Surprise As ”US Congressman Alleges USAID Funded Boko Haram, ISIS

United States Congressman Scott Perry has alleged that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been funding terrorist organisations, including Boko Haram and ISIS.

The Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania made this assertion on Thursday during the inaugural hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.

Titled “The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud,” the session examined alleged misappropriations of taxpayer funds.

Referring to USAID’s financial support for various terrorist groups worldwide, Perry stated, “In addition to the regular cash shipments of $40 million to $80 million every week to ten days, Afghanistan is under the control of figures like Sarayudin Haqani. Does the Haqani network mean anything to anyone here?

“What about Abdullah Bin Laden, who also receives some of that money? Does that name resonate with anyone? Because your taxpayer dollars – a staggering $697 million annually, along with cash funding for madrasas, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS Khorasan, and terrorist training camps – are being allocated to these causes.”

According to the subcommittee’s website, it will “actively work with President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency to eliminate waste, secure vulnerable payment systems, and thoroughly investigate schemes to defraud taxpayers.”

Perry also highlighted USAID’s reported $136 million investment in the construction of 120 schools in Pakistan, asserting that there is “zero evidence” they exist.

“If you believe that programmes like Operation Enduring Sentinel’s Women’s Scholarship Endowment, which receives $60 million annually, or the Young Women Lead programme, which gets about $5 million a year, are assisting women – who, by the way, the Inspector General reports, are not allowed to speak in public by the Taliban – then you are mistaken, and the American public is being misled. This money is not benefitting women in Afghanistan; it is funding terrorism.

“And it extends beyond Afghanistan because Pakistan is right next door.

“Over the past 20 years, USAID has spent $840 million on education-related programmes in Pakistan, including $136 million meant for the construction of 120 schools, yet there is zero evidence these schools were ever built. Why would there be? The Inspector General has been denied access to verify.

“Furthermore, we doubled down by spending $20 million from USAID to create educational television programmes for children unable to attend physical schools. They can’t attend, because those schools do not exist. You funded this.

“Someone else pocketed the money. You are inadvertently financing terrorism, and this must cease.”

President Donald Trump has previously called for the shutdown of USAID, accusing the agency of corruption in a post on his Truth Social platform. This stance aligns with his administration’s broader push to downsize the federal government, a move supported by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Musk, whom Trump appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, has also condemned USAID, labelling it as “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America” and pledging to dismantle it.

Among his allegations, Musk has claimed that USAID has engaged in “rogue CIA work” and has been involved in funding bioweapon research, including COVID-19, which he stated “killed millions of people.