MONITORING (SW) – The head of a major humanitarian organisation said U.S. President Donald Trump’s order to halt foreign aid for 90 days would have immediate and disastrous consequences in Afghanistan where relief operations are already stretched thin.
As he took office on Monday, Trump ordered a temporary pause in foreign development aid pending assessments of efficiencies and consistency with his foreign policy.
The scope of the order was not clear, including whether it applied to Afghanistan’s humanitarian funding, which is channelled through NGOs and United Nations agencies, reported Reuters.
“A 90-day suspension of all aid, no new grants, no new transfer of funding, will have disastrous consequences immediately … for an already starved aid operation for very poor and vulnerable girls and women and civilians in Afghanistan,” he said during a video interview from Kabul late on Tuesday.
Development funding that formed the backbone of government finances was cut after the Islamic Emirate took over and foreign forces left in 2021.
Trump told a rally shortly before taking office that aid to Afghanistan would be contingent on getting back billions of dollars of military equipment that U.S. forces left behind.
Egeland said he had raised the issue of female education with Islamic Emirate leaders in his four visits to Kabul since they took control of the country. In his last trip he said he told them they must open schools and universities to all girls and women.
“You cannot not educate half your population,” he said.
The Islamic Emirate have also banned Afghan women from working at NGOs since 2022, reiterating that position in a second announcement late last year.
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