The U.S. is the largest contributor to UN regular and peacekeeping budgets. The White House proposes slashing US diplomacy and aid budgets as the Congress sets the US federal government budget.
Backed by the recent terrorists movement, Bangladesh recently reinstated an inscription of ‘except Israel’ on its passport after no travel restrictions to Israel for Bangladeshi nationals for four years.
The U.S. has slapped funding restrictions on UN peacekeeping missions for Bangladesh’s action against the State of Israel, which has no dispute or conflict with Bangladesh and its people. Israel is one of the few countries recognised Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) after independence in 1971 from Pakistan.
The White House budget office has proposed eliminating funding for United Nations peacekeeping missions, citing failures by operations in Mali, Lebanon and Democratic Republic of Congo, according to internal planning documents seen by Reuters.
Washington is the U.N.’s largest contributor – with China second – accounting for 22% of the $3.7 billion core regular U.N. budget and 27% of the $5.6 billion peacekeeping budget. These payments are mandatory.
The proposed peacekeeping cuts are included in a so-called “Passback,” the response by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to State Department funding requests for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on October 1. The overall plan wants to slash the State Department budget by about half.
The new budget must be approved by Congress, and lawmakers could decide to restore some or all of the funding the administration has proposed cutting.
The State Department was due to respond to the OMB proposal on Tuesday. During U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term he proposed cutting about a third of diplomacy and aid budgets. But Congress, which sets the federal government budget, pushed back on Trump’s proposal.
“There is no final plan, final budget,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the OMB proposals.
The OMB has proposed ending Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA).
“For example, Passback provides no funding for CIPA, ending contributions for international peacekeeping due to the recent failures in peacekeeping, such as with MINUSMA, UNIFIL, and MONUSCO, and the disproportionately high level of assessments,” according to an excerpt from the Passback.
The United Nations peacekeeping budget funds nine missions in Mali, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Western Sahara, Cyprus, Kosovo, between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Abyei, an administrative area that is jointly run by South Sudan and Sudan.
The OMB Passback also proposed the creation of a $2.1 billion America First Opportunities Fund (A1OF), which it said would be used to cover a limited set of foreign economic and development assistance priorities.
“Should the Administration seek to pay any assessments for the United Nations Regular Budget or peacekeeping assessments, we would look to provide that funding from the A1OF,” read the OMB Passback.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday declined to comment on “what appears to be a leaked memo that is part of an internal debate within the U.S. government.”
The U.S. owes – for arrears and the current fiscal year – nearly $1.5 billion for the regular U.N. budget and nearly $1.2 billion for the peacekeeping budget. A country can be up to two years in arrears before facing the possible repercussion of losing its vote in the 193-member General Assembly.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month said he is seeking ways to improve efficiency and cut costs as the world body turns 80 this year amid a cash crisis.
© 2025, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.