Rabat – The UN is preparing to withdraw thousands of peacekeepers and scale down its global operations after the US announced major funding cuts, a senior UN official confirmed Wednesday.
The move, expected to take effect in the coming months, marks one of the largest reductions in the UN’s peacekeeping presence in decades.
The official, who spoke anonymously after a closed-door meeting, said roughly 13,000 to 14,000 military and police personnel, nearly a quarter of the current force, will be sent home.
The cuts affect nine active missions, including those in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Kosovo.
The UN’s support office in Somalia will also see major reductions. Overall, the peacekeeping budget will be trimmed by around 15% this year, part of a wider 25% force reduction prompted by Washington’s new funding stance.
Washington’s policy shift
The US, which traditionally contributes about 25% of the UN’s peacekeeping budget, announced it would cut its contribution from $1 billion to $680 million, a shift aligned with President Donald Trump’s “America First” approach.
Mike Waltz, the newly appointed US ambassador to the UN, has argued that the organization’s bureaucracy has become “bloated and redundant.” In a recent television interview, Waltz said Washington wants to get “the UN back to basics of promoting peace, enforcing peace, preventing wars,” adding, “We have to cut out all of this other nonsense.”
The reductions come amid a broader US review of multilateral organizations. Since returning to office, Trump has suspended US participation in several UN-affiliated bodies, including UNESCO, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Human Rights Council, while reviewing contributions to others.
Impact across the UN system
The cuts extend beyond peacekeeping. More than 60 UN offices and agencies are preparing to reduce staff by 20%, part of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ broader reform plan and a direct response to shrinking US contributions.
Despite the funding crisis, Guterres has defended the UN’s peacekeeping operations as one of the world’s most cost-effective mechanisms for stability. “With a budget representing a tiny fraction of global military spending, around one half of one percent, UN peacekeeping remains one of the most effective tools to build international peace and security,” he said in earlier remarks.
UN peacekeeping operations have expanded dramatically since the end of the Cold War. From 11,000 peacekeepers in the early 1990s, the number rose to 130,000 by 2014. Today, about 52,000 serve in 11 conflict zones across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Contributions from the US and China together account for nearly half of the UN’s peacekeeping budget. A second senior UN official confirmed that Beijing has pledged to pay its full share by the end of the year, a gesture that may help cushion the impact of Washington’s retreat.
Diplomats warn that the cuts could leave several volatile regions exposed. The peacekeeping missions in Congo and South Sudan, where UN troops have played key roles in deterring violence and protecting civilians, are expected to face the sharpest reductions.
For many at the UN, the looming drawdown marks a turning point, not only for the organization’s operational reach but also for the future of multilateral cooperation in an increasingly divided international landscape.
