Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

International

A protester carries a sign that equates foreign aid with soft power during a rally near the U.S. Capitol to protest the dismantling of USAID, the international agency charged with dispensing humanitarian aid around the world on behalf of the United States.
Ben de la Cruz/NPR
The U.S. government long saw giving international aid as a way to build goodwill throughout the world. Did it work? And what does the reducing of foreign aid mean for that effort now?
Iranians hold portraits of slain Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally to commemorate his death in Tehran on April 9, 2026. Thousands of Iranians paid tribute to the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who ruled the country for nearly four decades until his killing in US-Israeli strikes at the start of the Middle East war.
AFP via Getty Images
/
AFP
MORE STORIES