A U.S Congressman, Scott Perry, has accused the U.S.Agency for International Development (USAID) of funding terrorist organisations, including Boko Haram, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania, made these claims on Thursday during the first hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.
In a video posted on X platform by a US political analyst, Alex Jones, the Congressman revealed that $697m annually, along with direct cash shipments, was channeled towards hosting terrorist training camps and sponsoring extremist groups.
“Who gets some of that money? Your money—$697m annually—plus shipments of cash go to ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and ISIS Khorasan. That’s what it’s funding,” Perry said.
He also criticised USAID’s allocation of $136m to construct 120 schools in Pakistan, alleging that there was “zero evidence” of the schools’ existence.
Additionally, Perry noted that programs like the Women’s Scholarship Endowment and Young Women Lead, which receive $60 and $5m annually, were not benefiting women in Afghanistan.
Perry said, ”If you think that the programme under Operation Enduring Sentinel entitled Women’s Scholarship Endowment, which receives $60m annually, or the Young Women Lead, which gets about $5m annually, is going to women who, by the way, if you read the Inspector General’s report, is telling you that the Taliban does not allow women to speak in public, yet somehow you’re believing, and American people are supposed to believe, that this money is going for the betterment of the women in Afghanistan. It is not.
“You are funding terrorism, and it’s coming through USAID. And it’s not just Afghanistan, because Pakistan’s right next door.
“USAID spent $840m in the last year, the last 20 years, on Pakistan’s education-related programme. It includes $136 million to build 120 schools, of which there is zero evidence that any of them were built. Why would there be any evidence? The Inspector General can’t get in to see them.
“But you know what? We doubled down and spent $20m from USAID to create educational television programs for children unable to attend the physical school. Yeah, they can’t attend it, because it doesn’t exist. You paid for it.
“Somebody else got the money. You are paying for terrorism. This has got to end.”
Founded in North-eastern Nigeria in 2002, by Mohammed Yusuf, Boko Haram has carried out numerous assassinations and large-scale acts of violence in that country.
Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Christopher Musa, had in January accused external countries of funding terrorism in Nigeria and hindering the sale of necessary equipment to help combat insecurity.
Musa, speaking during an interview with Aljazeera, blamed “political decision” for the lingering war against insecurity in the country.
“We do not produce the equipment we need. We have a procurement procedure which is being followed and to also state that even with our money at times, we find it difficult getting equipment, and the question is why?.
“One of the reasons this insurgency has been for this long is because we have been denied access to equipment, even when we have our money to get to, it’s difficult.
“We’re just good guys just trying to make sure that our country is secured, and then some individuals seem not to be happy about it, trying everything possible to throw us under the bus for whatever reasons.
“What I realised over time — I’ve been in the service for almost 33 years — Anytime we seem to be succeeding, somebody throws something at us and the question is why?
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, had on Wednesday, fired the USAID independent inspector general, Paul Martin, as part of his clampdown on the organisation and its activities.
His dismissal came a day after his office issued a report criticising the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, according to CNN.
His office in a report had warned that more than $489m in food assistance was at risk of spoilage or potential diversion after the Trump administration implemented an order to freeze aid to foreign countries, while ordering its workers to stop work.
Trump has launched a campaign against waste by establishing a special unit, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and appointing tech billionaire, Elon Musk, as the head of the unit.
DOGE’s focus has been on USAID, the primary organisation for distributing US humanitarian aid around the world with health and emergency programmes in about 120 countries, managing a budget of $42.8bn annually.
Trump has so far agreed to calls to close down the unit while DOGE remains focused on uncovering more secrets in the organisation.