How Donald Trump’s USAID purge could affect the Middle East


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The future of the US Agency for International Development, or USAID, is looking increasingly bleak amid shutdown threats from President Donald Trump's new administration. The crackdown has already affected thousands of aid workers, non-profit organisations and private sector contractors – and jeopardises millions of aid dollars to the Middle East.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Monday that he is now the acting USAID administrator, after a weekend blitz in which Mr Trump's billionaire tech ally Elon Musk declared the administration had “spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper”.

The aid agency, considered a vital arm of US global soft power, was established through Congress and it is considered illegal to dismantle it through executive authority.

The legally dubious developments could have unique implications for the Middle East – the region is the largest cumulative recipient of US aid dollars – despite recent attempts at scaling down engagement.

“The leaders of the region have always looked to the United States for leadership … particularly on the humanitarian side,” Merissa Khurma, director of the Middle East Programme at the Wilson Centre, told The National.

USAID has played an important role in ensuring there are “communities that are being tended to, that people are not going starving in places like Sudan or in Gaza, or other parts of the region”, Ms Khurma said. "So it is going to be certainly a very challenging time ahead for those who are working in this sector.”

Most of the funding goes to Israel, Egypt and Jordan, although millions of dollars go to an array of projects across the entire region.

USAID's regional work, according to congressional assessments for the fiscal year 2024, includes an estimated $6 billion in humanitarian aid for Yemen since 2010, $1 billion in humanitarian funding to Lebanon since 2020, and $3.5 billion in humanitarian aid to Iraq “for food, improved sanitation and hygiene, and other assistance for displaced and vulnerable communities” since 2014.

Mr Rubio, joined by a growing chorus of Republicans, is pushing for reforms, complaining that only “10 cents on the dollar” of US aid goes towards actual development projects. The Secretary of State described the agency as “completely unresponsive” with a history of “ignoring” US interests.

Mr Rubio has sent a letter to House foreign affairs committee chairman Brian Mast informing Congress that a review of USAID’s foreign assistance is under way, with a possible "reorganisation” of the agency ahead.

Mr Mast – the Republican head of the committee, which has oversight authority for the State Department and USAID – said on Sunday he would be “absolutely for” dismantling the aid agency, as improving aid efficiency will require “restructuring”.

But Democrats say cuts to the agency will weaken a key pillar of Washington's national security apparatus.

“Instability from starvation and disease will visit us in the United States of America,” Senator Brian Schatz told pro-USAID demonstrators at a Monday news conference. "In the last 10 days, Donald Trump has done more to destabilise things across the planet than perhaps any other president in recent memory.”

Members of Congress speak at the USAid offices in Washington. Reuters
Members of Congress speak at the USAid offices in Washington. Reuters

Brian Katulis, senior fellow for US foreign policy at Washington's Middle East Institute, said the aid freeze showed “incompetence” that “has made the Trump administration look weak and unclear about what it is trying to achieve”.

USAID was established by Congress in the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act as an independent agency led by an administrator. The agency is designed to work in co-ordination with, and not directly under, the State Department, which is in charge of enacting US foreign policy.

Mr Trump's executive order on “re-evaluating and realigning” US foreign aid, and a subsequent memo from Mr Rubio, sowed confusion and panic among aid workers.

The USAid website, and corresponding social media accounts, remained disabled as of Monday morning.
The USAid website, and corresponding social media accounts, remained disabled as of Monday morning.

Last week, in an attempt to clear up what services would still receive funding, Mr Rubio granted a waiver for “life-saving humanitarian assistance”, which the State Department described as “core, life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance”.

Mr Katulis, who spoke to The National on travel between Oman and the UAE for meetings with senior regional officials, said the decision “looks both amateurish and dangerous” to many leaders in the Middle East.

“Depending how the various moves are implemented in practice, it would eliminate key avenues for America to shape outcomes in places like Syria and Palestine,” he said.

The spending freeze, and possible shutdown of USAID, comes at a particularly sensitive moment for Syria and Washington's engagement with the new government in Damascus after the fall of Bashar Al Assad's regime.

Washington has historically been the largest source of humanitarian support for Syria during its decade-long civil war, allocating $16.7 billion in humanitarian funds “using existing funding from global humanitarian accounts and some reprogrammed funding”, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

The recent measures caused chaos, for example, when salaries were frozen for many of the prison and camp guards responsible for securing ISIS militants and their families at Al Hol and Al Roj camps in north-east Syria. The guards left work until Mr Rubio issued a waiver.

Women shop at the marketplace in Al Hol camp in north-eastern Syria's Hasakeh province. AP
Women shop at the marketplace in Al Hol camp in north-eastern Syria's Hasakeh province. AP

Congressman Johnny Olszewski, speaking alongside fellow Democrats at a Monday news conference outside the closed USAID headquarters, said the development highlights how the aid freeze is “jeopardising our safety here at home”.

“Prisoner guards overseeing thousands of ISIS combatants walked off the job. This is real life. This is serious and this is dangerous,” said Mr Olszewski.

Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, argues the cuts “are bad for the region, but Syria is affected more than others because of the war that it went through, and because of the lack of support in the past from the United Nations”.

Mr Moustafa told The National that organisations such as the White Helmets rely on USAID “to provide essential services, many of them life saving services for civilian population that's endured a horrific war, terrible crimes and displacement, and many now live under poverty”.

Opportunities for change?

In countries including Jordan, where Washington is the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance, aid cuts have already been “challenging”, said Ms Khurma, because Jordan is “very much dependent” on that economic aid.

Washington provided more than $1.65 billion in 2021, including more than $1.197 billion allocated to Jordan through USAID in the fiscal year budget. And in 2022, Washington and Amman signed an agreement for $1.45 billion in annual economic and military aid.

The freeze means that jobs in countries such as Jordan are on the line.

Ms Khurma, who worked on several USAID-funded projects in Jordan, said some “were very effective, and there were others that were not so effective, and that's normal”.

“But I think a lot of people are very worried, especially given that there will be many jobs lost,” she added.

The threats of a USAID shutdown also comes after Jordan has worked to decrease its dependency on the US. Ms Khurma believes there is opportunity in the long term for Amman to attract “foreign direct invest for different types of projects”.

But there is still much uncertainty over how the Trump administration is dealing with these shifts.

“If the plan is to tuck USAID, or at least what USAID does, into the State Department, there are other models around the world that have that system in Europe," Ms Khurma said. "Now the question is, are we learning from these experiences, or is this just an attempt to cut aid out in pursuit of a more isolationist agenda?”

A former Biden administration appointment to USAID called the way in which the Trump administration is folding the agency into the State Department “outrageous and infuriating and totally inappropriate.”

“It's OK to make policy changes,” the person told The National. “But to treat people this way … is very offensive and it didn't have to be this way.”

They said the Middle East could feel the sting of the USAID funding freeze.

“To leave the Middle East hanging in this moment when things are very much in flux across Gaza and Yemen and Syria and so many other parts of the area – it's really an issue that people don't fully grasp.”

US on the world stage

Elon Musk gestures from the podium inside the Capital One Arena on Donald Trump's inauguration day, January 20. Reuters
Elon Musk gestures from the podium inside the Capital One Arena on Donald Trump's inauguration day, January 20. Reuters

Mr Musk oversees the new Department of Government Efficiency, or “Doge,” and said President Trump was prepared to shutdown the agency – as hundreds of employees and contractors faced lay-offs.

A former USAID global health contractor told The National that their job was abruptly terminated through a stop-work order after more than 11 years with agency, followed by a lay-off letter on January 28. The contractor said about 400 other people in a similar position were dismissed without any sort of severance package.

“There are people who are providing humanitarian relief, life-saving, people-will-die-tomorrow relief, who have gotten stop-work orders and defied them because they're not going to watch people die,” the former contractor said, describing the situation as “traumatic”.

As the Trump administration also increases hostility towards the UN, a representative from the world body told The National that “USAID is a critical and generous partner for the United Nations and humanitarian in development work".

Mr Trump and his allies have long complained that Washington's foreign partners do not do enough to contribute to US interests and alliances, including antagonism towards Nato.

But Mr Katulis notes the USAID cuts could exacerbate that problem: “America will have a tougher time getting others to pull their weight if we're being seen as in retreat, and it may very likely create an opening for geopolitical competitors like China to fill the space left behind.

“One senior Gulf official put it bluntly to me yesterday: 'The America we once knew seems lost and doesn't seem to remember what it once stood for'.

“These are hardly voices that are enthusiastic about democracy – they see the steps Trump is taking against America's public servants as an attack on America itself."

Thomas Watkins and Adla Massoud contributed to this report.

The five pillars of Islam
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

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Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

 

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Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

Analysis

Maros Sefcovic is juggling multiple international trade agreement files, but his message was clear when he spoke to The National on Wednesday.

The EU-UAE bilateral trade deal will be finalised soon, he said. It is in everyone’s interests to do so. Both sides want to move quickly and are in alignment. He said the UAE is a very important partner for the EU. It’s full speed ahead - and with some lofty ambitions - on the road to a free trade agreement. 

We also talked about US-EU tariffs. He answered that both sides need to talk more and more often, but he is prepared to defend Europe's position and said diplomacy should be a guiding principle through the current moment. 

 

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Specs

Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request

The Facility’s Versatility

Between the start of the 2020 IPL on September 20, and the end of the Pakistan Super League this coming Thursday, the Zayed Cricket Stadium has had an unprecedented amount of traffic.
Never before has a ground in this country – or perhaps anywhere in the world – had such a volume of major-match cricket.
And yet scoring has remained high, and Abu Dhabi has seen some classic encounters in every format of the game.
 
October 18, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders tied with Sunrisers Hyderabad
The two playoff-chasing sides put on 163 apiece, before Kolkata went on to win the Super Over
 
January 8, ODI, UAE beat Ireland by six wickets
A century by CP Rizwan underpinned one of UAE’s greatest ever wins, as they chased 270 to win with an over to spare
 
February 6, T10, Northern Warriors beat Delhi Bulls by eight wickets
The final of the T10 was chiefly memorable for a ferocious over of fast bowling from Fidel Edwards to Nicholas Pooran
 
March 14, Test, Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by six wickets
Eleven wickets for Rashid Khan, 1,305 runs scored in five days, and a last session finish
 
June 17, PSL, Islamabad United beat Peshawar Zalmi by 15 runs
Usman Khawaja scored a hundred as Islamabad posted the highest score ever by a Pakistan team in T20 cricket

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

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Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

The Florida Project

Director: Sean Baker

Starring: Bria Vinaite, Brooklynn Prince, Willem Dafoe

Four stars

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Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
  • Drones
  • Animals
  • Fireworks/ flares
  • Radios or power banks
  • Laser pointers
  • Glass
  • Selfie sticks/ umbrellas
  • Sharp objects
  • Political flags or banners
  • Bikes, skateboards or scooters
The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

The specs

Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)

WHAT IS GRAPHENE?

It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

Vidaamuyarchi

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo

Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic

Power: 242bhp

Torque: 370Nm

Price: Dh136,814

How to apply for a drone permit
  • Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
  • Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
  • Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
  • Submit their request
What are the regulations?
  • Fly it within visual line of sight
  • Never over populated areas
  • Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
  • Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
  • Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
  • Should have a live feed of the drone flight
  • Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
Four%20scenarios%20for%20Ukraine%20war
%3Cp%3E1.%20Protracted%20but%20less%20intense%20war%20(60%25%20likelihood)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E2.%20Negotiated%20end%20to%20the%20conflict%20(30%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E3.%20Russia%20seizes%20more%20territory%20(20%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E4.%20Ukraine%20pushes%20Russia%20back%20(10%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EForecast%20by%20Economist%20Intelligence%20Unit%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

MANDOOB
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UK-EU trade at a glance

EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years

Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products

Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

ARGENTINA SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Franco Armani, Agustin Marchesin, Esteban Andrada
Defenders: Juan Foyth, Nicolas Otamendi, German Pezzella, Nicolas Tagliafico, Ramiro Funes Mori, Renzo Saravia, Marcos Acuna, Milton Casco
Midfielders: Leandro Paredes, Guido Rodriguez, Giovani Lo Celso, Exequiel Palacios, Roberto Pereyra, Rodrigo De Paul, Angel Di Maria
Forwards: Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Lautaro Martinez, Paulo Dybala, Matias Suarez

The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S

Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900

Engine: 937cc

Transmission: Six-speed gearbox

Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm

Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km

Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

The specs

Engine: 4.0-litre, twin-turbocharged V8

Transmission: nine-speed automatic

Power: 630bhp

Torque: 900Nm

Price: Dh810,000

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

Updated: February 06, 2025, 6:16 AM`