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Biden funneled $1.3 million to the Taliban for Afghan reconstruction
[Free Beacon] The Biden administration funneled nearly $1.3 million to the Taliban as part of reconstruction projects in Afghanistan that are being administered by the United States, according to a government oversight group.Since 2021, when the Biden administration conducted its botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs has allocated millions to weapons removal projects. As part of these activities, the U.S. government and its partners inside Afghanistan "have paid Taliban entities nearly $1.3 million in taxes, including $138,000 this quarter," according to an audit by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which monitors America's $17 billion post-withdrawal investment in the country. Another $5 million in U.S. funds remain available for future weapons removal projects, which will likely have to be conducted with the Taliban's blessing. The United States' payments to the Taliban—which seized power during the Biden administration's evacuation—come amid warnings that Afghanistan "is once again becoming a terrorist haven," according to SIGAR. The oversight group has repeatedly warned that billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars are potentially being diverted to the Taliban and that this money cannot be properly tracked because the Biden administration is stonewalling investigations. With billions in taxpayer dollars still flowing into Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, terror attacks from inside the country are on the rise. The Taliban government "remain[s] tolerant of some terror groups, such as al Qaeda and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan," according to SIGAR. Other militant groups, including ISIS, are also expanding their operations in Afghanistan and maintain the ability to launch attacks on U.S. and Western interests abroad. Posted by: Besoeker 2024-05-02 |
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