The United States has not “backed away from our commitments to providing lifesaving food aid,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday, despite the Trump administration’s recent cancelation of contracts to support such assistance in places like Afghanistan, Yemen, and Niger.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) last weekend canceled a number of contracts supporting lifesaving work and all of its remaining contracts for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and Yemen, where huge swaths of the population rely on foreign assistance to survive, a USAID official told CNN Monday.
On Monday, the World Food Programme expressed strong concern about “recent notifications from the US administration indicating that funding for emergency food assistance in 14 countries has been terminated.”
“If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation,” the UN organization warned. “We are in contact with the US administration to seek clarification and to urge for continued support for these life-saving programmes.”
Bruce said Tuesday that “85% of previously existing USAID programs with the World Food Programme worldwide remain active and ongoing,” but noted that “a limited number” were terminated.
Those included programs in Afghanistan and Yemen, she confirmed, saying they were canceled “through an executive order that was issued based on concern that the funding was benefiting terrorist groups, including the Houthis and the Taliban.”
A spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee told CNN that USAID canceled funding for their work in Afghanistan, which was “a lifeline for the estimated 23 million people in humanitarian need.” The spokesperson said their work addressed acute food insecurity and some of the severest forms of malnutrition as well as sanitation services and services for women and children.
USAID also canceled contracts with WFP for food assistance and other services in Somalia, Niger, and Jordan, the official said. They were among scores of contracts for lifesaving work – much of which had previously been cleared to continue – that were terminated by USAID last weekend.
Bruce said other awards “were terminated because they provided cash-based assistance, which the administration is moving away from given concerns about misuse and lack of appropriate accountability for American taxpayers here at home.”
“There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut, that have been rolled back and put into place,” she said without providing details on the restored programs.
Humanitarian officials have decried the latest round of cuts and warned they could have life or death consequences.
“This sudden withdrawal of vital humanitarian support will have devastating consequences for millions of people,” said Tom Hart, President and CEO of InterAction, an alliance of non-governmental organizations.
“We call on the administration to reverse these decisions and collaborate with implementing NGOs on a responsible approach to life-saving assistance,” he said. “We also urge Congress to assert its oversight authority to ensure America’s humanitarian commitments are fulfilled.”
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