The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has suspended all funding for programmes in Pakistan following a directive from the Trump administration to halt all foreign aid, except for Israel and Egypt.
The decision, effective from January 20, aligns with President Donald Trump’s executive order to re-evaluate and realign US foreign assistance.
The US Embassy in Islamabad confirmed the development in response to queries, stating that all media requests related to the decision were being referred to the White House.
The funding freeze follows a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, enforcing a 90-day review period on all foreign aid allocations.
According to official data from the US Foreign Assistance portal, US disbursements to Pakistan dropped from $169.8 million in 2023 to $116.5 million in 2024. The primary sectors affected include basic health ($21.53 million), disaster prevention ($14.01 million), energy ($12.04 million), business services ($13.34 million), conflict resolution and security ($11.7 million), and agriculture ($4.82 million).
This is not the first instance of a US aid freeze on Pakistan. In January 2018, during his first term, President Trump criticized Pakistan, claiming the US had “foolishly handed over $33 billion in aid over 15 years” with little in return. He accused Pakistan of providing “safe havens to terrorists” operating in Afghanistan and vowed to end the assistance.
