Representative Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee, revealed that he will introduce a stronger version of legislation filed in the last Congress to stop taxpayer funding of the Taliban.
The legislation, which unanimously passed in the House last year but was not considered by the Senate, mandated that the federal government review “financial assistance to such foreign countries that have provided financial or material support to the Taliban,” as well as required the Secretary of State to compile a report about funds sent to Afghanistan through cash assistance programs.
“There should be strict measures in place to stop any country that receives foreign aid from the United States from turning around and sending money to terrorists,” Burchett commented in a statement about that version of the bill. “We know the Taliban has already intercepted a lot of weapons and resources it shouldn’t have, and it’s our duty to cut them off wherever we can.”
Burchett sent a letter last week to President-Elect Donald Trump warning that the State Department over the last four years sent tax dollars to the Taliban in the form of foreign aid, but also sent direct cash shipments to the Afghan Central Bank, which were then auctioned away.
Elon Musk asked about the cash payments as the letter circulated on social media. Burchett confirmed that he filed legislation to stop the program but that the Senate refused to consider the measure, adding that he plans to submit “an even stronger bill” in the new Congress.
American military assets withdrew from Afghanistan four years ago, after which the national government of the South Asian country immediately collapsed and the Taliban rose to power.
Investigators with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the main oversight body for American funds used to rebuild the nation, recently issued a report warning that two of the five State Department entities they examined “provided some documentation but not enough” to demonstrate that they had complied with vetting guidelines for their initiatives in Afghanistan, meaning that the grant programs could have inadvertently funded the Taliban.
USAID officials warned the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction last year that several hundred new organizations, many with Taliban affiliations, have recently registered with the government of Afghanistan, possibly in order to access funds for the Taliban.
