WASHINGTON — According to the U.N. World Food Program and officials who spoke with The Associated Press, emergency program funding cuts to the agency will affect millions of people in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and 11 other countries struggling with poverty and conflict.
The World Food Program, the largest food aid provider, has asked the U.S. to reverse these cuts, announced Monday. According to two U.S. officials, a U.N. official, and AP documents, the unexpected contract cancellations target some of the last remaining programs.
“This could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation,” WFP stated on X.
The agency stated it was communicating with the Trump administration “to urge for continued support” for lifesaving programs and expressed gratitude to the United States and other donors for their previous contributions.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other administration officials had promised that emergency food programs and other critical aid would be exempt from substantial cuts to U.S. foreign assistance. The State Department did not immediately comment on Monday.
According to termination notices sent to partners and reviewed by the AP, the projects were being canceled “for the convenience of the U.S. Government” at the direction of a top lieutenant who was appointed to oversee the elimination of USAID programs.
Programs targeted by Trump administration
In Syria, a country grappling with widespread challenges after a 13-year civil war and an Islamic State insurgency, approximately $230 million in contracts with WFP and humanitarian organizations were terminated recently, according to a State Department document detailing the cuts obtained by the AP.
The largest of the targeted Syria programs, valued at $111 million, provided bread and other daily food to 1.5 million people, according to the document.
About 60 contract cancellation letters were sent out over the past week. A U.N. official in the Middle East stated that all U.S. aid to WFP food programs across Yemen, another war-torn country facing severe challenges, has been halted, apparently including food already delivered to distribution centers.
The U.N. official added that WFP also received termination letters for U.S.-funded programs in Lebanon and Jordan, where Syrian refugees would be most affected.
One of the U.S. officials noted that some of the last remaining U.S. funding for crucial programs in Somalia, Afghanistan, and Zimbabwe was also affected, including programs that provide food, water, medical care, and shelter to those displaced by war.
The officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Current and former USAID experts and partners reported that approximately $560 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan was cut, including emergency food assistance, treatment for severely malnourished babies, vital medical care, safe drinking water, and emergency mental health care for survivors of sexual and physical violence.
An administrator for a program run by Texas A&M University reported that another notice, sent on Friday, abruptly eliminated U.S. funding for a program strongly supported in Congress that sent young Afghan women overseas for education due to Taliban restrictions on women’s education.
According to that administrator, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly, the young women now face returning to Afghanistan, where their lives would be at risk.
Larger impact of cutting aid
Humanitarian groups warn that the abrupt end to WFP programs threatens some of the world’s most vulnerable populations, many of whom rely on this food aid. The U.S. and other donors have long considered efforts to alleviate humanitarian crises to be in their strategic interest by preventing mass migration, conflicts, and extremism, which resource scarcity can exacerbate.
WFP chief Cindy McCain stated on social media that the cuts “undermine global stability.”
The new cuts were especially shocking because Rubio had informed Congress and the courts last month that USAID contract cuts were finished, with around 1,000 programs saved worldwide and over 5,000 others eliminated.
The Trump administration has accused USAID of being wasteful and promoting liberal agendas.
Trump’s freeze on all foreign assistance through USAID and the State Department resulted in a shutdown of services at al-Hol camp in northeast Syria, where tens of thousands of suspected Islamic State fighters and their families are detained.
The shutdown raised fears of an uprising or breakout at the camp. U.S. officials quickly intervened to restore services.
The State Department document obtained by the AP identifies two recently terminated contracts, managed by Save the Children and the U.N. Population Fund, which provided mental health services and other care to women and children at al-Hol. It was not immediately clear if any other services at the camp were affected.
The U.S. had been the primary funder of the WFP, donating $4.5 billion of the $9.8 billion the food agency received last year.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Biller from Rome. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
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