (RTA) at a function attended by Afghan minister of information and culture, Dr. Sayed Makhdoom

The BBG said it would shut down VOA's Chinese radio and television broadcasts while making its Mandarin-language service available only on the Internet. Forty-five journalists, or more than half of the branch's full-time staff, will be let go.

Military force may sometimes be necessary, but diplomacy and development are equally important in creating peaceful, stable and prosperous conditions - that's the conclusion of the U.S. Department of State.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors has chosen David Ensor to be the new director of the Voice of America. The former journalist, currently working for the State Department, will join VOA in June, replacing Danforth Austin.

Ensor spent 19 years with ABC News, covering the White House and then the national security beat. In 1999, he joined CNN, and he is currently working for the government in Kabul, Afghanistan, as the U.S. Embassy’s Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy in Kabul.

If public diplomacy helps determine which countries are on the way up and which are on the way down, U.S. actions speak louder than the broadcasts themselves. "We are in an information war, and we are losing that war," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted to Congress last month.

The decision to cut Voice of America (VOA) Broadcasting to China has attracted a good deal of congressional attention, as well it should. While China has launched a worldwide public diplomacy and media offensive, the United States is looking at a greatly reduced international media presence if the projected cuts go through.

In an effort to deflect and counteract leftist regimes in Latin America during the Cold War, Washington attached great political importance to its propaganda efforts. From Cuba to Chile, the US sought to promote friendly media while cultivating the support of right-wing reporters.