Experts warn cuts to USAID, USIP and independent broadcasting would undercut counterterrorism efforts in Central and South Asia
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Summary
Witnesses told the House subcommittee that dismantling programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace, cutting USAID counter‑extremism work, and restricting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty threaten rehabilitation, education and information channels used to blunt violent extremist recruitment.
At a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing on South and Central Asia, witnesses raised concerns that proposed or executed U.S. program cuts and institutional changes will weaken long‑term efforts to prevent violent extremism.
Brianna Todd and Lisa Curtis each warned that soft‑power tools—rehabilitation and reintegration programs, online education for Afghan women, scholarships, and independent regional broadcasting—are central to reducing the drivers of radicalization. Todd said programs such as USAID’s Resilient Communities Activity and Employment and Enterprise Development Activity had “produced real results” and that ending them risks leaving a gap others will fill.
Ranking Member Kamlager‑Dove and multiple lawmakers repeatedly asked witnesses to describe the potential impact of dismantling the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) programing, terminating Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL) local services such as Radio Ozodi, or moving international broadcasting reporting into other bureaucratic structures. Curtis, who disclosed she serves as board chair of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said RFERL’s language services and reporting “help to fight extremism in the region” by reporting in local languages and providing investigative coverage of drivers of radicalization.
Witnesses expressed skepticism about the administration’s proposed consolidation of foreign assistance into an “America First Opportunity Fund,” calling it a potential source of funding instability and loss of congressional oversight. Todd described concern that an omnibus, globally competed fund could divert scarce resources away from sustained, regional programs.
Both witnesses urged Congress to sustain targeted education and scholarship programs for Afghan women and to preserve rehabilitation and repatriation work that helps reintegrate foreign fighters’ family members and reduce further radicalization. Lawmakers did not adopt policy on the record; the session recorded testimony and questioning only.