With 1,100 metric tons of emergency food rations nearing expiry in a U.S. government warehouse in Dubai after President Donald Trump's aid freeze, it took a warning of "wasted tax dollars" for a top U.S. official to eventually agree to a deal for the supplies to be used, sources said.
The deal saved 622 metric tons of the energy-dense biscuits in June, but 496 metric tons, worth $793,000 before they expired this month, will be destroyed, according to two internal U.S. Agency for International Development memos dated May 5 and May 19, and four sources familiar with the matter.
The wasted biscuits will be turned into landfill or incinerated in the United Arab Emirates, two sources said. That will cost the U.S. government an additional $100,000, according to the May 5 memo verified by three sources familiar with the matter.
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