USAID's funding chaos gets even messier On Friday, Peter Marocco, director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance, dropped a bomb in an email <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POvFAKmUBxuwLf95kl2y5AcHIWS-amDHgLKGYzpEyqldCmhXQQUtJ-5yTNKgb2rkkx8ZveQxb4hdE26kUQ3IvYjm__dBUZBfX07nc6T5qWnuZFmMyV65j8h6BTUoQ_a-BhXCNALICEuHwa2rzpt49fsYZAyaJiNVUJLHQmd6JB0d-NtKi607LG44EzZtOA_3ZeB2Y9J-uehTSK1fa2zN71LtPtjlPSpOo3WtZWWFhe6HL/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGZuTJQBjj1okZHF5ScN9Tptzo6EBjUCDp3z50t0RdlxL4ACYrdLHTCLVCu3OBDDJkvds6cvUI=>, stirring up his team with this urgent update:
“I’m fielding [White House] calls on whether we’ve complied yet with the President’s *order to stop all payments to Afghanistan*,” he wrote, setting off a flurry of activity to halt funding, as Devex snagged a peek at the chaos. The directive wasn't just for show; by the end of the weekend, *42 programs previously on the survival list were axed* — not just in Afghanistan but also *in Gaza, Yemen, Haiti*, and more, with* cuts totaling around $1.3 billion* globally, according to a document shared with Devex by staff in the U.S. Agency for International Development <https://t.devex.com/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGZuTJQBnG6FHOwcxEryBA51OZFLyNb2tv9Imc8qQTUICvvVhyzJZXnm8WuFKFu7vXSQ8eR9AU=>’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. The reason? Simply “for the convenience of the U.S. government.” The Trump administration had told the U.S. Congress that some of these programs would continue, and now they were suddenly gone. *The latest round even included cuts to emergency food aid*. The World Food Programme <https://t.devex.com/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGZuTJQBjS8uNlA0j7admj-R3mEGhWp__55ko7qZVd8Wydrz9ZVkw_EJsJ3prwSCKTV8OFpBgI=> alone saw *$804.4 million in food assistance evaporate across 14 countries*. But come Monday, an email scrambled to undo six of those cuts. “If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation,” WFP posted on social media platform X. And as the dust refuses to settle, everyone's left scratching their heads: Which cuts are final? Are some awards coming back from the dead? It’s all up in the air, leaving partners dangling and desperate for clarity. *Read:* A 'death sentence for millions' as US cuts more aid <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POvFAKmUBxuwLf95kl2y5AcHIWS-amDHgLKGYzpEyqldCmhXQQUtJ-5yTNKgb2rkkx8ZveQxb4hdE26kUQ3IvYjm__dBUZBfX07nc6T5qWnuZFmMyV65j8h6BTUoQ_a-BhXCNALICEuHwa2rzpt49fsYZAyaJiNVUJLHQmd6JB0d-NtKi607LG44EzZtOA_3ZeB2Y9J-uehTSK1fa2zN71Lsfkw3JtUPPGO4lh5L4zleb/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGZuTJQBjj1okZHF5ScN9Tptzo6EBjUCDp3z50t0RdlxL4ACYrdLHTCLVCu3OBDDJkvds6cvUI=>
