This may come as a surprise but the Biden Administration has sent “more than $1.1 billion in tax-payer dollars since the Taliban took control of the country in August, 2021.” According to a report from SIGAR, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction,
“The United States remains Afghanistan’s single largest donor, having provided more than $1.1 billion in assistance to support the Afghan people since
the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021. However, SIGAR, for the first time in its history, is unable this quarter to provide Congress and the American people with a full
accounting of this U.S. government spending due to the noncooperation of several
U.S. government agencies. The United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), which administers the majority of U.S. government spending for
Afghanistan, and the Treasury Department refused to cooperate with SIGAR in any
capacity, while the State Department was selective in the information it provided
pursuant to SIGAR’s audit and quarterly data requests, sharing high-level funding
data but not details of agency-supported programs in Afghanistan. This is in direct
violation of Section 1229(h)(5)(A) of the NDAA for FY 2008 (requiring the agencies
to provide information and assistance upon request) and Section 6(c)(1) of the
Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended. (see SIGAR’s October 2022 quarterly report to Congress.)”
These are the same people, different administration but the same people, who delivered pallets of cash–Swiss francs, Euros, and other currencies–in a night-time flight to Iran, ultimately totaling $1.7 billion–with much of this money finding its way to Hezbollah, the Quds Force, and the Houthis.
I have no problem with humanitarian aid but when government agencies and departments refuse to comply with the law, and with the history of those in this administration, the bounds of credibility are stretched more than a little beyond the breaking point for me.
Does anyone really believe none of this $1.1 billion isn’t getting used to fund more terrorist organizations, just as the Obama administration did with Iran?