Lawmaker Claims US Taxpayer Funds Still Reach Taliban Despite Aid Freeze

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview Friday that he believes upwards of $40 million per week in American taxpayer dollars is still going to the Taliban every week, despite a current freeze on foreign aid.

"We've been told that it is, somehow they're getting it," he said. "That's on the surface that we know about."

After the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration continued to send billions of U.S. taxpayer funds to the country, arguing that it wanted to continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghans, despite the Taliban taking over the country and controlling where the money is spent.

It is not clear how much money the Biden administration has sent to Afghanistan.

The weekly inflow of $40 million refers to a United Nations humanitarian aid effort that the U.S. is the largest donor to, according to a January 2024 Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report.

In April 2023, SIGAR John Sopko testified to Congress that the U.S. had made available $8 billion to Afghanistan after the August 2021 withdrawal. It is not clear whether the weekly $40 million in humanitarian aid is drawn from the $8 billion and over what time period the $8 billion is meant to last.

According to a Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report, SIGAR also found that the Taliban have "siphoned or benefited from a considerable amount of humanitarian aid" by infiltrating United Nations-partnered Non-Governmental Organizations, imposing taxes, directing aid agencies to serve Taliban officials, and taxing Afghan aid recipients at high rates.

Burchett first introduced a bill to stop the flow of money to the Taliban in December 2023, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously but did not gain support in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Burchett reintroduced his bill, dubbed the No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act, on January 10 of this year. "There's been a lot of work done on this bill, and I couldn't have raised the issue without the help of Shawn Ryan and Legend," Burchett said.

The proposed legislation would require the State Department to develop a policy opposing any foreign aid to the Taliban, report on cash assistance programs, and outline how to prevent Taliban access to funds.

Burchett noted that the bill has garnered support from Sens. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).

The congressman also expressed his support for ending U.S. aid to Ukraine. "Cut it off. Let's get them to the table immediately," he stated.

Burchett criticized the Pentagon for failing seven audits, questioning how they could lose significant amounts of money while still receiving additional funding.

"They can't find a half a trillion dollars. That is an aircraft carrier that they've lost, and how do we punish them? The last National Defense Authorization Act, they gave them nine billion new dollars," he said.