The House is expected to pass a bill on Tuesday aimed at blocking countries that receive U.S. foreign aid from sending funds to the Taliban.
Republican Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) introduced the “No Tax Money for the Taliban Act” late last year. If passed, it would require the State Department to report which countries are also providing aid to the Taliban, who have been in control of Afghanistan since 2021, and which the United States is also providing aid to.
The Secretary of State will also be forced to consider whether these countries should continue to receive U.S. dollars and develop a strategy to discourage them from continuing to provide aid to the Taliban.
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Republicans want clarity on exactly how many U.S. dollars are going to the Taliban. (AP/Ebrahim Norouj)
“It’s outrageous that money would go to the Taliban,” Burchett said in an interview with Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “We’re $35 trillion in debt and we don’t need to fund our enemies.”
He argued that foreign funding for the Taliban was effectively a waste of U.S. taxpayer money.
Burchett, vice chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East subcommittee, also accused the State Department of being deliberately vague about the total amount paid by the federal government to the Taliban.
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Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., is leading the bill, which is expected to be voted on Tuesday night. (Alex Wong)
“If this is an oversight on their part and they’re funding our enemies, then it shows they have no management skills, no quality control skills and they don’t know what’s going on,” Burchett said. “Clearly, someone knows what’s going on and they need to be removed.”
According to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released in May, the United States has provided more than $2.8 billion to address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of the country nearly three years ago.
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The US has reportedly provided about $3 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan since the Taliban took power. (Getty)
Republican national security hawks were infuriated, arguing that at least some of the money likely ended up in the hands of the Taliban.
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“It is unacceptable that U.S. financial assistance benefits the Taliban, and the Biden administration must take immediate action to prevent American taxpayer dollars from going to the Taliban,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said at the time.
House Republican leaders are trying to bring the bill to a vote under a suspension of rules that typically apply to non-controversial legislation expected to have bipartisan support.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department for comment on the bill and Burchett’s allegations.
