The U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe has notified grant-receiving partners about the suspension of the U.S. foreign assistance program for Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia.

The notification states that the suspension applies to all grants issued by the Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe.

Similar letters were sent to partners by other U.S. agencies and organizations that provide assistance funded by the United States.

The notification from the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe, which was distributed over the past weekend, notes that work under this program cannot resume until written confirmation is received indicating the suspension has been lifted.

“We understand that you will have many questions regarding this notice.  We expect to provide additional guidance in the coming business days, but in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order on the reassessment and reorganization of U.S. foreign assistance, we are obligated to inform you of the immediate suspension of work under current grants,” the U.S. diplomatic mission emphasized.

Politico reported on January 24 that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio halted spending Friday on most existing foreign aid grants for 90 days.

Rubio’s guidance, issued to all diplomatic and consular posts, reportedly requires department staffers to issue “stop-work orders” on nearly all “existing foreign assistance awards”.

It appears to go further than President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, which instructed the department to pause foreign aid grants for 90 days pending review by the secretary.

Recall, US President Donald Trump on January 20 signed an executive order temporarily suspending all U.S. foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals.   

US media reports said the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and “serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”

Consequently, Trump reportedly declared that “no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.”

According to media outlets, some of the biggest recipients of U.S. assistance, Israel ($3.3 billion per year), Egypt ($1.5 billion per year) and Jordan ($1.7 billion per year) are unlikely to see dramatic reductions, as those amounts are included in long-term packages that date back decades and are in some cases governed by treaty obligations.