President Obama promises $90 million to help Laos with unexploded U.S. bombs
President Obama on Tuesday became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the landlocked nation of Laos, where he referred to the United States' secret bombing of the nation during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and '70s. "Given our history here, I believe that the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal," he said.
The U.S. dropped over two million tons of bombs on the country during the war, making Laos the most heavily-bombed nation in human history. An estimated 30 percent of the explosives dropped remained un-detonated, and they continue to kill Laotians to this day; Obama vowed $90 million to remove such unexploded weapons in the next three years.
Obama had also been set to meet with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte at the Southeast Asian summit, the gathering of regional leaders that opened Tuesday, but Obama canceled the meeting early Tuesday after Duterte used profane language to refer to Obama and express that he was not an "American puppet."
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