Attachments
CRISIS OVERVIEW
On 20 January 2025, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) calling for a 90-day suspension of US-funded foreign aid, including humanitarian operations (WH 20/01/2025 a). The administration began sending stop-work orders (SWOs) on 24 January 2025, along with a pause on new aid. According to media reports, an internal memo allowed continued military assistance to Israel and Egypt (Reuters 24/01/2025; The Guardian 24/01/2025). On 28 January, amid confusion and calls for exemptions to the pause, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a waiver “for life-saving humanitarian assistance” (US DOS 28/01/2025; AJ 27/01/2025; Reuters 27/01/2025). This is defined as “core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as supplied and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance” (US DOS 28/01/2025). Excluded from healthcare services were some core elements of sexual and reproductive healthcare, including family planning. By 7 February, most USAID employees had been placed on administrative leave, with the exception of critical personnel (CNN 04/02/2025). The suspension of international humanitarian aid came on the same day as the US announcing its withdrawal from WHO and alongside the announcement that Rubio will serve as USAID’s interim director (WH 20/01/2025 b; Just Security 01/02/2025; The Guardian 01/02/2025; CNN 03/02/2025). The US is a major humanitarian aid donor; in 2024, according to OCHA’s financial tracking system, US funds made up 43.9% of all reported humanitarian funding in Afghanistan (OCHA accessed 30/01/2025). In 2025, the US was expected to provide at least USD 234 million in humanitarian financing to Afghanistan, around 10% of the total funding requirements of the country’s 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) and around 60% of all funds committed to the response by 3 February (USAID 17/01/2025; OCHA accessed 03/02/2025). According to the deputy minister of economy of the Interim Taliban Authority (ITA), around 50 national and international aid organisations across the country have had to suspend operations, in part or entirely, following the SWOs (NPR 03/02/2025). The humanitarian impacts of the funding pause and SWOs will become clearer in the coming days or weeks when organisations have more clarity on which programmes can continue under the waiver. That said, the precarious humanitarian situation in Afghanistan means any decline in humanitarian funding or pause in humanitarian operations will have a significant impact on the Afghan population in general and especially on those in immediate need of humanitarian assistance. More than one-third of Afghanistan’s population is projected to face acute food insecurity through March 2025 (OCHA 19/12/2024). While it is unclear how or whether the US withdrawal from WHO will affect the healthcare crisis in Afghanistan, the country’s health system is struggling, and social determinants of health continue to worsen (HRW 12/02/2024). The combination of continued restrictions (especially on women and girls), economic stagnation, commodity price increases, and insufficient funding – a large part suspended following the SWOs – is likely to contribute to a significantly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Afghanistan (ACAPS 24/12/2024; WB 02/05/2024).