Republican Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania launched serious accusations against the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) during a congressional hearing Thursday, claiming the agency has funded terrorist organisations including ISIS and Boko Haram.
Speaking at the first meeting of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, Perry alleged that $697 million in annual USAID funding supports “Madrasas, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS Khorasan, terrorist training camps.”
The hearing, titled “The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud,” examined potential misuse of taxpayer funds. Perry specifically criticised USAID’s work in Pakistan and Afghanistan, questioning the effectiveness of several programmes.
He pointed to a $136 million USAID initiative to build 120 schools in Pakistan, claiming there was “zero evidence” the schools were constructed. The congressman also challenged women’s education programs in Afghanistan, citing Taliban restrictions on women speaking in public as evidence these initiatives cannot function as intended.
“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 programme, which gets about $5 million annually, is truly benefiting women in Afghanistan, think again,” Perry said.
The accusations align with broader criticism of USAID from former President Donald Trump and his appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk. Musk has called USAID “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America” and accused the agency of funding bioweapon research.
The hearing is part of Trump’s broader initiative to reduce the size of the federal government, with DOGE tasked with dismantling bureaucracy and restructuring federal agencies.
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