Kathmandu, Aug. 3 -- Ajay Das served as programme director for the Asia Foundation's Civil Society and Media programme for two and a half years. The project was funded by the USAID, but in January, Das' team got word that the Trump administration had canceled their five-year budget worth $18.5 million-and their project would have to stop.

"The objective [of the programme] was to protect independent civil society and independent media," Das said. "These are fundamental democratic principles."

He said that the project had to cancel its plans just as its work was starting to make an impact.

Before the USAID closure, the US had committed $695 million in development funding to Nepal over five years, one-third of total funding in the develop...