Americans are funding the Taliban because tax dollars sent abroad as foreign aid is ending up in the hands of the Islamic terror group, a Republican congressman said.
Representative Tim Burchett, who serves Tennessee's 2nd Congressional District, did not provide any direct evidence for his claims, which appeared in an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump dated January 2.
He repeated the allegation on Monday during a social media exchange with billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, who is slated to serve in Trump's administration co-leading the new Department of Government Efficiency. Burchett told Musk that he believes the "next terrorist attack will be 100% fully funded by the American taxpayer."
Newsweek has reached out by email to Burchett and Secretary of State Antony Blinken seeking comment.
Why It Matters
The United States is the single largest humanitarian donor in Afghanistan, providing nearly $2 billion in humanitarian assistance for Afghans since mid-August 2021, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said in an October 2023 report.
Burchett wrote to Trump on January 2 congratulating him on his electoral victory but also expressing his "strong concerns with foreign aid being funnelled to the Taliban." He said he hoped to work with Trump's new administration "to stop tax dollars from going to terrorists."
What To Know
An aid tracker on the website of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a global policy forum, shows that the U.S. issued almost $64.7 billion in what is known as Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2023, the most recent year for which full figures are available. The OECD said Ukraine was by far largest recipient of aid from its members in 2023, as allies seek to support the embattled country after it was invaded by Russia in February 2022, but Afghanistan is also one of the organization's aid beneficiaries.
Burchett suggested that the U.S. State Department had been responsible for this, under Democrat President Joe Biden's administration. And the congressman claimed that Blinken had "admitted that non-governmental organizations paid nearly $10 million of foreign aid to the Taliban in taxes."
He added an even "larger issue, which Secretary Blinken failed to acknowledge, is the shipments of cash payments in United States dollars to Afghanistan's central bank. These cash shipments are auctioned off and after that, they are nearly impossible to track. This is how the Taliban is being funded and plans to fund terrorism around the world."
Burchett said he had tried to introduce a bill in 2023 in a bid to tackle the problem, but says the legislation was thwarted and he now plans to reintroduce it in Congress this year and would welcome Trump's support.
The Taliban, which is designated as a terror group by the U.S., was founded in Afghanistan in the early 1990s. It was accused of sheltering Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terror group after they orchestrated the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces in 2011, although the Taliban was ousted from power in 2001 by a U.S.-led military coalition.
However, the organization seized power once more in 2021, when the allies withdrew from the country in a chaotic exit. Since then, the Taliban has cracked down on Afghans with increasingly hardline laws, and women in particular have suffered from brutal oppression.
What People Are Saying
Elon Musk, who owns X, on Monday referred to the letter on his platform, asking his followers: "Are we really sending US taxpayer money to the Taliban?"
Republican Representative Tim Burchett on X: "We have got to quit funding the Taliban under @realDonaldTrump. $40 million a week to our enemies is a slap in the face to those who served."
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in an October 2023 report: "The United States is the single largest humanitarian donor in Afghanistan, providing nearly $2 billion in humanitarian assistance for Afghans since mid-August 2021." But the organization added it was working "to ensure aid is reaching the most vulnerable individuals, including women and girls, and through the meaningful participation of female humanitarian staff. USAID will continue to stand with the Afghan people to respond to humanitarian needs."
What Happens Next
News network Al Jazeera said that some pundits are predicting Trump will take a tough stance against the Taliban in his second term, while others suspect he will make ad-hoc decisions based on pragmatism rather than policy in an attempt to avoid intervention.
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