The United States needs to provide the country of Yemen with humanitarian aid in order to help the country fight Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.  The terrorist organization is using YemenŐs failing economy, political corruption and social discontent to its advantage.  Any aid the United States gives to Yemen would go to helping these three key facets of YemenŐs society.  The aid would build up the economy, help to end political corruption and ease the social tensions that have broken out.
YemenŐs economy is failing because of several reasons.  First the oil industry, which comprises more than half of YemenŐs GDP is dwindling.  Yemen is running out of supplies and is unable to meet the demands as it used to be able to.  This has affected the Yemeni peopleŐs ability to pay for their food, get jobs and subsist.  At a time when the average Yemeni citizen is living on less than two dollars a day, they cannot afford to lose a valuable natural resource.  Therefore, if the United States gives Yemen money through humanitarian aid, the money would boost the countryŐs failing economy and help the people buy basic goods such as food and water.  
Politically, Yemen is ruled by President Saleh who runs the country through nepotism, bargaining and underhanded deals.  Saleh has to resort to this level of corruption in order to pay off rivaling factions that exist within Yemen.  For example, there are Houthi rebels that live in Northern Yemen who are opposed to his presidential cabinet.  In order to appease a portion of these Houthis, Saleh would have to pay them off with a significant amount of bribery money.  However it is impossible for Saleh to pay for his supporting faction and the Houthi faction.  Therefore, Saleh has left the Houthis to fend for themselves.  This lack of attention and money flowing to the Houthis has made them angrier and more prone to resistance.  For example, last year the Houthis incited a rebellion that went on to engulf the entire country in turmoil and violence.  If the United States provided Yemen with humanitarian aid President Saleh would be able to successfully pay off these Houthi rebels and end part of the violence that is endemic to this part of the world.
Lastly, YemenŐs social realm is incredibly unstable.  The people of Yemen who are destitute and live in dire conditions have nothing better to do than incite violence and join terrorist organizations.  Terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula thrive off of the countryŐs societal woes.  They are able to pit one portion of the country against the other portion in order to gain recruits.  Additionally, these different components of the society do not have the education or the knowledge to allow them to accept people of different backgrounds.  United States humanitarian aid could improve the educational system within Yemen.  If these Yemeni citizens were taught tolerance and the ills of terrorism from a young age, they might not be as easily swayed later in life.  A proper education would also enable the Yemeni people to hold a respectable job and pull themselves out of poverty.  If they made enough money and were able to purchase basic necessities on their own, they would not need the money that violent organizations offer them.