US Foreign Aid Cuts in Afghanistan Result in Preventable Deaths, Investigation Finds

The US foreign aid cuts in Afghanistan have resulted in a significant increase in preventable deaths, according to a recent investigation by Refugees International.

The investigation, which was conducted over a six-month period, found that the cuts in foreign aid had led to a collapse of the healthcare system in Afghanistan, resulting in a sharp increase in maternal and neonatal deaths.

The investigation accessed public health data records on maternal and neonatal mortality from 320 health facilities in six provinces. A comparison of recorded deaths before the aid cuts and after revealed a sharp increase in maternal and neonatal deaths.

Hospital data in Herat showed that maternal mortality had increased fivefold since 2025. In Nangarhar, neonatal mortality rose by nearly 60 percent in 2025 compared to the year before, while in Kunar, neonatal deaths due to asphyxia increased by 156 percent.

The surveys of midwives and other health workers corroborated the hospital data. Respondents documented at least 161 preventable deaths tied directly to the collapse of U.S.-funded health services: 80 mothers, 30 newborns, 14 children, and 26 adults.

These are individual cases that respondents described in often excruciating detail. Two out of every five health workers surveyed reported that they personally knew someone who had died because they couldn’t reach care after the aid cuts hit. Three in five knew a patient who had suffered serious health consequences short of death.

Leading public health experts who reviewed the survey results assessed that the true toll is almost certainly higher.

The investigation found that the cuts in foreign aid had a devastating impact on the healthcare system in Afghanistan, particularly on women and children. Pregnant Afghan women have died because the nearest U.S.-supported health facility closed. Babies have died in the womb because mothers could not reach skilled medical care in time. Newborns and children have died without oxygen after a U.S.-funded oxygen plant stopped functioning.

The Trump administration terminated or froze more than $1.7 billion in assistance to the country, including roughly $736 million in humanitarian funding. This amounted to nearly half of Afghanistan’s total aid funding. By October 2025, the World Health Organization had recorded the closure or suspension of operations at more than 420 health facilities across Afghanistan, cutting off care to more than 3 million people.

The investigation also found that the cuts in foreign aid had a disproportionate impact on Afghan women and girls. When U.S. funding vanished, roughly 70 percent of the midwives we surveyed lost their jobs, thereby eliminating one of the last footholds that Afghan women had in public life.

In doing so, it deepened the Taliban system of subjugation that Washington says it opposes. Afghan women and girls already face a system of gender apartheid under Taliban rule, and the cuts in foreign aid have only made their situation worse.

The investigation concluded that it is not too late to change course. The US government could easily restore programs to train midwives, fund hospitals, and keep oxygen plants running. Congress could reinstate targeted humanitarian aid and health funding for Afghanistan. The State Department could also start systematically tracking mortality tied to the aid cuts.

None of this will undo the deaths already documented, but it can stop the next preventable one from happening. This is the very least that Americans owe the women and girls of Afghanistan.

## US Foreign Aid Cuts in Afghanistan: A Timeline

| Year | Action | Funding | | --- | --- | --- | | 2025 | Trump administration terminates or freezes $1.7 billion in assistance to Afghanistan | $1.7 billion | | 2025 | World Health Organization records closure or suspension of operations at more than 420 health facilities across Afghanistan | | | 2025 | Maternal mortality increases fivefold in Herat | | | 2025 | Neonatal mortality rises by nearly 60 percent in Nangarhar | | | 2025 | Neonatal deaths due to asphyxia increase by 156 percent in Kunar | |

## The Human Cost of US Foreign Aid Cuts in Afghanistan

The US foreign aid cuts in Afghanistan have resulted in a significant increase in preventable deaths, particularly among women and children. The investigation found that at least 161 preventable deaths were tied directly to the collapse of U.S.-funded health services.

| Category | Number of Deaths | | --- | --- | | Mothers | 80 | | Newborns | 30 | | Children | 14 | | Adults | 26 | | Total | 150 |

The investigation concluded that the true toll is almost certainly higher, and that the US government has a responsibility to restore funding to the healthcare system in Afghanistan.