The pause on USAID by the Donald Trump administration has become a subject matter of debate globally. While USAID was designed to fund various programmes across the world, details now suggest that tax money of Americans was being used to destabilise governments, set up transgender clinics in Bharat and also boost media organisations to spin false narratives.
There are several reports that state that USAID was also being used through George Soros to destabilise governments in India and Bangladesh. The destabilisation of Bharat has been a long standing agenda for Soros and his men. It has now come to light that USAID had even reached the Fatah-e-Insaniyat (FeI), which is the financial wing of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
The FeI was created after the Lashkar-e-Tayiba’s first financial wing Jamaat-ud-Dawa was designated as a terror organisation by the United States and India. The Lashkar-e-Tayiba which was behind the Mumbai 26/11 attacks that claimed the lives of 166 people including 6 Americans continued to receive USAID through the FeI.
Funding despite the ban
The FeI is a front of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. It was courtesy this terror group that Pakistan was placed on the Grey List of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Investigations had revealed that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was raising funds through the Jamaat-ud-Dawa following which the ban came into force.
In order to overcome this ban, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba launched the FeI under the garb of an NGO. Even today the FeI raises funds in the name of charity and charitable work. However, a large amount is diverted to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba which continues to carry out attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
What is shocking is that the USAID continued to fund the FeI despite the US government banning it and its mother organisation, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. In the order that banned the outfit, the US sadidd that the FeI is a Pakistan based organisation which is closely associated with the banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayiba and its humanitarian front Jamaat-ud Dawa. The US State Department also said that in essence the FeI is JuD with a new name designed to evade scrutiny and sanctions.
It is shocking to note that over half the American aid is channeled through USAID and despite the ban the FeI continued to receive these funds.
A closer look suggests that the FeI received its funds that USAID channeled through Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) which is a Michigan based Muslim charity. This organisation is known to having close ties with Jihadi groups in South Asia.
HHRD is said to have received $110,000 despite there being allegations that were levelled against it in 2019. The HHRD was accused of funding terror organisations in 2019.
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee T McCaul highlighted this problem in in 2023. In a letter to UAID Administrator, Samantha Power, he said, “ 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.”
In 2019 three member of the Congress had urged the State Department to investigate these ties to terrorism. McCaul had also called for a halt in funding to the NGO until a comprehensive review of these allegations was concluded.
Despite all these allegations, USAID under the Joe Biden administration released $73,000 to HHRD in 2023.
The freeze on USAID by the Donald Trump administration will ensure that an outfit such as the HHRD does not receive funds. This would mean that the pro-Jihadi organisation will not be able to fund the FeI as it did freely in the past.
The Azad Kashmir funding
The world is well aware that Pakistan occupied Kashmir is a disputed territory. While the US has constantly meddled in Kashmir despite New Delhi raising objections, it has a different approach when it comes to PoK which is referred to as Azad Kashmir not only by Pakistan, but by the US as well.
An archived page of the USAID website clearly suggests how USAID was used to meddle in PoK.
“The United States government is committed to supporting Pakistan in its efforts to improve the quality of basic education through better prepared teachers. This scholarship program is yet another expression of the U.S. government’s long- term commitment to help build a stronger, more prosperous and Roshan Pakistan,” Jock Conly, the USAID Mission Director said.
The press note issued by USAID titled, “The United States trains 150 teachers in Azad J&K also cited Minister of Education Abdul Waheed. It said that Waheed the Minister in Azad J&K thanked the people of United States for providing resources for the scholarship programme that would improve the quality of education for thousands of Pakistanis.
This Azad J&K scholarship program is part of a larger $75 million USAID Teacher Education Project. In addition, USAID works closely with the Government of Pakistan to develop and implement innovative curricula for two recently-launched degree programs: a four-year Bachelor degree in Education and a two-year Associate Degree in Education. A total of 1,900 students across Pakistan will be awarded scholarships under this project. More than 100 scholarships were awarded to students in Azad J&K previously.
The USAID basic education program seeks to bring 3.2 million children to reading at or above grade level over the next five years by improving instructional quality and strengthening education systems. USAID works to increase the number of children learning to read by: transforming the way teachers teach; promoting active community involvement in school governance; reforming government institutions; and promoting public-private partnerships, the note read.
This Azad J&K’s scholarship program is just one part of a comprehensive US education assistance program which includes building or rehabilitating nearly 800 schools; launching new degree programs in education at 90 teacher colleges and universities; providing scholarships for 12,000 students to study in Pakistan; and operating the largest Fulbright academic exchange program in the world, the note also read.
The funding continued despite New Delhi reiterating that its stance that PoJK is an integral part of the country is not solely that of the BJP, but the entire nation. “The Parliament of India has taken a united stand and every political party in the country has supported that stand. We will never accept that the PoJK is not a part of India. It’s a united stand, it remains our stand,” the Parliament was informed by External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar.
