US-funded local language media at risk of closure

Trump’s funding freeze leaves exiled media scrambling for resources.

On 20 January 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing all US foreign aid, pending a 90-day review. The Trump administration later announced it would terminate 90% of the US Agency for International Development’s foreign aid and development contracts, and cut $60 billion in US foreign aid. The developments have already had a profound impact on Afghanistan, where aid agencies have reportedly already halted or scaled back operations.

The funding freeze has also impacted independent Afghan media outlets in exile. On 25 February 2025, Zan Times, a women-led and women-focused outlet based in Canada, posted a video on its social media platforms, where Zahra Nader, founder and editor-in-chief, stated that the end of US funding had impacted their work, but without providing specifics. Nader asked for public support, while Zan Times also shared a link to the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe in the post.

The US funding suspension also appears to have affected Amu TV, a US-based Afghan media outlet. While Amu TV has not made an official announcement at this time, on 7 March 2025, Mujeeb Arez — a well-known Amu TV anchor — posted on his Facebook account that the outlet had halted its operations at its studios in Virginia, US due to the US aid suspension.

On the other hand, on 9 March 2025, Yaser Abrar — a former Amu TV presenter who is now the Director General of Deeyar TV, another Afghan media outlet in exile — reacted to Arez’s post, saying that Amu TV had not halted its operation but rather brought changes to reduce costs and review production and publishing approaches.

Abrar also shared a link to a donation webpage dedicated to Amu TV. Amu TV has continued its live broadcasts, and is actively updating both its webpage and social media accounts. Amu TV, however, appears to have shifted its focus towards mainly news bulletins, updates and debates, while limiting its entertainment programming.

Furthermore, on 14 March 2025, President Trump reportedly signed another executive order to significantly reduce or entirely scrap several federal agencies, including the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which manages Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VoA). Following the issuance of the order, the USAGM grant to RFE/RL was cancelled, and more than 1,300 VoA staff were placed on leave. Consequently, VoA — including the Afghan services operating in Dari and Pashto — halted its broadcasts on radio and TV.

VoA Dari and Pashto have stopped publishing content online from March 15 and 16 onwards. However, they remain active on Facebook, where they post information about their shows and timing of live broadcasts. A video purporting to show the “Your Voice” program posted on 18 March, however, actually just shows a generic VoA graphic on loop instead of an actual live broadcast, as seen in Figure 1 below.

Radio Azadi, the Afghan branch of RFE/RL, continues to operate, including its live programmes, web page, and social media updates in both Dari and Pashto. On 19 May, media reported that RFE/RL has sued the Trump administration to block the termination of its grant, arguing that it is unconstitutional.