President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on nearly all U.S. foreign aid froze a globe-spanning apparatus that provides assistance ranging from weapons of war to lifesaving medicines.

Patients and health care advocates said the abrupt decision to halt U.S. funding for a lifesaving H.I.V. program led to widespread confusion. The backtracking didn’t help.

The 90-day suspension of US aid and “stop-work” requirement following the president’s executive order last week has exposed with lightning-like intensity the global reach of US assistance, whose diverse projects worldwide have been an essential part of American soft power.