\n<\/p>\n
In famine-stricken Sudan, soup kitchens that feed hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in a war zone have shut down.<\/p>\n
In Thailand, war refugees with life-threatening diseases have been turned away by hospitals and carted off on makeshift stretchers.<\/p>\n
In Ukraine, residents on the frontline of the war with Russia may be going without firewood<\/a> in the middle of winter.<\/p>\n Some of the world\u2019s most vulnerable populations are already feeling President Trump\u2019s sudden cutoff of billions of dollars in American aid<\/a> that helps fend off starvation, treats diseases and provides shelter for the displaced.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a matter of days, Mr. Trump\u2019s order to freeze nearly all U.S. foreign aid has intensified humanitarian crises and raised profound questions about America\u2019s reliability and global standing.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is freaking out,\u201d Atif Mukhtar of the Emergency Response Rooms, a local volunteer group in the besieged Sudanese capital<\/a>, Khartoum, said of the aid freeze.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Soon after announcing the cut off, the Trump administration abruptly switched gears. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week<\/a> that \u201clife-saving humanitarian assistance\u201d could continue, offering a respite for what he called \u201ccore\u201d efforts to provide food, medicine, shelter and other emergency needs.<\/p>\n But he stressed that the reprieve was \u201ctemporary in nature,\u201d with limited exceptions. Beyond that, hundreds of senior officials and workers who help distribute American aid had already been fired<\/a> or put on leave<\/a>, and many aid efforts remain paralyzed around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Most of the soup kitchens in Khartoum, the battle-torn capital of Sudan, have shut down. Until last week, the United States was the largest source of money for the volunteer-run kitchens that fed 816,000 people there.<\/p>\n \u201cFor most people, it\u2019s the only meal they get,\u201d said Hajooj Kuka, a spokesman for the Emergency Response Rooms, describing Khartoum as a city \u201con the edge of starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n After the American money was frozen last week, some of the aid groups that channel those funds to the food kitchens said they were unsure if they were allowed to continue. Others cut off the money completely. Now, 434 of the 634 volunteer kitchens in the capital have shut down, Mr. Kuka said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd more are going out of service every day,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Many of the aid workers, doctors and people in need who rely on American aid are now reckoning with their relationship with the United States and the message the Trump administration is sending: America is focusing on itself<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt feels like one easy decision by the U.S. president is quietly killing so many lives,\u201d said Saw Nah Pha, a tuberculosis patient who said he was told to leave a U.S.-funded hospital in the Mae La refugee camp, the largest refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n