In the immediate impact of the US State Department issuing a "stop-work" order for all existing foreign assistance and pausing new aid, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) suspended its funding in Bangladesh which Muhammed Yunus' interim government currently leads.
In a letter sent by the USAID, the US agency has directed to immediately stop, cease, and suspend any ongoing work in Bangladesh.
"This letter serves as a directive to all USAID/Bangladesh implementing partners to immediately stop, cease, and/or suspend any work performed under your respective USAID/Bangladesh contract, task order, grant, cooperative agreement, or other acquisition or assistance instrument," the developmental agency said.
"Partners shall take all reasonable steps to minimize the incurrence of costs allocable to their awards. Partners shall not resume work under their awards until notification has been received in writing from the contracting/agreement officer that this award stop-work order/suspension has been canceled," it added.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent an internal memo days after President Donald Trump took office vowing an "America First" policy of tightly restricting assistance overseas.
"No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved," said the memo to staff seen by AFP.
The sweeping order appears to affect everything from development assistance to military aid -- including to Ukraine, which received billions of dollars in weapons under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden as it tries to repel a Russian invasion.
But the memo explicitly made exceptions for military assistance to Israel -- whose longstanding major arms packages from the United States have expanded further since the Gaza war -- and Egypt, which has received generous US defense funding since it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
Rubio also made an exception for US contributions to emergency food assistance, which the United States ahs been contributing following crises around the world including in Sudan and Syria.
*With Inputs from Agencies
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