U.S. Continues To Send Taxpayer Dollars To The Taliban In Afghanistan

By Adam Andrzejewski for RealClearPolicy

After a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer, one would think the U.S. would stop sending funds to the newly-installed Taliban government. But according to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), taxpayer dollars are still flowing to the Taliban in the form of humanitarian aid.

A letter from Ernst and 14 of her Senate colleagues to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated, “We write to express significant concerns over the recent announcement from the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control’s (OFAC) on the issuance of General Licenses (GLs) authorizing the flow of U.S. taxpayer dollars through the Taliban and the Haqqani network.”

“While we agree widespread famine and denial of rights to Afghan women and girls are immediate problems to address with humanitarian aid and assistance, OFAC’s sweeping authorization risks too much U.S. taxpayer money flowing through the Taliban or the Haqqani network to fund an excessive, ill-fated, or wasteful list of services such as activities to support the rule of law by the Taliban, education exchanges in a country that now devalues education for women and girls, and endangered species research.”

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It is unclear exactly how much money is flowing into Afghanistan. According to Sen. Ernst, the majority of the money is for humanitarian aid, however, money has also been sent for other purposes, like “endangered species research.”

The Biden Administration is continuing to issue General Licenses that give “broad authorizations” to non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and the U.S. government to export various materials and funding to the Taliban controlled Afghani government.

While reasonable people can debate the amount of humanitarian aid the U.S. should send abroad, giving broad authorizations to send free stuff to a terrorist state seems like a bad idea.

Syndicated with permission from Real Clear Wire.

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