A United States Congressman, Scott Perry, has alleged that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been funding terrorist organisations, including the Boko Haram insurgents operating in the Sahel region of Nigeria and North Africa.
Scott Perry who is a Republican representing Pennsylvania made the claim on Thursday during the inaugural hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.
Perry said, “In addition to the weekly to every ten days shipments. In cash of $40 million – $80 million. Afghanistan is ruled by folks named Sarayudin Haqani. Does the Haqani network mean anything to anybody in this room?
“How about Abdullah Bin Laden, who gets some of that money? Does that name ring a bell to anybody in the room? Because your money, your money, $697 million annually, plus the shipments of cash funds in Madrasas, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS Khorasan, terrorist training camps. That’s what it’s funding.
“If you think that the programme under Operation Enduring Sentinel entitled Women’s Scholarship Endowment, which receives $60 million annually, or the Young Women Lead, which gets about $5 million 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 $840 million 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 $20 million 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”, he concluded.
President Donald Trump campaigned on reducing inefficiency in government and created a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Tesla founder and world’s richest man, Elon Musk.