Key Points
- More than $800 million dollars in aid has gone to Afghanistan since the evacuation.
- GOP members on the House Foreign Affairs Committee want to be sure the Taliban isn’t getting its hands on it.
- USAID says it is working with the terrorist group but the safeguards aren’t clear.
The only thing more embarrassing than losing a 20-year war in the span of a few weeks, stranding American citizens and billions in cutting-edge military tech, and leaving a terrorist regime in charge, would be to then send that terrorist regime money in the form of humanitarian aid.
…and the government isn’t positive that’s not happening.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, GOP lawmakers are “pressing the Biden administration to disclose what safeguards are in place to stop U.S. humanitarian aid to Afghanistan from enriching the Taliban, according to a letter sent Friday to the U.S. Agency for International Development.”
Eleven lawmakers, led by House Foreign Affairs Committee member Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), say they “are concerned about the possibility of U.S. taxpayer dollars funding the Taliban’s terrorist regime.”
“Humanitarian aid to Afghanistan will finance Taliban terrorists if it is incompetently distributed,” Burchett told the Free Beacon. “The Biden administration needs to lay out what steps it is taking to prevent this from happening and adding more pain to last summer’s embarrassing withdrawal from the country.”
$300 million dollars is currently on the way to Afghanistan —$500 million has already been sent. With the Taliban in control of, well, everything, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is concerned the terrorist aren’t distributing the aid to the people who really need it.
And, seriously —come on. It’s the Taliban. There’s reason for concern.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) says they are working with the Taliban and they “[continue] to urge the Taliban to allow unhindered humanitarian access, safe conditions for humanitarians, independent provision of assistance to all vulnerable people, and freedom of movement for aid workers of all genders.”
Doesn’t exactly sound like we’re in control of the situation if we’re “urging” a terrorist group.
Burchett and the committee want answers from USAID “in light of the administration’s dealings with the Taliban, and knowing that the Taliban has a history of diverting and profiting from U.S. assistance to Afghanistan,” according to the letter.
USAID also must provide assurances that it will cooperate “with Congress as it conducts its constitutionally authorized oversight into all U.S. foreign assistance to Afghanistan.” The American people “deserve to have confidence that their tax dollars are not funding terrorist activities.”
