//The Hidden Hand: How USAID Allegedly Engineered Regime Change in Bangladesh//
US President Joe Biden and Muhammad Yunus/
Did the United States government use taxpayer-funded programs to destabilize Bangladesh? Former US State Department official Mike Benz has made explosive claims that USAID and affiliated organizations played a key role in orchestrating efforts to undermine the Bangladeshi government—all in pursuit of American strategic interests.
Regime Change for Strategic Gain?
Benz outlined a hypothetical yet highly specific scenario to illustrate how US foreign policy operates in cases where a target government resists American objectives. He suggested that if Washington deemed it crucial to build a military base in Bangladesh to counter China, but the Bangladeshi leadership refused, foreign policy strategists could decide that regime change was necessary.
"Once such a decision is made, all options to destabilize the country come into play," Benz explained. These options could include supporting opposition groups, funding protests, and even orchestrating a so-called "color revolution"—a strategy the US has been accused of employing in various nations to topple unfriendly regimes.
Leaked Documents Reveal Destabilization Tactics
According to leaked documents published by investigative news outlet The Grayzone, US agencies—including the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)—were directly involved in efforts to "destabilize Bangladesh’s politics." One of NED’s political arms, the International Republican Institute (IRI), reportedly submitted a plan to the US State Department in 2019-2020 after previous attempts to install the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in power had failed.
The strategy, as outlined in the leaked documents, focused on:
Recruiting 170 pro-democracy activists
Identifying and influencing 304 key informants
Exploiting ethnic and cultural divisions to fuel unrest
Mobilizing minority groups, LGBT communities, and student protestors to increase pressure on the government
Weaponizing Music to Spark Protests?
One of the most startling revelations from Benz’s claims involves the alleged use of Bangladeshi rap music as a tool for political agitation. According to him, US taxpayer money was funneled into funding local rap groups to produce politically charged songs designed to encourage street demonstrations.
"One song was meant to sow resentment against the sitting government, while another aimed to make people distrust their leaders," Benz stated. These tracks were then aggressively promoted among student groups already protesting over local issues, helping to escalate tensions on the ground.
Soft Power or Covert Destabilization?
The IRI’s internal assessments reportedly identified the most effective ways to stir unrest. Benz noted that such methods often involve engaging fringe groups within society to create instability.
“This is how we end up funding terrorists, paramilitaries, criminals, and even prostitutes in the name of soft power projection,” he said, arguing that US interventionist tactics frequently lead to unintended—or perhaps intended—consequences that disrupt the social fabric of target nations.
The Bigger Picture: US Influence Operations Abroad
While Benz refrained from making moral judgments, his claims paint a troubling picture of how US democracy promotion efforts can serve as cover for regime change operations. If true, these revelations expose a deeper strategy of using foreign aid programs like USAID as tools to shape governments in alignment with American geopolitical interests.
The allegations raise critical questions: Is US foreign aid truly about fostering democracy, or is it merely a means to engineer compliant regimes? And if such tactics are indeed at play, what does this mean for the sovereignty of nations that find themselves in Washington’s crosshairs?
As these claims continue to spark debate, one thing is clear: the role of foreign influence in shaping Bangladesh’s political landscape may be far more intricate—and far-reaching—than many had previously imagined.