Pak terror group kept bleeding India, USAID kept funding it

New Delhi,UPDATED: Feb 5, 2025 15:34 IST

Money from USAID, a statutory body of the US government, went to fund an anti-India outfit labelled a terrorist organisation by the American government itself. The funding of the Pakistan-based Falahs-e-Insaniat Foundation, which is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was brought to light even as US President Donald Trump started dismantling USAID with an executive order.

The Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and LeT were involved in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in which 166 people were killed. Six Americans were among the 166 people mercilessly killed by the Pakistani terrorists.

What is more shocking is despite coming under probe over funding of an Islamist charity with links to terror organisations, USAID kept releasing funds to it.

Now, Trump's executive order on American funding of foreign assistance has placed a sword hanging on the US Agency for Development (USAID). Though this might hit several projects in India, there is a silver lining as USAID money was being used to fund Islamic terrorism, including ones trying to bleed India.

One of the beneficiaries of USAID, which funds NGOs across the globe, was Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a front for LeT.

The LeT and its front Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), both designated terror organisations by India and the US, have conducted terror attacks and promoted terrorism in India, especially in Jammu and Kashmir.

What's shocking is that American taxpayers money was used to fund an organisation banned by the US government in 2010. Despite the ban, the USAID actually ended up funding the FIF.

"The FIF is a Pakistan-based organisation that is closely connected to banned terrorist group LeT and its humanitarian front Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD)," states a US State Department document, banning the FIF.

It says, "In essence, FIF is JUD with a new name, designed to evade scrutiny and sanctions," linking it to the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

More than half of American foreign aid is channelled through the USAID, which was blind to its own government's ban on Pakistan-based FIF.

The USAID aid to FIF was routed through Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD), a Michigan-based Muslim charity that has ties with jihadist outfits operating in South Asia.

"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," said Amjad Taha, an expert on strategic and political affairs of the Middle East.

Taha said USAID provided $110,000 in funding to jihadist groups in South Asia, including the FIF, which targeted India. "When exposed, they merely launched an internal investigation," he added.

Charges were levelled against the US-based Islamist charity of funding terror organisations in 2019 if not earlier.

It was revealed only last year that the grant of $110,000 to a Islamist charity HHRD by the USAID was investigated in 2021.

Michael T McCaul, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, highlighted USAID's indirect funding of terror organisations in a 2023 letter to USAID Administrator, Samantha Power.

"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," wrote McCaul.

In November 2019, three Members of Congress publicly urged the State Department to investigate these alleged ties to terrorism in an official letter, claimed McCaul in his letter. He also called for a halt in funding to the NGO until a comprehensive review of these allegations was conducted.

Despite the HHRD being under probe for funding terror organisations and risks being flagged, the USAID released another tranche of funding in 2023.

Under the Biden administration in 2023, the USAID gave $73,000 to HHRD.

Trump has called the USAID a part of the "deep state" while cracking down on it.

"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?" posted Amjad Talha on X.

Even after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Lashkar-e-Taiba has been inflicting terror on Indian soil. It's operatives have been active on the ground and are engaged in training in Kashmir.

The Pakistan-based terror outfit has also floated a proxy outfit called The Resistance Front (TRF) that is threatening peace in Kashmir. The TRF has also been banned by the Indian government.

Such funding of outfits designated terror organisations by the US government itself couldn't have taken place without people in top positions pulling the strings. There is a need for detailed, transparent investigation. So, the dismantling of USAID by Trump has a silver lining for India.