The government of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, is ending most, if not all, the remaining American help for Afghanistan and Yemen, with cuts that according to the UN World Food Program (PMA) of the UN could be “a death sentence” for millions of people.
According to Sarah Charles, a former head of the USAID Humanitarian Affairs Office, and nine sources, including six American positions currently involved in humanitarian aid that spoke on condition of anonymity, a series of aid programs were canceled over the weekend by the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for more than a dozen countries, including Somalia and Syria.
The total amount of cut aid amounted to more than 1.3 billion dollars, according to the figures provided by Stand Up for AID, a popular defense group. This figure includes 562 million dollars for Afghanistan, 107 million for Yemen, 170 million for Somalia, 237 million for Syria and 12 million for Gaza.
The UN World Food Program warned that the end of US financing for emergency food assistance could be equivalent to a death sentence for millions of people who suffer from extreme hunger and starvation ”and said he was in contact with the Trump government for more information.
In a publication in the social network X, the head of the PMA, Cindy McCain, said that the fund cuts “will deepen hunger, feed instability and make the world much less safe.”
Read more: Trump proposes a plan to modernize USAID foreign aid
Cut to help programs of the USAID will aggravate the world humanitarian crisis
The cuts are the last piece of the Trump government campaign to dismantle USAID, the United States Humanitarian Aid Agency. His government has canceled billions of dollars in programs that save lives since the Republican President began his second term on January 20.
Many of the now canceled programs had received exemptions from the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, from the cuts to the foreign aid programs carried out by the Government Efficiency Department of billionaire Elon Musk since February, three of the sources said.
The United States has been the largest donor of help to Afghanistan, governed by the Taliban, already Yemen, most of which it is controlled by Islamist militiamen of the Hutí movement, backed by Iran. Both countries have suffered a devastating war for years.
“All the remaining allowances of Usaid for Afghanistan have been canceled,” said one of the sources. Those responsible said that the canceled funds included assistance for an UN agency that helps women, PMA and at least six non -governmental organizations.
The aid to the Afghan provided by the Office of Population, refugees and migration of the State Department was also canceled, five sources said.
According to several sources and experts, these suppressions will aggravate the world humanitarian crisis, putting millions of desperate people in danger of starvation and could feed new waves of illegal immigration.
“Despite the continuous guarantees that the programs that save lives would be protected during the ‘review’ of the foreign aid of Trump’s government, Doge spent the weekend canceling the help that the Government previously said to the Congress that would remain,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the main Democrat in the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
He affirmed that the end of food aid “would have devastating consequences” and that I hoped more information from Rubio.
With Reuters information.
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