Trump Suspends USAID Operations: How Does This Affect Kazakhstan?

Donald Trump, the 47th U.S. President, has signed an executive order suspending the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) operations worldwide.

He believes American taxpayers' money has been spent inefficiently for years.

Although humanitarian programs and military aid to Ukraine remain in force, this decision will affect countless lives. Many will lose their jobs.

Some welcome this decision, believing that USAID unofficially interfered in the internal politics of host countries. 

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent U.S. federal government agency responsible for providing economic, humanitarian, and social assistance to other countries. USAID was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy.

Its activities aim to support stability, economic development, and democracy in various regions worldwide.

Main areas of USAID activity:

• Economic development
• Humanitarian assistance
• Democracy 
• Human rights development
• Healthcare
• Education
• Environmental sustainability

USAID operates in more than 100 countries, including regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

USAID's budget comes from the U.S. federal budget.

The agency collaborates with international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private companies, and local governments to implement its programs.

Criticism 

USAID has repeatedly faced criticism for interfering in other countries' internal affairs, supporting opposition movements, and using programs as tools of U.S. diplomatic influence. In some countries, the agency's activities have been restricted or banned.

In 2012, Russian authorities terminated USAID operations in their territory, accusing the agency of interfering in internal affairs and attempting to influence political processes.

USAID was accused of supporting opposition organizations and funding projects aimed at undermining Russia's sovereignty.

In Telegram, she wrote about LGBT propaganda "under the American agency's banner:"

USAID leadership directed significant efforts toward promoting specifically the LGBT agenda. Under Obama, this topic became one of the key ones. The agency published a program document with the unambiguous title 'LGBT Perspectives - Actions,' which directly identified maximizing inclusivity and openness in this area as one of its goals, and proclaimed the need to fight discrimination against LGBT ideology adherents.

The White House has also recently made peculiar claims:

For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight,
the White House stated.

Some of the claims the White House made:

• $47,000 for a "transgender opera" in Colombia
• $32,000 for creating a "transgender comic" in Peru
• $70,000 for an Irish musical promoting inclusivity ideas
• $2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam

USAID in Kazakhstan

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has cooperated with Kazakhstan since 1992.

USAID supports various organizations in Kazakhstan, providing grants for projects in civil society, healthcare, the economy, and other areas.

Here are some of these projects:

Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia (EF-CA) implements projects aimed at developing civil society and effective governance

EF-CA grant recipients:

• Petropavlovsk Regional Association of Consumer Cooperatives of Apartment Owners
• Public Foundation "Desenta" (Pavlodar)
• Representative Office of the International Charitable Public Foundation "Children of Chornobyl and Aral" (Qyzylorda)
• Social Corporate Foundation "ZUBR" (Oskemen)
• Public Association of Mothers of Disabled Children "Rainbow" (Qostanay)
• Public Foundation "Charter for Human Rights" (Almaty)

"Partnership for Innovation" Program

Under this program, 101 grants totaling $773,000 were distributed to support NGO initiatives promoting public interests.

International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech "Adil Soz"

The organization focuses on protecting freedom of speech and supporting journalists in Kazakhstan.

Public Foundation "Charter for Human Rights"

The foundation works on human rights protection and promoting democratic values in Kazakhstan.

In 2015, the foundation received a grant of 4,719,275 tenge.

The project aimed to create and operate mechanisms for interaction between NGOs and government bodies to implement recommendations from the Human Rights Committee and other international treaty bodies.

Tuberculosis 

USAID collaborates with Kazakhstan's Ministry of Health, supporting the implementation and expansion of innovative molecular diagnostics, enabling faster and more accurate detection of TB and MDR-TB.

HIV/AIDS 

USAID works to improve HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment services, especially among vulnerable populations. Campaigns are conducted to raise awareness and reduce HIV-related stigma, promoting more exhaustive testing and treatment coverage.

COVID-19 Response

USAID allocated $2.7 million to the "Local Healthcare System Sustainability" program. It aims to provide timely and quality support in fighting COVID-19.

Internews

For 25 years, the international organization Internews Network has operated in Central Asia.

In Kazakhstan, the project supports media development. Internews specialists have trained thousands of professional journalists, camera operators, video engineers, editors, and managers.

In 2024, USAID directed $15.2 million to Kazakhstan for:

• Healthcare - $8.8 million
• Democracy, human rights, and governance - $3.7 million
• Support programs - $1.39 million
• Peace and security - $833,000
• Economic development - $438,000
• Humanitarian aid - $23,000
• Education and social services - $4,000

However, Kazakhstan isn't even in the top 10 in USAID's overall spending structure.

The primary recipients were Ukraine ($5.4 billion), Ethiopia ($5.6 billion), Jordan ($4.1 billion), Congo ($3.8 billion), and Yemen ($3.7 billion).

"Foreign Agents List"

 In 2023, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Finance published a "registry of persons receiving money and (or) other property from foreign states, international and foreign organizations, foreigners, and stateless persons."

This list includes dozens of companies, human rights organizations, media outlets, and individual journalists. The agency also included personal data ( Individual Identification Number - Ed.).

Among the organizations listed are the Norwegian Helsinki Committee Representative Office in Kazakhstan, Internews International Organization Representative Office, Kazakhstan Bureau for Human Rights, and the human rights organization "Adil Soz."

The table contains 240 entries in total.

USAID also supports government programs, including various trips abroad for Kazakh deputies. 

It also helps in drafting legislation. Through direct funding and UN programs, the primary recipient of American money was not civil society but Kazakhstan's authorities.

In 2024, USAID provided Kazakhstan's State Revenue Committee with modern computer servers to modernize Kazakhstan's customs infrastructure. These servers replaced outdated equipment.

The implementation of innovative technologies will optimize processes, increase accuracy, improve transparency, and create favorable conditions for doing business, which will attract more investors and stimulate economic development, U.S. Ambassador Daniel Rosenblum noted then.

Rosenblum noted that "the U.S. and Kazakhstan share a vision of a transparent and secure trading environment" and that "Kazakhstan is strengthening its position as a leading regional trade center."

The press service also quoted State Revenue Committee Chairman Zhandos Duisembiev saying he "highly values the U.S. government's support." He stated the new servers would " positively impact Kazakhstan's customs system operation."

Many questioned how strategically important equipment ensuring national security could be accepted by another country.

In October 2023, then-USAID Administrator Samantha Power met with Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent regarding regional cooperation in the "C5+1" format.

They discussed a wide range of bilateral cooperation issues. Power then announced over $14 million in funding for various programs in the country.

There was no such meeting with Toqayev. Within the "C5+1" framework, she held talks with Ministers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

Disobedience 

Donald Trump's criticism of USAID is echoed by his "partner," entrepreneur Elon Musk.

He called USAID a "criminal organization" and stated it was time to shut it down.

Mark Rubio, the acting USAID Administrator appointed on February 3, 2025, partially agreed with him.

He was appointed to reform the agency. According to him, the agency has "gone rogue."

They have basically evolved into an agency that believes that they’re not even a U.S. Government agency, that they are out – they’re a global charity, that they take the taxpayer money and they spend it as a global charity irrespective of whether it is in the national interest or not in the national interest. One of the most common complaints you will get if you go to embassies around the world from State Department officials and ambassadors and the like is USAID is not only not cooperative; they undermine the work that we’re doing in that country; they are supporting programs that upset the host government for whom we’re trying to work with on a broader scale, and so forth. So they’re completely unresponsive. They just don’t consider that they work for the U.S. They just think they’re a global entity and that their master is the globe and not the United States. And that’s not what the statute says and that’s not sustainable. Rubio said.

He noted that the U.S. government tried to reform USAID, but the organization displays open disobedience to federal authorities. 

This is not about getting rid of foreign aid. There are things that we do through USAID that we should continue to do, that makes sense. And we’ll have to decide is that better through the State Department, or is that better through something, a reformed USAID? That’s the process we’re working through,  Rubio added.

Unpaid Leave? 

An action plan is being prepared for USAID personnel working outside the U.S. The agency will organize and pay for return travel to the U.S. within 30 days and ensure unessential PSC and ISC contracts are terminated.

The agency will consider exceptions and extensions for return travel on a case-by-case basis for personal or family circumstances, mobility or security considerations, and other reasons.

Funding for NGOs and media in Kazakhstan remains uncertain.

An Orda.kz journalist was not allowed into the USAID office in Almaty.

The security guard at the entrance cited management orders without specifying whether it was USAID management or the U.S. Consulate General in Almaty.

The journalist was advised to contact the USAID Kazakhstan office by phone, but there was no response from the number provided.

Original Author: Ilya Astakhov