Just hours after returning to the White House in January 2025, US President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day suspension of US foreign aid, raising fears that Washington was preparing to end its long-term humanitarian commitments around the world.

One of the many countries affected by the aid freeze is Cambodia — a Southeast Asian nation that remains littered with landmines and unexploded ordinance, some of which goes back to US bombing of North Vietnamese guerrillas during the Vietnam War. This was followed by a deadly civil conflict and the rise of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s, and then by the Vietnamese invasion and occupation, which lasted until 1989.

Cambodia has received $208 million (€182 million) from the US to clear landmines since 1993. This represents around 30% of the total funding for its demining efforts.

"We hope that the US decides to continue supporting this noble work," Cambodia's Mine Action Authority (CMAA) Secretary General Ly Panharith told DW.

'Nobody's going to trust the Americans anymore'

The deadline to review Trump's suspension passed on April 20. However, the US has not provided any further clarity on the issue, leaving the recipients and administrators of humanitarian aid in limbo.

"We don't know what's going to happen at the end of April," Bill Morse, a Vietnam war veteran who serves as project manager and board member of NGO Cambodian Self Help Demining (CSHD), told DW.

Morse also believes Trump's "America First" agenda has already harmed the US' image abroad.

"Nobody's going to trust the Americans anymore, whether Trump is in office or not," said Morse.

"Are they going to go in and ask for a grant when the whole thing could blow up in their face in another six months? Or are they going to go to the Chinese?" he said.

China promises more demining funds

With US foreign policy shifting, Washington's main international rival, China, seems ready to capitalize and increase its own soft power.

Beijing has provided Cambodia over $35 million since 2016, and pledged a further $4.4 million for this year after the US funding freeze.

Other countries are also pitching in, including Japan, which said in February that it would be providing $1.3 million. Luxembourg also said this month that it would provide $2.16 million for the United Nations Development Program's (UNDP) "Clearing for Results" project.

Hidden explosives still a threat three decades on

Even after three decades of clearance work in Cambodia, new mines and other explosive remnants of war (ERWs) are constantly being discovered, with many Cambodians facing daily risks of injury or death.

"So kids will be coming home from school, they'll take a shortcut through a field, they'll find something in the ground. A farmer will be plowing his field and he expands his field a little bit and he uncovers something in the ground. They're constantly working under that risk," Morse explained.

Between 1979 and the end of 2022, landmines and ERWs killed 29,605 people and injured more than 21,000, according to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor.

"In the last 10 years (2015-2024), 49% of mine accidents occurred outside of the identified minefields. This indicates that many minefields still have not been surveyed in these areas," CMAA Secretary General Ly Panharith told DW.

Minefields impede agriculture, new roads

The CMAA says 2,221 square kilometers (858 square miles) of contaminated land have been "collectively cleared and released." But it estimates that nearly 2,100 square kilometers still need to be cleared.

Sokcheng Ung, CSHD's director, described how the "issues surrounding landmines significantly impede progress" for people living in the affected areas.

"Many plots of land that could be used for agriculture, construction, and roads remain untouchable. This leaves communities unable to safely access these areas, putting lives at risk and stalling development," Sokcheng added.

Can Cambodia truly be free of mines by 2030?

While significant progress has been made in reclaiming land, Cambodia has been forced to push back its original goal of being mine-free by 2025.

The new deadline of full demining by 2030 is "ambitious but achievable" — as long as Cambodia receives continued and adequate funding and support, says UN official Alissar Chaker.

The UNDP's Clearing for Results project, which began in 2006, is now entering its fifth and hopefully final phase. Its approximate budget is $25 million, but "most of it is yet to be mobilized," she told DW.

The UNDP relies on "potential top-ups" from its current development partners, namely Australia, New Zealand, Luxembourg and South Korea.

Efforts are also ongoing to secure further partners, such as Germany, Switzerland and Canada, which, according to Chaker, would help optimize resources "during these times of uncertainty, austerity and multiple crises."

The former US soldier Morse is confident that the demining efforts will go on even if the US is no longer a reliable partner.

"It may take a little bit of a different form, but we can continue exactly like we're doing," he said.

"The loser here is not going to be Cambodia, it's going to be America," he said.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic