NEW YORK (Realist English). The United Nations will withdraw nearly a quarter of its global peacekeeping personnel in the coming months due to an escalating cash shortage and uncertainty over future U.S. funding, senior UN officials confirmed on Wednesday.
“Overall, we will have to repatriate around 25% of our total peacekeeping troops and police, as well as their equipment,” a senior UN official said on condition of anonymity. “A large number of civilian staff across missions will also be affected.”
The reductions will affect 11 ongoing UN missions, amounting to between 13,000 and 14,000 uniformed personnel, according to preliminary estimates.
U.S. arrears top $2.8 billion
The United States, the UN’s largest peacekeeping contributor, is responsible for over 26% of the organization’s peacekeeping budget, followed by China, which contributes nearly 24%. These assessments are mandatory, not voluntary.
However, Washington has fallen $2.8 billion behind on payments. It entered the new fiscal year already $1.5 billion in arrears, with an additional $1.3 billion now overdue, UN officials said.
U.S. President Donald Trump further deepened the shortfall in August when he canceled $800 million in peacekeeping funds that Congress had already appropriated for 2024 and 2025. The White House budget office has since proposed cutting all peacekeeping funding for 2026, citing the “ineffectiveness” of missions in Mali, Lebanon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The U.S. has reportedly pledged a $680 million partial payment, but the UN has not yet received confirmation of when the funds will arrive. The U.S. mission to the UN did not respond to requests for comment.
Global missions at risk
The UN currently operates peacekeeping forces in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon, Cyprus, Kosovo, the Central African Republic, Western Sahara, the Golan Heights, Abyei, and along the India-Pakistan ceasefire line in Kashmir, among others.
Cuts are expected to hit the most logistically demanding operations first, with troop withdrawals likely to begin before the end of the year.
Broader reform push
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has ordered a comprehensive cost-cutting review as the organization marks its 80th anniversary amid a worsening cash crisis. He has called on member states to stabilize funding, warning that “persistent arrears threaten not only peacekeeping operations but the credibility of multilateralism itself.”
Diplomats said the planned drawdown could mark the largest contraction in UN peacekeeping since the 1990s, potentially leaving several fragile regions more exposed to conflict and instability.
