The Afghan men load the food packages which have been distributed as aid by the World Food Program. Last weekend, all USAID contracts supporting the humanitarian aid of WFP and other agencies in Afghanistan were canceled.
Wakil Kohsar / AFP via Getty Images / AFP
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Wakil Kohsar / AFP via Getty Images / AFP
After the Trump administration of thousands of humanitarian aid programs last month, around 900 programs, operating around the world, still received funds from the American agency for international development.
During the weekend, however, at least 42 of these programs were informed that USAID had canceled their contracts, which financed the provision of assistance services over a defined period of time.
The State Department did not say how many contracts had been canceled. The number of programs canceled and the value of contracts – at least $ 1.3 billion – come from Oneaid, a basic group of staff and partners affiliated to USAID who support the preservation of foreign assistance. Oneaid compiled this data from first -hand accounts. NPR confirmed the cuts with sources which have direct knowledge of it and which spoke subject to anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press.
Contracts, which covered a variety of humanitarian activities, including food aid administered by the United Nations World Food Program, were canceled towards Jeremy Lewin, the acting assistant administrator of USAID policies and programs. NPR obtained a copy of the form letter sent by email to the world and local organizations informing them that their contracts were terminated.
In a statement, the State Department said that the last series of cancellations reflects the efforts of the Trump administration to “redirect foreign assistance programming after decades of mismanagement, fraud and poorly aligned priorities in the performance of foreign aid”. Asked about the Oneaid figures, the agency neither confirmed nor disputed the amounts.
The list of cuts, according to the information collected by Oneeaid, included:
- Programs that had previously been exempt from the suspension of foreign aid by the Trump administration, announced on January 28 because they provided “vital” services, in the words of the Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
- The programs that were suspended in January as part of an examination of USAID subsidies were informed last week that they could resume work on projects such as the provision of medical care, nutrition, drinking water and support for rape survivors – and were dismissed this weekend.
- Programs that were then reinstated. On Tuesday, the spokesperson for the State Department, Tammy Bruce, announced at a press conference that some of the cancellations of the weekend had been made by mistake and that the financing of the USAID for certain groups would be restored. She did not say how many cancellations were canceled. These inversions have reduced the total amount of programs canceled.
“This is only the cervical boost,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of International Refugees and a senior USAID Health Manager in the Obama administration, whose organization was not affected by the cancellations of the weekend.
How much was cut – and where?
Cups do not necessarily mean that a program will stop working. Some humanitarian programs draw funding from several sources and could continue their work to some extent without American aid.
OneAid has also compiled data on cuts in specific countries and territories, including Gaza ($ 12 million), Haiti ($ 5.9 million), Lebanon ($ 10.1 million), Niger ($ 8 million) and Syria ($ 126 million).
The layoffs of the contract in Syria are particularly perplexed, said a USAID official who spoke subject to anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press. A Syrian program offering food for hungry pregnant people and children under the age of 5 has been informed that his contract has not been canceled, but a separate contract for the staff who led this program was canceled, leaving no one to supervise the work, said the manager.
And all American humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and Yemen has been eliminated.
In Afghanistan, canceled contracts have totaled $ 280 million with the World Food Program, 24 million dollars with the United Nations population and $ 257 million with other non -governmental organizations (NGOs).
The canceled contracts have totaled $ 67 million for Yemen, which undergoes “the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world”, according to a Yemen State Report Prepared by the United Nations, who said that “24.1 million people – 80% of the population” need “humanitarian aid and protection”.
Contracts that provide Yemen aid have been reduced “according to the concern that funding benefited from terrorist groups, including Houthis and Taliban,” said Bruce at the press conference on Tuesday. The Houthis, who are supported by Iran, are the most powerful group in Yemen. They hold the capital, Sanaa. They began to attack international navigation in the Red Sea, in solidarity with the Palestinians, after the War of Israel-Hamas broke out in 2023.
“The reduction of internationally recognized government assistance in Yemen – in particular while it actively fights the Houthis – represents an important setback for humanitarian efforts,” said Middle East analyst Mohammed Albasha in a signal message at NPR. Albasha is the founder of the Basha report, a publication focused on politics in Yemen and the Middle East.
Konyndyk said that the end of humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and Yemen does not only affect the regimes that the US government considers illegitimate: “We also cut people who are at the mercy of these regimes.”
“What we say here is, basically, we are perfectly happy that the Afghan people would die to death,” he said. “This leaves the Afghan people even more dependent on the Taliban, and it allows the Taliban to say” to see? Americans do not care about you. We are your only hope. “”
The State Department did not respond to a request for comments on the impact of cuts.
Money is not approved, cancellations are announced
Other projects funded by the United States in countries in addition to Afghanistan and Yemen have been dismissed because they have provided cash aid – where groups of aid provide people with money Or good to buy food and other necessities, a type of assistance “whose administration is moving away,” said Bruce. She cited “concerns about improper use and lack of appropriate responsibility” as a reason to end these prices.
Bruce also said that “nobody wrapped” or checked where the USAID money went “years, decades”, although funding was closely supervised by congress and by organizations administering aid.
Then there are the inversions. During Tuesday’s press conference Bruce said: “There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not intended to be cut that were canceled and set up.” Although she did not provide examples or said in the number of countries that had been accidentally reduced, she said: “It was only a few.”
According to ONEAID data, the World Food Program produced at least $ 464 million in aid contracts during the weekend, then reversed for the Ecuador, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Somalia and Syria programs.
Aid contracts with other humanitarian groups were also canceled and then reinstated in the Marshall Islands (1.6 million dollars), micronesia ($ 2.1 million), Palau ($ 2 million) and Papua New Guinea ($ 6 million).
What comes next? The cancellations of the weekend are not the last word, according to Bruce. Help contracts will be fully examined, she said: “We are in a constant and regular audit. This will always be the case now.”
Schreiber melody is a journalist and publisher of To which we did not expect: personal stories about premature birth.
