New GOP-backed bill would ban aid to Afghanistan to avoid giving US dollars to the Taliban

FIRST ON FOX: A group of Republican lawmakers is introducing a new bill that would cease all aid dollars to Afghanistan over concerns of interception by the Taliban.

“The Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous withdrawal has plunged the country back under Taliban rule, and now it turns out that our taxpayer dollars are being used to the benefit of the Taliban,” Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., sponsor of the legislation, told Fox News Digital. 

“This legislation is needed so we can ensure that no more of our tax dollars are being irresponsibly used in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.”

The House bill is co-sponsored by Republican Reps. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Nick Langworthy of New York, Barry Moore of Alabama, Erlic Burlison of Missouri, Matt Rosendale of Montana and Randy Feenstra of Iowa. 

The U.S. is the largest donor to Afghanistan. It spent a total of $21 billion on the nation and Afghan refugees who have been evacuated since the withdrawal. However, critics say much of that aid ends up in lining the pockets of the Taliban, who they say have taken control of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the country.

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The United Nations (U.N.), meanwhile, has flown in some $2.9 billion in U.S. currency cash to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized control, the bulk of that being from funds allocated by the U.S., and at least some of which ends up in the Taliban-controlled central bank, according to the SIGAR report from July. 

Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

The Taliban “taxes” this cash at multiple points of distribution. 

The bill would prohibit federal agencies from giving any direct cash assistance to Afghanistan and prohibit any taxpayer dollars from going to the U.N. for the purpose of assisting Afghanistan. It also prohibits Federal Reserve Banks from selling U.S. currency to the U.N. for the purpose of direct cash assistance to Afghanistan. 

In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council on March 6, Roza Otunbayeva, the U.N.’s special representative for Afghanistan, did not mention the money going to Da Afghanistan central bank but said it was necessary to get medical care and food for Afghans. 

The shipments have “injected liquidity to the local economy that has in large part allowed the private sector to continue to function and averted a fiscal crisis,” Otunbayeva told the council. 

In a letter provided in response to the SIGAR report, the State Department said the U.N. was in charge of managing the cash transfer program. 

“We remain committed to providing critical, life-saving humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people. We will continue to monitor assistance programs and seek to mitigate the risk that U.S. assistance could indirectly benefit the Taliban or could be diverted to unintended recipients,” the letter said.

Members of the Taliban sit on a military vehicle during a Taliban military parade in Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2021. (Reuters/Ali Khara)

Taliban fighters display their flag on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

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For 20 years prior to the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan received some $8 billion in foreign assistance per year, representing 40% of its gross domestic product and financing three quarters of the government’s public expenditures. When the U.S. and other foreign entities stopped supplying aid, the country fell into an economic crisis – and aid dollars began flowing once again. 

In June, the House passed a bill that would force the State Department to investigate which countries give aid to the Taliban – and also get U.S. assistance themselves. 

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It would also force the secretary of state to weigh if those countries should keep getting U.S. dollars and develop a strategy to discourage them from continuing aid to the Taliban. However, that bill did not cease all aid to Afghanistan.