United States President Donald Trump’s executive order halting all US aid is reverberating through Afghanistan. Dozens of NGOs that depend on US funding are reported to have already closed. United Nations agencies are scrutinising their funding to see what it means for programmes and partners and whether they can apply for a waiver for lifesaving humanitarian assistance. The sheer amount and variety of US funding to Afghanistan means the sudden order to ‘stop work’, implemented without warning, will hurt many sectors – from health to the media to rights groups to support for the poorest and most vulnerable. The move will also exacerbate the many problems facing Afghanistan’s sluggish economy. AAN’s Kate Clark, with input from Rama Mirzad, considers the extent, gravity and potential consequences for Afghanistan of the White House’s new aid policy.

On 20 January 2025, President Trump issued an executive order, ‘Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid’.

All department and agency heads with responsibility for United States foreign development assistance programs shall immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds to foreign countries and implementing non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and contractors pending reviews of such programs for programmatic efficiency and consistency with United States foreign policy, to be conducted within 90 days of this order.