USAID was a form of soft power that helped to spread democracy to low- and middle-income nations. Now, those same countries could fall under the sway of Russia and China, creating a more volatile world where the number of U.S. allies steadily dwindles.

As the Trump administration ends USAID's mission, a project to bring water to drought-ridden lands is now in peril. In partnership with the Pulitzer Center, William Brangham and producer Molly Knight Raskin traveled to a community in central Kenya to look at the legacy of American foreign aid.

Humanitarians in Sudan, where a three-year civil war has made assistance increasingly difficult, warn that a vacuum left by cuts to U.S. funding cannot be filled.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the closure of USAID on Tuesday, saying “this era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end. Under the Trump

Former Presidents Bush and Obama, along with U2's Bono, console USAID employees as the agency is shuttered amid Trump administration claims of fraud and mismanagement.

Gates called the now-shuttered USAID “the best” of the world's development agencies as Musk called it “beyond repair.”

One physician attributed the estimated death toll of more than 14 million over the next five years worldwide to “one man’s cruelty & venality.”

Trump’s dismantling of the aid agency has jeopardized U.S. commitments to the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau.

Bush, Obama, and Bono all appeared via videoconference to speak directly to USAID staff as the agency was officially shuttered following a federal probe into corruption and abuse. Media were not present, but clips from the event were reviewed by the Associated Press.

USAID programs have saved over 90 million lives over the past two decades. If the current cuts continue through 2030, 14 million people could lose their lives.

The U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) shipped thousands of viral samples to a lab in Wuhan over the course of a 10-year program even though it had no formal agreement with the lab in place,

Bill Gates said the effects of President Donald Trump's USAID cuts are "devastating" but can be prevented. The Gates Foundation, where Gates is board chair, has worked extensively with the U.S. Agency for International Development. Gates' comments come a week after he said the aid rollbacks have already led to deaths.