Amid the uproar over U.S. aid funding freezes, Republican Rep. Brian Mast defended the pause claiming it targets wasteful spending, such as, he alleged, a $15 million USAID program to send condoms to the Taliban.
But those on the front lines of fighting for women’s access to reproductive health services in Afghanistan, where almost every aspect of women’s rights have been decimated under Taliban rule, said there’s no ounce of truth to this claim.
“That’s not what [a] U.S. taxpayer is giving us. U.S. taxpayers [are] giving life to a mother and child, and that's taken away from them,” Seema Ghani, who’s with the Afghanistan Family Guidance Association, told Devex.
Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
