Amid ‘Deep State’ Allegations, US Slashes Funding In Bangladesh
Washington DC:
In its bid to avoid wasting US taxpayers’ cash, the Donald Trump administration’s cost-cutting team–Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE)– has cancelled a slew of abroad tasks, together with one in Bangladesh that raised a number of eyebrows. The billionaire Elon Musk-led division stated it’s cancelling $29 million funding meant for “strengthening the political panorama in Bangladesh”.
In a publish on X itemizing a listing of cancelled US funding overseas, DOGE stated, “USD 29M to ‘strengthening the political panorama in Bangladesh” has been stopped.
US taxpayer {dollars} have been going to be spent on the next objects, all which have been cancelled:
– $10M for “Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision”
– $9.7M for UC Berkeley to develop “a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise pushed abilities”
– $2.3M for “strengthening…— Division of Authorities Effectivity (@DOGE) February 15, 2025
This comes days after American President Trump denied allegations of US involvement within the regime change in Bangladesh final 12 months when former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted following a nationwide protest led by college students.
About Strengthening Political Panorama Venture in Bangladesh
Funded by the US Company For Worldwide Growth (USAID) and the United Kingdon’s erstwhile Division for Worldwide Growth, the strengthening Political Panorama in Bangladesh program (SPL) labored to construct political occasion capability and strengthen relationships between events and constituents whereas lowering political violence, in line with Democracy Worldwide (DI).
Per DI, the programme supported political activists and residents as they constructed the abilities they wanted to develop into efficient leaders, advocate for inclusive insurance policies, and constructively interact with each other to mitigate battle.
As well as, SPL confronted the challenges of political violence by partaking political events, grassroots activists, and college college students, monitoring incidents of violence, and selling peaceable alternate options.
Trump On US Involvement In Bangadesh’s Regime Change
After a bilateral assembly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, US President Donald Trump dismissed any American involvement within the Bangladesh political disaster, stating that the problem has been dealt with by India for a very long time.
When a reporter sought the views of President Trump on whether or not the earlier Democratic authorities beneath former President Joe Biden carried out a regime change in Bangladesh, and put in Muhammad Yunus as a chief adviser, the Republican stated, “There isn’t any position for our deep state. That is one thing that the Prime Minister has been engaged on for a very long time and has labored on for a whole bunch of years… I’ve been studying about it.”
Then pointing at PM Modi he added, “I’ll go away Bangladesh to the PM.”
Whereas the Republican didn’t immediately deal with the query, hypothesis is that the response indicated the brand new Trump administration could not get itself concerned in Bangladesh, the place alleged radical Islamist components have been concentrating on non secular minorities together with Hindus.
India-Bangladesh Relations
Ties between India and Bangladesh have nosedived after Ms Hasina fled Dhaka in August within the face of a large anti-government protest.
The interim authorities headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who returned from the US to work as Bangladesh’s caretaker, continues to attract sharp criticism over not doing sufficient to cease assaults on minorities by radical Islamists.
Bangladesh-US Ties
In the meantime, Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, on Friday stated that he has mentioned with Tesla CEO Elon Musk a possible collaboration to launch Starlink satellite tv for pc web service in Bangladesh.
Yunus on Thursday held an intensive video dialogue with Musk to make additional progress in introducing Starlink satellite tv for pc to reinforce web service in Bangladesh.
Professor Yunus additionally prolonged an invite to Musk to go to Bangladesh for the potential launch of Starlink providers, underscoring the importance of this initiative for nationwide growth, to which Musk responded positively.
“I sit up for it,” Musk stated.
Different Biden-Period Funding Slashed By DOGE
In a publish on X, the official DOGE deal with listed the variety of spending by US taxpayers that has been cancelled, together with $22 million in funding meant for ‘voter turnout in India’ and $ 39 million for “fiscal federalism” and “biodiversity conservation” in Nepal.
That is a part of DOGE’s continued effort to stipulate vital modifications in authorities spending over the previous few weeks.
About Nepal’s “Fiscal Federalism” Programme
With the promulgation of the 2015 structure, Nepal launched into its federalism journey and established three tiers of government– one federal, seven provinces, and 753 native ranges in 2017.
The fiscal federalism programme is predicated on the canon that “single penny expense shouldn’t be levied with out the consent of parliament”
To stick to this norm, Nepal’s Structure has clear provisions with regard to the monetary procedures of the federal, provincial and native governments, in line with a report by Worldwide Alert.
About DOGE
The hassle by what the Donald Trump administration calls DOGE is meant to chop authorities prices drastically. Musk’s division has swept via federal businesses in current weeks looking for spending cuts as a part of Trump’s objective to overtake and shrink the US authorities.
