The head of a major humanitarian organisation said U.S. President Donald Trump's order to halt foreign aid for 90 days would have immediate and disastrous consequences in Afghanistan where relief operations are already stretched thin.

Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending all US foreign assistance programs pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals.

It was not immediately clear how much assistance would initially be affected by the Monday order as funding for many programs has already been appropriated by Congress and is obligated to be spent, if not already spent.

The scope of the order was not clear, including whether it applied to Afghanistan's humanitarian funding, which is channelled through NGOs and United Nations agencies.

Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters that the decision had left agencies reeling as they braced for further cuts from the biggest donor to Afghanistan.

"A 90-day suspension of all aid, no new grants, no new transfer of funding, will have disastrous consequences immediately ... for an already starved aid operation for very poor and vulnerable girls and women and civilians in Afghanistan," he said during a video interview from Kabul late on Tuesday.

Afghanistan is home to more than 23 million people requiring humanitarian assistance - more than half the country's population - but aid has shrunk as donors face competing global crises and diplomats raise concerns about the Islamic Emirate’s restrictions on women in most areas of public life, including education and health.

Development funding that formed the backbone of government finances was cut after the IEA took over and foreign forces left in 2021.

Reuters reported last year that non-governmental groups played a critical role in filling the humanitarian void.

"If you go back in time it was a well funded operation, we got development assistance, then we could have perhaps have lived through three months of suspension, we cannot any more," Egeland said.

Trump told a rally shortly before taking office that aid to Afghanistan would be contingent on getting back billions of dollars of military equipment that U.S. forces left behind.

Takhar Provincial Police Command said Wednesday a Chinese national was killed by unknown gunmen in Takhar Province on Tuesday night.

Police gave the man’s name only as Li, and said the victim had been on his way to Dasht Qala in Takhar when he was shot.

Mohammad Akbar Haqqani, head of press and public relations department for the police command, said in a statement that the man had decided to travel without informing authorities.

Haqqani said: "This Chinese citizen and his interpreter intended to travel for an unknown reason without informing the officials of the Chinese office and the security officials of the office. Unfortunately, he was killed by unknown gunmen on the way to Dasht Qala of Takhar province."

He added that the man’s translator was not harmed in the incident. Haqqani stated that police have started its preliminary investigation.

No group or person has yet claimed responsibility for the incident.