Bill To Prevent Taliban from Accessing US Financial Aid Passes In House of Representatives
US Congressman Timothy Burchett announced on Tuesday that the "No Taxpayer Funding for the Taliban Act" was passed in the House of Representatives.
US Congressman Timothy Burchett announced on Tuesday that the "No Taxpayer Funding for the Taliban Act" was passed in the House of Representatives.
He said that “not one cent needs to be funnelled to our enemies”.
Burchett, who introduced the bill, strongly criticised the US State Department for not preventing the Taliban from accessing US humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. He wrote on his X account, "We have to tear the State Department down and start from scratch. "
If the bill is approved by the Senate, the US State Department will be required to report which countries, in addition to the US, have provided aid to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan since 2021.
The bill also mandates the US State Department to encourage other countries to ensure their aid money does not end up in the hands of the Taliban.
Burchett, Vice-Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Fox News, "It's just obscene that any money would get to the Taliban. We are $35 trillion in debt and do not need to be funding our enemies one bit".
The US government has stated that it has provided over $2 billion in aid to Afghanistan in the past three years, which has been delivered to the Afghan people through aid organisations such as the United Nations.
However, critics, including some Republicans, believe that a portion of this aid ends up in the pockets of the Taliban, whom they consider an anti-American terrorist group.
Earlier, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) had announced that US partner organisations had paid over $10 million in taxes to the Taliban.
The State Department has said that its partner aid organisations have implemented necessary measures to prevent the Taliban from accessing US financial aid.
However, John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, told members of US Congress that there is no guarantee that the Taliban does not benefit from US aid intended for the Afghan people.
