USAID freeze

Donald Trump’s gutting of the American aid agency has adversely impacted humanitarian work in countries like Sri Lanka – while calling into question the reliability of Western foreign aid in the Global South.

The Trump administration's foreign aid cuts have crippled U.S. efforts to support earthquake relief efforts. But that's not the only damage they will do.

“Ending aid is not a strategy to make America great again. It’s a strategy to make America resented and isolated in the world.”

With its sweeping aid cuts, the Trump administration has effectively ended U.S. efforts to address a deadly legacy of the Vietnam War.

If leaked documents listing active and terminated projects are accurate, almost all USAID programs in Central Asia have been cut. 

With U.S. aid diminished, it seems unlikely that China will fill the gap. Beijing favors investments in infrastructure over civil society.

As Kazakhstan debates stricter regulations on foreign-funded NGOs and media, some organizations are already closing down due to the freeze on USAID funding.

What does the aid freeze mean on a practical level? More broadly, what does it mean for the geopolitical balance Mongolia maintains? 

Seven decades of aid to Nepal made America omnipresent in the Himalayan country. That is now in peril.