Donald Trump, in one of very first executive decisions after assuming office as the 47th President of the United States, passed an executive order to shut down US Agency for International Development (USAID) missions across the globe, and halted all foreign aid given by the agency for 90 days.
Trump, who has always been a vocal critic of USAID, claimed the agency is being run by “radical lunatics” as he vowed to stop all “wasteful expenditure” and “fraud”. The US President has also declared to downsize the agency’s staff, keeping only 300 out of its nearly 8,000 employees.
Meanwhile, US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Brian Mast, has revealed some shocking details about how the USAID funds were allegedly “misused” during the Biden administration, including funding adult-themed drag shows in Ecuador, handing out cash vouchers to illegal immigrants at the border, and paying money to Afghan Taliban to buy condoms.
In a video Congressman Mast details the alleged expenditures incurred by the agency, while terming these fundings as “insulting”.
Brian Mast claimed that USAID spent over $15 million to purchase condoms for Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban. Mocking the extremist group’s notorious suppression of women’s rights, Mast joked “I don’t think the Taliban would have died if they did not have condoms.”
Earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had claimed that USAID planned to distribute condoms worth $50 million in Gaza Strip under the Biden administration, but the move was stopped by the Trump administration.
The Trump administration claimed that USAID funded sex-change surgeries and LGBTQ activism in Guatemala, spending around $2 million on these endeavors in the conservative Central American country, considered hostile for LGBTQ members.
White House said the USAID paid $20,600 for organizing an adult-themed drag show in Ecuador as part of an initiative to promote LGBTQ culture. As per the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ecuador’s LGBTQ organization, Fundación Dialogo Diverso, was given nearly $75,000 over a three-year period, including a $25,000 grant last year.
Transgender opera in Colombia: The USAID also funded a transgender-themed opera in Colombia, spending $47,000 for the event, the committee stated.
According to the US Foreign Affairs Committee, the US State Department during the Biden administration, used $1 million in USAID funds to promote LGBTQ rights in West and Central Africa, despite several African nations not accepting these US-imposed social policies.
USAID allegedly spent $3 million to support LGBTQ people in the Caribbean. However, no details were given as to how this money was distributed and why it was needed.
The committee claimed that USAID funded a climate change seminar in Argentina for female and LGBTQ journalists, where inclusivity and equity was discussed. $55,000 were spent on the event.
According to the committee, the agency spent $42.5 million to promote gender inclusivity within coffee companies in Indonesia.
USAID reportedly spent $32,000 on a transgender comic book in Peru to promote inclusivity and LGBTQ culture in the South American country.
The White House further claimed that USAID spent millions of dollars to provide food in war-torn Syria and these provisions allegedly reached fighters associated with al-Qaeda. Critics claim that the agency releases the funds but is unable to keep track of where it is going and how it is being used.
USAID allegedly spent millions of dollars on irrigation canals, farming equipment and fertilizer in Afghanistan, which allegedly benefited the opium cultivation and heroin trade of Afghan Taliban, and helped the group maintain one of the world’s largest opium networks, which has harmed US anti-drug efforts.
The Trump administration has alleged that USAID allocated $14 million to distribute cash vouchers to illegal immigrants at the southern border, thus encouraging illegal immigration.
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