In Nepal, the cancellation of a five-year, $35 million USAID program, which had reached over 100,000 women and girls, is being linked to an increase in maternal and infant mortality.

A Maryland woman who defrauded a USAID-funded nonprofit has avoided prison time and agreed to pay the U.S. government $160,000 to resolve civil allegations of submitting false claims for payment.

Following US President Trump's decision to discontinue the USAID program, Nepal is experiencing severe consequences, particularly with the elimination of many HIV prevention initiatives.

Experts warn that a promising injectable PrEP drug, capable of significantly reducing new HIV cases globally, faces access challenges due to dramatic worldwide declines in HIV prevention investment, including USAID cuts.

A survey indicates that a quarter of young Africans believe aid cuts by the US could have a positive impact, suggesting it might force leaders to address their own challenges while also raising concerns about foreign influence.

An Associated Press video detailing how transgender aid workers in Nepal turned to sex work after USAID funding cuts ignited fierce conservative backlash regarding taxpayer funding priorities.

A photograph circulating on social media, purporting to show USAID humanitarian aid being used to finance terrorist groups, has been investigated for its veracity.

Ambassador Mike Waltz announced that the Trump administration is shifting from traditional foreign aid to private investment and trade. This new blueprint aims to create jobs and reduce dependency in recipient countries.

Experts warn that the containment of the Ebola crisis has been demonstrably worsened by foreign aid cuts, specifically citing the closure of USAID operations.

A year after the Trump administration disbanded the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a majority of Americans continue to support providing foreign aid for disaster relief and prevention.

Dual earthquakes in Venezuela are testing the Trump administration's new western hemisphere policy, particularly after the gutting of USAID, as Marco Rubio scrambles to provide effective disaster response to the country whose president the US deposed in January.

The UNRWA has terminated 70 employees following accusations from Israel regarding their affiliation with Hamas, with USAID also referring staff for suspension over alleged roles in the October 7 massacre.

An online version of a weekly bulletin covers topics including USAID cuts and robots dancing for Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

Former President Trump is reportedly rebooting foreign aid with a new 'America First' strategy, which involves transactional money-for-data deals that critics have likened to 'recolonisation' after previous cuts to USAID.

An article argues that containing the spread of Ebola is inherently difficult, and the decimation of USAID by the U.S. has further exacerbated these challenges, making global health responses harder.

A new study has found a correlation between a surge in violence across Africa and cuts made to USAID programs during the Trump administration. The research suggests a potential impact of reduced aid on regional stability.

Nigeria’s House of Reps investigates the use of $4.6 billion in donor health funds from the Global Fund and USAID to ensure transparency and accountability.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a phone call with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi to discuss ongoing US-Iran talks.

Reports indicate that U.S. equipment has ended up in the hands of Iran's allies in Yemen, coinciding with the disbandment of USAID operations in the region. This raises questions about the security and oversight of aid distribution.

A new book alleges that Trump administration officials believed USAID primarily conducted abortions before significantly reducing the agency's operations. Global health experts reportedly resorted to simplified presentations to explain their work.

Washington D.C. is experiencing the highest unemployment rate in the US, particularly affecting highly qualified workers, with one case highlighting a USAID employee fired during the Trump administration's cessation of cooperation.

Badr Albusaidi claims Israel convinced Donald Trump to make the ‘grave miscalculation’ of waging war on Iran Oman’s foreign minister has claimed the US has “lost control of its own foreign policy”…

U autorskom tekstu za magazin The Economist, omanski ministar spoljnih poslova Badr Albusaidi upozorava da su Sjedinjene Američke Države izgubile kontrolu nad sopstvenom spoljnom politikom i poziva…

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi during an official visit to Oman to discuss expanding cooperation.

As the momentum for funding health initiatives slows down, African governments are exploring ways to minimize reliance on foreign donors.

Following the meeting between Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi and U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Washington on Feb. 27, parties monitoring the U.S.-Iran negotiati...

Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, the key mediator in US-Iran nuclear talks, meets with JD Vance in Washington, DC.

Democrat congressman questions use of USAID funds for Trump budget chief’s security  The Straits Times

Today's round of US-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva was paused for a break after starting this morning, Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi wrote. Oman FM:

Zimbabwean authorities have terminated health aid discussions with the United States, which were intended to replace USAID, citing concerns about national sovereignty.

A 59-year-old former USAID employee reflects on losing his job in 2025 after the agency was dismantled, expressing survivor's guilt a year later.

“Why did you start driving inDrive?” It’s my go-to icebreaker with drivers in Pakistan. Lately, the answers have been unsettlingly similar. “I used to work in the development sector,” one man told me. “Then I lost my job.” I’ve heard that line — or a version of it — too many times to dismiss as coincidence. Since the United States pulled the plug on its aid apparatus, the fallout has been immediate. On the surface, the shutdown of USAID is being framed as just another abrupt policy reversal — a bureaucratic casualty in an era of disruption. But look closer, and it reveals something far more profound: the cumulative weight of domestic and international tensions that have been simmering, both within and beyond the US for decades. Cycles of aid, cycles of distrust The first source of strain lies beyond US borders. From its inception as a Cold War instrument, American foreign aid has been shaped by an enduring tension between its declared objectives of development and altruism and its underlying strategic and political calculations. This duality has long been apparent to the recipient elites and the broader public alike. During the Cold War, many governments acquiesced, in part because Western donors faced little competition and alternative sources of assistance were scarce. That landscape has since changed. As non-traditional donors, most notably China and the Gulf states, have expanded their presence, and as domestic political incentives within recipient countries have shifted, scepticism toward USAID has become more explicit and politically salient. In countries such as Pakistan, where mistrust of American intentions runs deep, US assistance is often perceived less as generosity than as intrusion. What is now framed as a backlash against American aid is better understood as the culmination of a long-simmering tension and a legacy of mutual misperceptions between donor and recipient. Pakistan’s experience with US foreign aid agency illustrates this dynamic with particular clarity. American assistance to Pakistan has never been linear or predictable; instead, it has unfolded in cycles closely attuned to Washington’s shifting strategic priorities. During the Cold War, aid was channelled primarily through a security-alliance framework aimed at containing the Soviet bloc, with economic assistance tightly coupled to military cooperation. These flows declined sharply after the 1965 war, reinforcing perceptions of US aid as conditional, transactional, and reversible. Another peak in this equation followed in the 1980s, when General Ziaul Haq aligned Pakistan with the US in opposing Soviet expansion in Afghanistan. Yet with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the subsequent imposition of US sanctions on Pakistan’s nuclear programme under the Pressler Amendment, assistance once again contracted. It was only after 9/11 that the aid surged anew, this time framed around counterterrorism and stabilisation. Even at its height, however, much of this assistance remained shaped by security imperatives, short funding horizons, and heavy reliance on contractors, rather than long-term institution-building. For many Pakistanis, therefore, the shutdown of USAID feels less like an abrupt rupture than the latest turn in a familiar cycle of engagement and disengagement. The second factor is bureaucratic pathologisation. Like many large organisations, aid agencies are susceptible to institutional dysfunction, and USAID has been no exception. In practice, particularly in contexts such as Pakistan, as commissioner on the Afghanistan War Commission Andrew Wilder has noted, its programmes increasingly came to be structured through a security lens rather than a development one. Key decisions were made in Washington, filtered through multiple layers of contractors, and ultimately deployed on the ground with limited scope for local input. At the same time, bureaucratic incentives privileged projects with easily quantifiable indicators, favouring what could be measured over what was substantively effective. These patterns were neither accidental nor new, nor are they unique to the US. Over time, however, they eroded both the legitimacy and the perceived effectiveness of USAID, among recipients abroad and critics at home. These institutional dynamics had tangible consequences on the ground. In Pakistan, USAID funding became heavily concentrated in sectors aligned with stabilisation and security objectives — such as service delivery in so-called “fragile” districts or rapid-impact infrastructure — often at the expense of slower, politically unglamorous investments in local institutional capacity. NGOs and development professionals structured entire career paths around USAID project cycles, only to see those opportunities vanish when priorities shifted or funding was abruptly frozen. The result was a hollowing out of local expertise and institutional memory. When aid was withdrawn, it left behind far fewer durable institutions than its scale and visibility might have led one to expect. The mismatch between stated development objectives and the underlying security logic was further compounded by an overreliance on quantifiable metrics to demonstrate impact. This tendency was reinforced by a development ecosystem shaped by the overproduction of economists and political scientists trained as methodological specialists rather than regional experts. Programmes designed in Washington often prioritised what could be easily counted — number of schools built, clinics refurbished, trainings delivered, or kilometres of roads completed — over whether such interventions meaningfully strengthened local institutions. In Pakistan, this logic was especially evident in sectors such as education, health, and local governance, where projects were assessed primarily through output indicators rather than sustainability or local ownership. Multiple layers of contractors further diluted accountability and blurred responsibility once funding cycles ended. Over time, this produced a paradox: USAID became both omnipresent and poorly understood — associated with large budgets and extensive reporting, but yielding limited and uneven institutional impact. That credibility gap left the agency especially exposed when domestic political support in the US began to erode. The third major factor behind the dismantling of the aid lies in the domestic backlash within the US against international cooperation. Opposition to foreign aid, multilateralism, and international institutions long predates Donald Trump, reflecting decades of polarisation over globalisation and America’s role in the world. By the time Trump entered office, hostility toward international engagement was already deeply embedded in US politics. In this context, shuttering a highly visible aid agency became a potent domestic signal; it becomes a way to demonstrate responsiveness to voters who view global commitments as costly, wasteful, or illegitimate. Dismantling USAID was therefore less a recalibration of foreign policy than an act of domestic political theatre. The US government’s official justification for shutting down USAID frames the move as a response to “China’s exploitative aid model” and a means of advancing American “strategic interests in key regions around the world”. It is true that China has dramatically expanded its development footprint and largely operates outside the traditional Western aid framework. But that explanation doesn’t hold up to deeper scrutiny. If Washington were genuinely seeking to compete with Beijing in the development arena, the more coherent response would have been reform and reinvestment, not withdrawal. Moreover, Chinese and US aid are not direct substitutes. They target different sectors, rely on distinct instruments, and frequently operate alongside one another in the same countries — Pakistan among them — without displacing each other. In Pakistan, Chinese assistance has concentrated on large-scale infrastructure and energy projects, while USAID has focused primarily on education and health. Chinese aid typically flows through bilateral, government-to-government channels, whereas US assistance has often bypassed the Pakistani state, working instead through NGOs and contractors. China’s rise may well be sharpening anxieties in Washington, but it does not, on its own, explain why the US would choose to erode its own institutional capacity in response. A looming domino effect The shutdown of USAID, then, should not be understood as a one-off policy blunder or an idiosyncratic choice tied to a single administration. Rather, it reflects the convergence of long-accumulating tensions: between the professed ideals and strategic deployment of aid abroad; between development objectives and bureaucratic practices within aid agencies; between international commitments and domestic political incentives at home. USAID’s collapse is best understood not as the cause of these pressures, but as their most visible manifestation. The consequences of this decision extend well beyond the fate of a single agency. They reveal the fragility of the broader international aid regime, which ultimately depends on the willingness of a small number of leading powers to absorb the political and financial costs of institutionalised cooperation. When that willingness erodes, institutions lose both credibility and purpose and eventually collapse. Signs of this erosion are already evident, as other major donors, including the United Kingdom and Germany, begin to scale back their own aid commitments. What is at stake, then, is not merely the dismantling of USAID, but the gradual unravelling of an international aid regime built on mutual trust and a sustained commitment to lifting the world’s poorest out of poverty.

A report by the Associated Press details a concerning rise in deaths among pregnant women and babies in Nepal, attributed to recent cuts in USAID funding.

An article discusses the difficulty journalism faces in countering Elon Musk's calculated false claims made in interviews, such as his assertion that USAID funding cuts had no human cost.

Brazilian HIV advocates at the Aids 2026 conference stated they had predicted a dramatic reduction in USAID funding, emphasizing the need for health systems to be independent from foreign aid.

A discussion is ongoing regarding the number of people dying as a result of USAID's demise, with figures varying between academic estimations and Elon Musk's admissions.

Following cuts to USAID funding by the Trump administration, many aid workers in Nepal have reportedly been forced to turn to sex work to survive, part of a larger global job loss impacting the sector.

Aid workers in Nepal, left jobless due to cuts in USAID funding, are reportedly turning to sex work as a means of survival.

Despite claims from Marco Rubio and Elon Musk that no deaths are linked to USAID funding cuts, several parents have come forward with stories suggesting a different reality regarding the impact of the foreign aid agency's sunsetting.

With USAID's impending exit from Nigeria's development and humanitarian programming space in January 2025, new sources of development funding are being explored for Nigerian Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).

A report indicates that government officials, including Hegseth and Rubio, continued to use the Signal app even after an embarrassing leak. Previously unreported chats included group names like 'Iran/Ukraine Planning' and 'State USAID'.

Rep. Ro Khanna has stated he will not be silenced by Elon Musk's threat to sue him. The threat follows Khanna's claims that cuts to USAID may have contributed to millions of children's deaths.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has dismissed 70 employees due to proven ties to Hamas, following an internal investigation by USAID that revealed some staff were directly involved in terrorist activities.

Nicholas Enrich, a self-described whistleblower who worked at the U.S. Agency for International Aid under four administrations, is discussing his book 'Into the Woodchipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID', which touches on the agency and Ebola.

A former senior USAID official, Nicolas Enrich, has come forward as a whistleblower, alleging that the US agency was dismantled not to cut waste but specifically 'to soothe the ego of the world's richest man,' Elon Musk, then head of DOGE.

A year after Washington froze and then slashed foreign aid, development workers in the Philippines are still feeling the impact, with job losses and abandoned projects threatening vulnerable communities.

A campaign presenting old or publicly available material as new revelations about USAID, the world's largest aid agency, has spread globally, reaching Asia.

An analysis explores why a "bunker-ballroom" serves as a perfect symbol for the Trump administration, touching upon various issues such as alleged war crimes, USAID cuts, rising farm bankruptcies, ICE actions, and the spread of measles.

The shutdown of USAID is causing significant economic repercussions throughout Washington, affecting various sectors and businesses.

Trump’s defunding of NED and USAid – The unraveling of America’s shadow empire  NewsDay Zimbabwe

A newly obtained memo reveals that birth control supplies from U.S.A.I.D., intended for Africa, were ruined after being left to collect dust and go bad, despite options for offloading them.

Badr Albusaidi said ‘this is not America’s war’ and criticised Washington for supporting Israel

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, in an op-ed for The Economist, warned that the United States has lost control and called for an end to the 'illegal war' against Iran, stating Iran had no choice.

Exit USAID enter G2G: What new funding model means for health sector standardmedia.co.ke

The USAID Inspector General has issued a warning about ongoing fraud schemes targeting food aid beneficiaries in central and northwestern Ethiopia.

The Trump administration issued a memo stating its intention to avoid hiring former staff members at the U.S. Agency for International Development to prevent 'impaired objectivity' during the winding down of operations.

Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi is scheduled to meet with JD Vance in Washington to discuss efforts towards a nuclear agreement with Iran, following a third round of talks.

A Hungarian MEP has warned about the politicization of grants and media, particularly in the context of the closure of USAID and the evolving landscape of aid.

A 58-year-old individual recounts losing their job at USAID due to restructuring linked to DOGE, expressing survivor's guilt a year later despite finding new employment.

In Nepal, a significant increase in mortality rates among women and babies has been observed following the withdrawal of aid workers associated with USAID programs.

In a recent interview, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk asserted that the cessation of USAID funding had no human cost, a claim that has been widely criticized as false and has raised questions about journalism's ability to counter such statements.

A racist conspiracy theory, popularized by figures like Joe Rogan, claims that rap music's decline is due to Elon Musk's cuts to USAID, a notion widely dismissed as nonsense.

An article discusses the varying estimates of mortality rates resulting from USAID's demise, noting that the numbers are lower than academics suggest but higher than Elon Musk acknowledges.

An Associated Press post regarding USAID cuts has backfired, drawing criticism and questions from the public about taxpayer-funded jobs for transgender individuals in Nepal.

The HIV epidemic could resurge globally due to the Trump administration's decision to cut funding for USAID's HIV/AIDS programs, leading to the closure of clinics worldwide despite earlier promises to protect key healthcare.

Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to outpace Asia in economic growth, driven by increased trade and private investment, despite earlier predictions of collapse following USAID cuts under the Trump administration.

Experts suggest that cuts to USAID Ebola programs, linked to Elon Musk, have hindered the response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and resulted in a significant number of deaths.

A former USAID administrator reflects on the year since the agency's shutdown and discusses the new direction of US foreign aid.

The American University of Beirut – Mediterraneo (AUB Mediterraneo) announced its participation in the CyprusAid Scholarship Programme for the 2026–27 academic year, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus.

The Trump administration reportedly paid thousands of dollars per month to store USAID contraceptives that were ruined, raising questions about waste and management.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke by phone with his Omani counterpart, Badr Albusaidi, amidst intense diplomatic efforts in the region.

Researchers have launched a study to investigate the provocative question of whether the abrupt termination of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had an impact on violence levels in affected regions.

A freeze in USAID aid is halting projects, cutting budgets, and weakening support systems for human rights activists across the Asian region.

USAID's ongoing investigation has found evidence that four additional UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 attacks or had affiliations with Hamas, bringing the total suspended or disbarred to 21.

An opinion article from Serbia critiques the Trump administration, highlighting alleged war crimes, USAID cuts impacting Africa, rising US farm bankruptcies, unchecked ICE actions, and spreading measles, questioning public focus on a 'bunker-ballroom'.

A former USAID official, Nicholas Enrich, described the significant negative impact of cuts made to the US foreign aid organization by the Trump administration.

International development aid spending experienced an unprecedented decline of over one-fifth in real terms last year, primarily attributed to the US slashing its outlay by more than half under the Trump administration, making Germany the largest overall donor.

Ministar vanjskih poslova Omana Badr Albusaidi optužio je Izrael da je uvukao Sjedinjene Američke Države u rat s Iranom u trenutku kada je, kako tvrdi

Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi warned in an op-ed that America has lost control and Gulf countries must pull it out of an 'illegal war' with Iran, cautioning against catastrophic consequences of further escalation.

Ministrul de Externe al Omanului, Badr Al-Busaidi, a declarat că Statele Unite s-au lăsat atrase într-un război împotriva Iranului care nu este în interesele lor naționale și din care nici…

Following cuts to biodiversity funding by the Trump administration, conservation organizations are exploring new strategies and funding models to continue their work without American financial support.

Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu discussed with Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi the situation of Romanian tourists stranded in Muscat and Salalah due to air traffic disruptions, and the need for flights to also pick up those in Dubai.

Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi sharply reacted to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, warning that diplomatic efforts were thereby undermined...

Progress was made in talks between Iranian and US delegations, which concluded in Geneva, stated Omani Foreign Minister Badr al Busaidi, whose country is mediating the talks.

This article examines the sufficiency of global donor and aid support without the United States' USAID program, and what Europe's Global Europe initiative contributes to the equation.

Health workers and patients in South Africa are still experiencing the negative effects a year after USAID funding cuts, impacting healthcare services.

Talks between the US and Iran are expected to take place on Thursday in Geneva "with a positive push to go the extra mile towards finalising the deal," Badr Albusaidi, foreign minister of regional med

Oil Surges On Report Warning US-Iran War Is Far Closer Than Americans Realize Axios' Barak Ravid, a journalist very close to the Israeli government, writes Wednesday that the Trump White House is now "closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize. It could begin very soon." The sources he spoke to, which could be American or Israeli, say that such an operation would be a "massive" campaign at least weeks in sustained length. If it the campaign goes the way of Iraq or Afghanistan, or Syria, the conflict could eventually be measured in years and not just months. Further, "The sources noted it would likely be a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that's much broader in scope — and more existential for the regime — than the Israeli-led 12-day war last June, which the U.S. eventually joined to take out Iran's underground nuclear facilities." USAF/CNN All of this looks to be going down with no public or Congressional debate whatsoever: "With the attention of Congress and the public otherwise occupied, there is little public debate about what could be the most consequential U.S. military intervention in the Middle East in at least a decade," notes Axios. Both sides are citing 'progress' in the two rounds of indirect negotiations (in Oman and then Geneva) which have taken place thus far, however, there's been nothing yet in the way of specific agreement. Washington's commitment to see talks through even for weeks at this point is highly in quesiton. The following was the initial Iranian assessment of how the talks led by Witkoff and Kushner in Geneva went this week: Iran has said it has reached an understanding with the US on the main "guiding principles" to resolve their dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme. Speaking after indirect talks in Geneva, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added that work still needed to be done. The US said "progress was made". Badr Albusaidi, foreign minister of mediator Oman, said the negotiations "concluded with good progress towards identifying common goals and relevant technical issues". The Iranians have asked for two weeks to hammer out a detailed proposal, with an American official stating, "Progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss. The Iranians said they would come back in the next two weeks with detailed proposals to address some of the open gaps in our positions." Given President Trump has ordered a second US carrier group to the region, along with a huge number of support aircraft, does Iran really have two weeks to spare?  Oil reaches HOD Wednesday soon on heels of Axios report, with WTI kissing $64/barrel... To some degree, the Iranians are likely buying time, knowing that a surprise, unprovoked attack could be imminent. This would be similar to the June war, but unlike that scenario this would indeed be much bigger. There's reason to believe Trump may stay restrained, however, and give negotiations time. Fear of higher oil prices could ultimately be the deciding factor here, pushing Trump to settle with Iran and not spark another completely unpredictable, likely disastrous war in the Middle East.  Tyler Durden Wed, 02/18/2026 - 08:36