A U.S. congressman, Scott Perry, has alleged that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been involved in funding terrorist organizations, including Boko Haram.
Perry, a Republican representing Pennsylvania, made the claim on Thursday during the inaugural hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency. The session, titled “The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud,” focused on alleged misallocation of taxpayer funds.
“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,” Perry stated.
He also criticized USAID’s reported allocation of $136 million to build 120 schools in Pakistan, claiming there was “zero evidence” that the schools were ever constructed.
Perry further questioned the effectiveness of U.S. aid programs in Afghanistan, particularly the Operation Enduring Sentinel initiative, which allocates $60 million annually for a Women’s Scholarship Endowment and $5 million for the Young Women Lead program. Citing an Inspector General’s report, he argued that the Taliban does not allow women to speak in public and, therefore, the funding was not benefiting Afghan women as intended.
“You are funding terrorism, and it’s coming through USAID,” Perry asserted. “It’s not just Afghanistan, because Pakistan’s right next door.”
He went on to claim that USAID had spent $840 million over the last 20 years on education-related programs in Pakistan, including the construction of schools that, according to him, do not exist.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has previously called for the closure of USAID, accusing the agency of corruption on his Truth Social platform. The move aligns with Trump’s broader initiative—backed by billionaire Elon Musk—to downsize the U.S. government.
Musk, whom Trump appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has also criticized USAID, alleging that it engages in unauthorized operations.
Musk has described USAID as “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America” and pledged to shut it down. He also accused the agency of conducting “rogue CIA work” and claimed it funded “bioweapon research, including COVID-19, that killed millions of people.”
Trump has stated that DOGE will work to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excessive regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies—essential to the ‘Save America’ movement.”
The allegations against USAID have sparked debate in Washington, with critics demanding further scrutiny into the agency’s funding mechanisms. USAID has yet to issue an official response.
