INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Washington’s former special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has come out in support of US President Donald Trump’s decision to
dismantle USAID, which has provided billions of dollars to help fight poverty and promote development in developing countries around the
world.In a post on X early Tuesday morning, Khalilzad spoke out about the agency and said it has “significant issues and needs an in-depth
review and change.”He said in his post that after his own “very mixed experiences with them as ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq,” he
wrote in his book, in 2016, ‘The Envoy’ that in order to enable the strategic use of development programs, USAID should be split.“The
capabilities for emergency humanitarian and disaster relief should be separated from USAID’s development functions,” he said, adding
that these functions should be integrated into the political and economic spheres of the US State Department.“It makes no sense to
separate programs to strengthen governance and economic performance in developing countries from the department charged with shaping the
overall bilateral relationship,” he stated in his book.He noted that this change would more readily integrate development activities into
US strategy, inject operational capabilities into the Foreign Service, and accelerate the needed change in the State Department’s
culture.“The current practice of relying on U.S
contractor firms to carry out development programs needs to change
In the 1950s and 1960s, USAID, in fact, had a great deal of specialized development expertise in such areas as infrastructure development
and agriculture.“Direct contracting with local firms in host countries would also wean the United States off the least effective of the US
contractors, with their exorbitant overhead.”Chaos in aid sectorTrump’s overhaul of US foreign assistance has led to chaos in the aid
and development field, leaving hundreds of contractors in a severe financial crunch with some already having to lay off staff and others
facing millions of dollars in unpaid invoices.Hours after coming into office on January 20, Trump ordered a sweeping review of almost all US
foreign aid and tasked billionaire Elon Musk, who has falsely accused USAID of being a “criminal” organization, with scaling down the
agency.Since then, dozens of USAID staff has been put on leave, hundreds of internal contractors have been laid off, while Musk’s
so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge)
employees have gutted the agency that is Washington’s primary humanitarian arm,
providing billions of dollars worth of aid worldwide.Blanket stop-work orders that were issued by the State Department have thrown the aid
industry into panic, both at home and abroad as the contractors usually front the costs and then bill the US government.An official at a
USAID implementing partner, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity due to fear of retribution, said the company had to furlough
hundreds of US-based staff and were owed over $50 million by the US government in invoices from November and December that are past due.The
official, along with others in a similar predicament, said they might have to go to court over the outstanding balances.Trust RupturedMany
of the USAID staff and contractors have expressed shock at how quickly the Trump administration moved to fire people.In fiscal year 2023,
the United States disbursed $72 billion of aid worldwide on everything from women’s health in conflict zones to access to clean water,
HIV/AIDS treatments, energy security and anti-corruption work.It provided 42% of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in
2024.The funding, less than 1% of its total budget, is instrumental in Washington’s effort to build alliances around the world, reinforce
its diplomacy and counter the influence of adversaries such as China and Russia in the developing world.Trump ordered the global freeze on
most US foreign aid as part of his “America First” policy.Field hospitals in Thai refugee camps, landmine clearance in war zones, and
drugs to treat millions suffering from diseases such as HIV are among the programmes at risk of elimination.Speaking more broadly about
cutting US expenses and fraud, Musk estimated the Trump administration can cut $1-trillion from the US deficit next year.He asserted, for
example, that “professional foreign fraud rings” were stealing vast sums by masquerading as or creating fake digital US citizens.Musk
did not offer any evidence to support his fraud claim or explain how he reached the amount of $1-trillion.The post Khalilzad backs Trump’s
move to restructure USAID first appeared on Ariana News.
