First appeared on FOX: Republican lawmakers, fearing interference from the Taliban, have introduced a new bill that would cut off all aid to Afghanistan.
“The Biden-Harris Administration's disastrous withdrawal has returned the country to Taliban control and found our taxpayer money being used to benefit the Taliban,” Rep. Josh Breacheen (R-Okla.), the bill's sponsor, told Fox News Digital.
“This legislation is necessary to ensure that our tax dollars are no longer being spent irresponsibly in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.”
The House bill is co-sponsored by Republican Reps. Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Ralph Norman (South Carolina), Nick Langworthy (New York), Barry Moore (Alabama), Elrick Burleson (Missouri), Matt Rosendale (Montana) and Randy Feenstra (Iowa).
The United States is Afghanistan's largest donor, having spent a total of $21 billion there and for the Afghan refugees displaced since its withdrawal, but critics say much of that aid is used to line the pockets of the Taliban, who are said to control the country's non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
House Republicans release scathing report on Afghanistan
Meanwhile, the United Nations says it has pumped about $2.9 billion in U.S. dollar cash into Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of the country, much of it allocated by the U.S., with at least some of it going to the Taliban-controlled central bank. SIGAR report for July.
Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the U.S.-led withdrawal of Afghan troops, in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Wednesday, August 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Sidiqullah Alizai)
The Taliban are “taxing” this cash at several distribution points.
The bill would prohibit federal agencies from providing direct cash assistance to Afghanistan, would prohibit taxpayer money from being given to the United Nations for the purpose of aiding Afghanistan, and would prohibit the Federal Reserve from selling U.S. dollars to the United Nations for the purpose of direct cash assistance to Afghanistan.
in Briefing The UN special representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, told the UN Security Council on March 6 that the funds, which will be transferred to the Central Bank of Afghanistan, were needed to provide medical care and food to the Afghan people.
Otunbayeva told the council that the shipment “injected liquidity into the local economy, allowing the private sector to continue functioning and averting a fiscal crisis.”
In a letter responding to the SIGAR report, the State Department said the United Nations is responsible for administering the cash transfer program.
“We remain committed to providing critical, life-saving humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people. We will continue to monitor our assistance programs and work to mitigate the risk that U.S. assistance indirectly benefits the Taliban or is diverted to unintended recipients,” the letter said.
Taliban members sit in a military vehicle during a Taliban military parade in Kabul, Afghanistan, November 2021. (Reuters/Ali Kara)
A Taliban fighter holds a flag during a patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahamat Gul)
Afghan general says country has again become 'crucible of terror'
In the two decades before the Taliban came to power, Afghanistan received about $8 billion in foreign aid per year, equivalent to 40 percent of its gross domestic product and covering three-quarters of the government's public spending. When the United States and other foreign organizations withdrew their aid, Afghanistan fell into an economic crisis and aid money began flowing again.
The House of Representatives passed a bill in June that would have the State Department investigate which countries are providing aid to the Taliban and which are themselves recipients of U.S. aid.
Click here to get the FOX News app
The bill also would have the Secretary of State review whether these countries should continue to receive U.S. dollars and develop a strategy to prevent them from continuing to provide aid to the Taliban, but it would not cut off all aid to Afghanistan.
