Egeland says Donald Trump’s aid pause ‘disastrous’ for Afghanistan

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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.Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending all US foreign assistance programs pending
reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals.It was not immediately clear how much assistance would initially be
affected by the Monday order as funding for many programs has already been appropriated by Congress and is obligated to be spent, if not
already spent.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.Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters that the decision
had left agencies reeling as they braced for further cuts from the biggest donor to Afghanistan.&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.Afghanistan is home to
more than 23 million people requiring humanitarian assistance & more than half the country&s population & but aid has shrunk as donors face
competing global crises and diplomats raise concerns about the Islamic Emirate&s restrictions on women in most areas of public life,
including education and health.Development funding that formed the backbone of government finances was cut after the IEA took over and
foreign forces left in 2021.Reuters reported last year that non-governmental groups played a critical role in filling the humanitarian
void.&If you go back in time it was a well funded operation, we got development assistance, then we could have perhaps have lived through
three months of suspension, we cannot any more,& Egeland said.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. The post Egeland says Donald Trump&s aid pause ‘disastrous& for Afghanistan first appeared on Ariana News.