INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The head of a major humanitarian organisation said United States 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 United States forces left behind
The post Egeland says Donald Trump&s aid pause ‘disastrous& for Afghanistan first appeared on Ariana News.
