The United States government’s international assistance, humanitarian relief, and development arm, USAID (the United States Agency for International Development), is in massive trouble. During the course of a few weeks under Donald Trump’s presidency, much of the agency was dismantled, its website went offline, the officials and staff encountered furloughs, firings and disciplinary leaves.
Notably, the agency’s work was halted, and transactions were frozen. Lawmakers claimed that USAID’s computer servers were taken away. Further elaborating on his plans, Trump also stated that closing down USAID “should have been done a long time ago.” He has referred to it as a component of the “deep state” and his administration recently provided information on the “ridiculous” initiatives that the agency funded over the years. However, USAID is under fire for its much darker purpose.
USAID’s influence was evident in its attempts to install puppet governments under the banner of revolution and democracy in nations such as Ukraine and Bangladesh. It cultivated close ties with radical leftist billionaire George Soros, who is notorious for his role in facilitating regime changes around the world. USAID even had connections with infamous purveyors of disinformation.
Moreover, the agency which is now facing the criticism of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) supremo Elon Musk exerted extra efforts to topple the Modi government and set up a favourable administration. USAID had its hands in every pot but its most alarming involvement pertained to its financial support and relationships with multiple Islamist and terrorist organisations.
USAID funds Pakistan-based terrorism and extremism in South Asia
As per reports, USAID provided assistance to an anti-Indian outfit that the US government has designated as a terrorist organization. It funded the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) based in Pakistan. The 26/11 assaults in Mumbai, which left 166 people dead and over 300 injured, were carried out by LeT. The Pakistani terrorists brutally murdered their victims, including six Americans. More shockingly, USAID continued to offer support to the foundation in spite of being under investigation for doing the same.
Both India and the United States labeled the LeT and its front Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) as terrorist organizations as they executed attacks and encouraged terrorism in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir. The use of American public funds to support an organization that the US government outlawed in 2010 was a striking example of the contradictions and hypocrisy inherent in the nation’s foreign policy.
A US State Department document, banning the outfit read, “The FIF is a Pakistan-based organisation that is closely connected to banned terrorist group LeT and its humanitarian front Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD). In essence, FIF is JUD with a new name, designed to evade scrutiny and sanctions,” and linked it to the 2008 Mumbai attacks. USAID, which handled more than half of US foreign aid, was conveniently unaware that its own government outlawed FIF.
A Muslim organization “Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD),” located in Michigan with connections to jihadist groups active in South Asia was the conduit for the aid. Established in 2005, HHRD claims to be “a global humanitarian relief and development organization responding to human suffering in emergency and disaster situations around the world.”
The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), the American branch of the violent South Asian extremist group Jamaat-e-Islami, has an overseas relief arm named “Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD).” In 2017, the Middle East Forum unveiled that HHRD had collaborated with the political and philanthropic branches of Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba to host a seminar at a government-run college in Pakistan. These results triggered an investigation by USAID’s Inspector General as well as many congressional probes.
The Al-Khidmat Foundation is its primary partner in Pakistan and the two came together at least 214 times. The former declared that it had financed its “just Jihad” by “presenting a cheque of six-million rupees from the people of Pakistan to Khaled Meshaal, head of the politburo Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas),” in 2006. ICNA has already “linked to the websites of Hamas, Hezbollah, and terrorist organizations fighting in Chechnya, Afghanistan, and the Pakistani-Indian disputed region of Kashmir,” according to the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
The Islamic Society in Gaza, which publicly bragged about its ties to Hamas, was one of the Islamic charities on its short list of suggested groups. ICNA conference speakers have also called for violence against Jews. These speakers have even included Muhammad Siyam, a senior Hamas member, who spoke at the group’s 1990 convention alongside Khurshid Ahmed, the deputy leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. The Unlimited Friends Association is a partner of HHRD in Gaza.
Amjad Taha, an expert on strategic and political affairs of the Middle East expressed, “USAID funded HHRD, a Michigan-based Islamist charity with ties to jihadist groups, including Pakistan’s Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, a US-designated terrorist organisation involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.” According to him, USAID funded extremist groups in South Asia, notably the FIF, which targeted India, with a staggering $110,000. He added, “When exposed, they merely launched an internal investigation.”
Did you know that USAID provided $110,000 in funding to jihadist groups in South Asia, including one that targeted India? When exposed, they merely launched an internal investigation. USAID funded HHRD, a Michigan-based Islamist charity with ties to jihadist groups, including…
— Amjad Taha أمجد طه (@amjadt25) February 3, 2025
The US-based Islamist nonprofit was accused of granting financing to terrorist groups in 2019, if not before. It was only reported last year that an investigation was conducted in 2021 into the USAID payment of $110,000 to HHRD. The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Chairman, Michael T. McCaul, wrote to USAID Administrator Samantha Power in 2023 to draw attention to the agency’s indirect backing of terrorist groups.
“In October 2021, USAID awarded $110,000 to Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) through the Ocean Freight Reimbursement Program. This award was made despite longstanding, detailed allegations that HHRD is connected to designated terrorist organizations, terror financiers, and extremist groups,” he stated. According to the letter, three members of Congress publicly encouraged the State Department to look into these suspected affiliations with terrorism, in November 2019.
Furthermore, he demanded that the NGO’s financing be stopped until these accusations had been thoroughly examined. However, another cash tranche of $7300 was awarded to HHRD by USAID under the Biden administration in 2023. “This isn’t about shutting down USAID but about holding accountable the staff who made this happen. Which department are they in now? How are they serving Islamists? Which charity or school are they operating today,” Amjad Taha questioned.
Bayader Association for Environment and Development, Gaza
The Bayader Association for Environment and Development, a jihadist charity in Gaza, received more than $900,000 from USAID since 2016. On 1st October 2023, just six days prior to the 7th October Hamas onslaught, which resulted in the massacre of over 1,200 Israelis, USAID bestowed Bayader with its most recent grant. A few months prior, in February 2023, Bayader, in partnership with Islamic Relief, a Western Islamist charity and another former USAID grantee, hosted a meeting with top Hamas officials in the Gazan city of Khan Yunis.
Senior Hamas officials, including Abdul Salam Haniyeh, the son of the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, one of the individuals behind the 7th October massacre, were embraced by Bayader workers during the ceremony. Bayader was established in 2007, just after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, and it works closely with the terrorist government. “Coordination” and “meetings” with Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Works, Ministry of Social Affairs, and Ministry of Agriculture are mentioned in its 2021 annual report.
Other Hamas terror politicians are frequently spotted with Bayader officials. Its Ministry of Public Works announced in March 2023 that it was in favor of Bayader’s endeavors to construct public infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Additionally, Bayader touts of its USAID assistance in its advertisements in Hamas media and its officials openly encourage terrorism. Abd Rabbo Saeed Abu Haddaf, the finance director of the charity, expressed public sorrow at the passing of Ahmed Abu Deka of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, calling him a “brother and friend.” The latter was the deputy commander of the rocket forces of the Al-Quds Brigades.
Similarly, Bayader “project coordinator” Ahlam Jama, who previously worked for US non-governmental organizations like “Mercy Corps” and the “Catholic Relief Services” published content lamenting the passing of another Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader, Baha Abu al-Ata. Federal spending data demonstrated that Bayader is a USAID sub-grantee. Government funds are initially disbursed through a sponsoring US NGO, which is supposedly obligated to screen its sub-grantees.
American entities including the “International Medical Corps,” “Global Communities,” and “Catholic Relief Services” are among the US non-profits that were able to receive USAID money for Bayader. However, USAID also worked directly with it and its officials lauded Bayader’s efforts on social media. They paid a visit to the organization’s offices and Jonathan Kamin, a senior official, even accepted an award from the fanatic group.
American Near East Refugee Agency (ANERA)
ANERA also known as American Near East Refugee Aid is one of the biggest American non-profits working in the Palestinian territories. It was established in 1968, shortly after the Six-Day War and now runs projects in Lebanon and Jordan. ANERA claimed more than $170 million in revenue on its 2022 tax returns. One of its largest donors USAID had authorized tens of millions of dollars in transfers to the organization throughout the previous years, consisting of a $12.5 million grant in 2024.
For decades, the charity has been accused in multiple media stories and research works of aiding radicals associated with the designated terrorist organization Hamas, while being a significant partner of the government and numerous foreign institutions. Bayader has been a longtime supporter of ANERA. The Unlimited Friends Association, also identified as a Hamas proxy group that aims to provide cash handouts to the “families of martyrs” in Gaza and spreads strongly anti-Semitic rhetoric on its social media pages, has also been funded by ANERA through USAID funds.
It has a history of such collaborations. An ANERA report from 2000 revealed an alliance with the Ihsan Society, which the US government subsequently deemed as a Hamas front in 2005. “USAID continues to fund multimillion-dollar programs through American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), which is building a high-tech facility” for the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG), according to a 2007 Washington Times article. Sheikh Yassin, the chairman of Hamas, founded the institution which remains a significant Hamas outpost. According to ANERA’s 2005 report, the organization was trying to raise $900,000 for a single project at the university.
Notably, Inspector General’s office at USAID conducted an audit and discovered that the agency had miserably failed in its vetting tasks as the agency funded its activities with IUG and other institutions. Money sent through ANERA to the Palestinian territories was reportedly “used to support Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) kindergartens that actively indoctrinate children in hatred and killing of Israeli civilians, as well as other PIJ and Hamas organizations, thus enabling them to finance terrorist activity, which is forbidden by US law,” per a 2017 Israel Law Center report.
ANERA’s top officials did not denounce the open expression of violent beliefs by its staff. Its “logistics coordinator,” Mousa Shawwa, supported a social media appeal for God to “erase the Jews” in 2014. Esma Marwa, an employee of ANERA, expressed joy at learning that the “head of a rotten Jew” was injured. She cautioned Palestinians that sharing images of their “martyrs” only benefits the “Jews.” Meanwhile, Ibrahim Zanoun, the photographer for ANERA in Gaza tweeted to warn that Hamas would “soon broadcast a video threatening the Jews” and commended the group for its “resistance.”
Ibrahim Najjar, another employee of ANERA, posted images of the terrorist commander and Hamas founder Sheikh Yassin. He also voiced support for the “brave prisoners” in Israeli prisons. Sandra Rasheed, the Palestine Director for ANERA is a clear supporter of radical action, even though it bills itself as a “non-partisan organization.” She supports student protesters on campuses, encourages radical far-Left organizations to take direct action and posts meaningless agitprop on social media that promises resistance by “land, by air and by sea – by any means and in any conditions.”
Other ANERA personnel liked the cryptic words that its agricultural programs manager, Naser Qadous posted indicating endorsement for 7th October Hamas strikes. Later, he posted propaganda from Hamas regarding its handling of Israeli hostages. The ANERA official claimed that one hostage, who was depicted with armed terrorists, had only been a “guest.” Mohamed Alsayed, the previous national coordinator of ANERA in Lebanon (who now identifies himself as the organization’s “youth sports coordinator”), praised the 7th October attacks as well, branding the day of the pogrom as a “beautiful morning.”
Unlimited Friends Association
The building of a “USAID-funded Unlimited Friends Association (UFA) educational and community center in Gaza” is celebrated in a USAID August 2022 “news update.” ANERA with operations around the Middle East, “built” the center, based on USAID. UFA actively promotes highly anti-Semitic language on its social media platforms and has ties to senior Hamas leaders. It held events to gather money for “the families of martyrs and prisoners.” Cash distributions are a part of its “Orphan Sponsorship Program.” The children of those killed while opposing “the ongoing slaughter against the Palestinian people” were included in UFA’s definition of orphans in its video, however, they were deleted afterward.
Such efforts are conducted in open cooperation with Hamas. Prominent Hamas leaders like Mustafa Sawwaf, who contendd that Israel’s disappearance is “a necessity (according to) the Koran,” and Mohamed Abu-Shkian, a senior Hamas commander who hailed the “strikes of the mujahideen” and assembles ceremonies in Gaza that glorify killed terrorists, have been invited to the groups offices and events.
Furthermore, UFA boasts a certificate of support from Ummah University, an institution in Gaza under the direct administration of “Interior Ministry” of Hamas and publicly promotes initiatives financed by American charities in well-known Hamas publications. Several Hamas-affiliated media channels, notably Felesteen actual, the terrorist outfit’s daily newspaper, reported employment openings at UFA in 2022, however, these reports were not advertisement but rather actual articles.
“We ask God to drive away the anguish of the heroic prisoners in the Nazi Zionist jails and to free Al-Aqsa Al-Sharif from the filth of the most dirty Jews,” the charity wrote in a social media post in 2013. UFA officials use similar language. Its director Jomaa Khadoura prayed for God to “cleanse Al-Aqsa from the impurity of the Jews” on his personal Facebook page in April 2021. According to USAID, the agency funded UFA and “ANERA built the educational and community center in Gaza.”
ANERA claims on its website that because its “local staff evaluates our partners,” it ensures that sure money don’t end up in “parties like Hamas.” However, as mentioned earlier, these same employees use virulently anti-Semitic language. Other USAID-supported American nonprofits, such as Islamic Relief and Helping Hand for Relief and Development, also provide support to UFA in addition to the direct funds provided by USAID for its operations.
Islamic Relief
The main charity run by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood alias Ikhwan Al-Muslimeen, is entitled Islamic Relief which was founded in the United Kingdom. With branches, offices and affiliations in more than 40 countries, the latter is one of the leading financial institutions worldwide. It was created by prominent Muslim Brotherhood members and continues to bw operated by notable Islamist activists which resulted in bans and blacklistings in several Arab and European nations. The US branch generates over $100 million in income annually, making it one of its richest franchises.
Despite its obvious ties to terrorism, USAID authorized $2 million in support for 2 chapters of Islamic Relief. The latter frequently partnered with senior terrorist figures in Gaza in 2022, including Ghazi Hamad, a member of the Hamas politburo. He declared that Hamas would carry out the 7th October strikes “time and again until Israel is annihilated” a few weeks later following the mass killings. Islamic Relief started a project in Khan Yunis of Gaza, in February 2023. Islamic Relief Palestine and the Bayader Association for Environment & Development spearheaded the project, which was financed with $200,000 from Islamic Relief’s Dutch branch.
The project was planned in close coordination with the Hamas leadership and the Khan Yunis municipality, which is under Hamas authority. As stated in the Bayader description above, key Hamas members, including Abdul Salam Haniyeh, a senior Hamas government official and the son of its leader late Ismail Haniyeh, accompanied Islamic Relief official Muneeb Abu Ghazaleh at the venture’s opening ceremony. Islamic Relief frequently denies association with designated terrorist groups, which is contradicted by their close liaison with Hamas officials.
“In the past decade more than 500 audits of our programmes have been conducted, in many cases mandated by governments and other institutional donors. Not one has found a shred of evidence of links to extremism or terrorism, and that includes more than 20 audits in the West Bank and Gaza,” Islamic Relief official Naser Haghamed alleged in the Guardian in 2020.
Many have been left perplexed regarding the precise nature of these audits as it quite clear that the charity has long supported terrorism and extremism. In an interview with Hamas’s official radio station in Gaza in 2016, Hany El-Banna, the founder of Islamic Relief, called for strong cooperation between charities and the Hamas “government.” According to El-Banna, Islamic Relief and the Gaza Zakat Committee (IZS) have collaborated extensively throughout the years. IZS is a significant Hamas charity organization that regularly hosts events with key Hamas officials and refers to its members as “soldiers for Jerusalem” on its website.
The Al-Falah Benevolent Society in Gaza, which is dubbed by journalists as a “complementary arm of the (Hamas) government” and identified by intelligence experts as one of “charitable societies of Hamas” also long received money from Islamic Relief branches. Meanwhile, employees of the Gaza office of Islamic Relief publicly exhibit support for Hamas leaders by saying things such as “I ask god to paralyze the pillars of the Jews and cut their legs and paralyze their hands,” and “O Muslim, O servant of Allah, behind me a Jew. Come and kill him.”
In 2017, the Middle East Forum uncovered that Khaled Lamada, a member of Islamic Relief’s US branch, shared texts that praised the “jihad” of the “Mujahidin” for “causing the Jews many defeats” on social media. He also reposted statements on Facebook that hailed Hamas for delivering a “huge defeat” against the “Zionist entity.” A different worker Yousef Abdullah uploaded anti-Semitic comments, including celebrating the murder of Jews.
Other extreme groups have also used Islamic Relief branches as intermediaries. For example, the British headquarters of Islamic Relief have revealed millions of dollars in revenue from dozens of terror-affiliated groups, including the Charitable Society for Social Welfare, which was launched by Abdul Majeed Al-Zindani, an Al-Qaeda terrorist and Osama bin Laden supporter as well as subsidiaries of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gulf.
The Berlin federal government voiced concerns about Islamic Relief Deutschland and the franchise’s United Kingdom parent organization, Islamic Relief Worldwide, in 2019. It was in response to lawmakers from Germany’s centrist “Free Democratic Party” which conveyed that both had “significant ties” to the Muslim Brotherhood. Meanwhile, the US State Department warned “blatant and horrifying anti-Semitism and glorification of violence exhibited at the most senior levels of Islamic Relief Worldwide” in 2020.
Following a media uproar in 2021 over Islamic Relief Netherlands being one of the beneficiaries of a government grant program worth 825 million euros, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation announced that Islamic Relief was excluded from the funding after being confirmed as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe adhering to discussions with the German government and security services.
During the Obama and early Trump administrations, in addition to the federal money provided to Islamic Relief branches, USAID and Islamic Relief collaborated to host events, such as an iftar at the agnecy for the charity’s staff. The State Department placed at least one branch of Islamic Relief on a blacklist during the first Trump administration in 2020, pointing to the “blatant and horrifying anti-Semitism and glorification of violence exhibited at the most senior levels of Islamic Relief Worldwide.” Nonetheless, the work of other branches of Islamic Relief have been promoted by USAID and US embassies.
Islamic Relief Agency (and World Vision)
The popular international evangelical charity “World Vision International,” which also has a branch in India, received $723,405 from USAID in 2014 to “improve water, sanitation, and hygiene and to increase food security in Sudan’s Blue Nile state.” The Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA), a sub-grantee, was to receive $200,000 of the amount. However, ISRA has been and continues to be designated as a terror group.
Due to its ties to Osama bin Laden and his group Maktab al-Khidamat (MK), the forerunner of al-Qaeda, the United States labeled the Khartoum-based outfit as a terror-financing organization in 2004. The US Treasury stated that ISRA and MK formally began working together in 1997. The former had raised $5 million for bin Laden’s organization by the year 2000. According to the Treasury Department, ISRA agents even attempted to assist in “relocating (bin Laden) to secure and safe location.” Additionally, it stated that ISRA raised money in Western Europe in 2003 with the express purpose of funding Hamas suicide bombers.
All of ISRA’s branches consisting of the Islamic American Relief Agency in the United States, were included in the 2004 categorization. It eventually came to light that this American branch had unlawfully sent more than $1.2 million to terrorist organizations, including the Afghan terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, as well as Iraqi rebels. It appeared that World Vision and USAID were cognizant of ISRA’s terrorist activites. A board member and the executive director of ISRA’s US branch entered guilty pleas to a number of offenses in 2010, comprising conspiracy, theft of public funds and money laundering. The plea was posted on the official USAID website.
Former Congressman Mark Siljander, who frequently visited Sudan and signed public statements written and supported by World Vision, was imprisoned in 2012 for lobbying for ISRA’s US branch with funds that had been stolen from USAID. Nevertheless, USAID gave the money to ISRA through World Vision without probing its sub-grantees. The process was only halted after a whistleblower compelled World Vision to speak with USAID about its partner’s placement on the US terror list. Desperate, World Vision tried to get around the ban on terror links.
It wanted a new license from the agency in 2015 to pay ISRA “monies owed for work performed” which it highlighted in a letter to the Treasury Department and USAID Jeremy Konyndyk, director of USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance. World Vision claimed that “their whole program will be jeopardized” if they were unable to pay ISRA, per USAID’s mission director for Sudan, Larry Meserve.
Undoubtedly, ISRA and the Islamist government in Sudan aimed to exert pressure on World Vision, which was complicit, to take action. World Vision responded by threatening legal action and demanding the money’s release in frantic and intimidating emails to government representatives. According to Treasury records, World Vision was contacted on several occasions by senior staff members of US Congressman Adam Smith who was the ranking member and eventually the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Jeremy Weinstein, the deputy ambassador to the United Nations under UN Ambassador Samantha Powers (later the head of USAID under the Biden administration), sent an email to the director of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control asking it to “review” ISRA’s terrorist designation “without a formal request,” circumventing the standard procedure. After the license was approved on 7th May 2015, USAID started “a one-time transfer of approximately $125,000 to ISRA.”
The Senate Finance Committee’s probe, which was based on the Middle East Forum’s conclusions, chastised World Vision for their obfuscatory “posture” during the inquiry and implied that the evangelical charity runs the risk of experiencing a similar crisis in the future. World Vision had been collaborating with ISRA for years before they were exposed. More importantly, its branches kept up their relationship with the terrorist group following the alarming reveal. World Vision was earlier involved with a terrorist group as well. World Vision and Interpal, a financial backer of Hamas and a US designated terror group, inked a cooperative memorandum in 2006.
World Vision seemed to finance a known front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) with funds from the Australian government, in 2012. Additionally, in 2022, World Vision’s Gaza operations manager, Muhammad Halabi, was found guilty and jailed by an Israeli court on allegations of funding terrorism. He was charged with transferring up to $50 million in World Vision funding to Hamas. However, World Vision has constantly taken funding from USAID. Since 2008, the charity has received about $2 billion in public money through USAID grants, with $200 million approved in 2024 alone.
State Department and USAID funds multiple terror groups
According to the Middle East Forum’s multi-year analysis of United States Department of State or State Department and USAID spending, at least $122 million of the $164 million in authorized grants to extremist organizations went to entities associated with identified terrorists and their allies. Leading American assistance institutions received billions more in federal funding, but to the utter disinterest of the federal government, they have consistently failed to screen their local partners with links to terrorism and had no interest in improving their methods.
USAID awarded millions of dollars to Islamists in the Indian subcontinent and Hamas-controlled groups in Gaza. The government representatives even visited the offices of Gaza terror proxies to start cooperative projects. Among countless other horrendous instances, USAID recipients were behind terror attacks on India. They also demanded that their territories be “cleansed” of the “impurity of the Jews.” The employees of several multi-million dollar USAID beneficiary charities publicly supported and promoted violence against Hindus and Jews. Meanwhile, USAID staff members visited the offices of groups that appear to act on behalf of top Hamas leaders.
The table referenced above illustrates the manner in which funds were directed through USAID and State Department to various radical and extremist organizations, both within the United States and abroad, that sought to carry out acts of terrorism and violence against Hindus and Jews. Local Islamists in cahoots with Hamas, Jamaat-e-Islami and the Turkish government were supported by federal funds to circumvent US regulations and monitoring aimed at combating the threat of terror financing. With millions of dollars distributed to anonymous recipients in terrorist-affected regions of the world, records of federal funds, primarily through USAID, are obscured by poor disclosure procedures, erased data and willful attempts to avoid transparency.
Members of Congress also accused groups like the “Tides Foundation” and other radical domestic groups of taking advantage of these funds to finance anti-Jewish and pro-Hamas violence on American college campuses. Easily swayed and complicit fellow travelers, such as prominent advocacy groups including “InterAction” and humanitarian groups consisting of “World Vision International” and “Catholic Relief Services” among others are crucial intermediaries for terror-tied Islamists, both domestically and internationally, often with their knowledge. These nonprofit organizations, which get billions of public dollars, are reliant on federal money.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) at USAID had been the only internal voice of concern over the past year regarding USAID’s aid networks. It warned about the obfuscation by foreign NGOs and UN (United Nations) agencies, the inability of current procedures to identify connections of the recepients to violent extremism and the obvious risk of “armed groups” abusing the vetting and funding systems.
The US government is one of the biggest funders of Islamism worldwide, given the amount of federal money that winds up in the coffers of both local and overseas Islamist organizations. The federal government’s foreign aid initiatives have benefited violent radicals in particular. Hundreds of millions of public cash have been purposefully used by the State Department and USAID to support terrorists and their proxies. Now, USAID’s dubious funding history has gained attention as a result of the Trump administration’s actions.
