Afghanistan is under the control of the Taliban – an Islamic extremist organization. Its leadership includes a number of individuals who are designated as international terrorists. Under the rule of the Taliban, Afghanistan has once again become a safe haven for international terrorist groups.
And, Joe Biden, is now financing this new terrorist superstate with your money.
Yesterday, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it would hand $144 million to the Taliban.vvThis is the second payment to the Taliban by USAID since the fall of Kabul. USAID characterized the payment as “humanitarian assistance.”
“Today, the United States announced more than $144 million in humanitarian assistance to the people affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. This funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of State brought total U.S. humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and for Afghan refugees in the region to nearly $474 million in 2021 alone.
This assistance, which includes more than $100 million from USAID, comes as Afghanistan faces increasing food insecurity, with more than half the country’s population expected to be food insecure this winter. This assistance will flow through independent humanitarian organizations that provide support directly to some of the more than 18.4 million vulnerable Afghans in the region. It includes lifesaving food and nutrition assistance, protection, essential health care, agriculture, and winterization assistance, as well as support to transport aid workers and critical relief supplies into Afghanistan, in response to the growing humanitarian needs exacerbated by the current economic contraction, COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters including drought, malnutrition, and the impending winter.”
To repeat, Afghanistan is ruled by the Taliban. USAID has no capacity to control where aid handed to the Taliban goes. Neither do any international aid agencies. Money and material support sent to Afghanistan goes straight into the hands of the Taliban and will go where it decides it goes. Only the willfully ignorant could possibly think that 6th-century barbarians will ensure it goes to those in need.
Joe and his minions are working overtime to cast the Taliban in a favorable light. Only by claiming that the Taliban have changed can they minimize the significance of our devastating and humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan. None of the claims of a new kinder, gentler Taliban have any basis in reality.
The reality in Afghanistan today…
Mahjabin Hakimi was one of the best players on the Kabul Municipality Volleyball Club. She was beheaded recently by the Taliban to send a message to other women who believed they should be able to play sports, live as equals as men, and not be confined to their homes. Her severed head was then posted on social media by the Taliban just to make sure everyone got the message.
In Afghanistan – under the Taliban – women are to stay home and out of sight unless accompanied by a male relative. In public, they should speak in whispers lest the sound of their voices offends nearby men. Their shoes should make no noise when they walk. They are to be invisible.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is warning that we could see terrorist attacks launched from Afghanistan against the United States within six months. Specifically, ISIS-K is believed to be closer to having that capability than any other group currently operating in Afghanistan. While the Biden administration often attempts to pretend that ISIS-K is somehow functioning contrary to the wishes of the Taliban, the reality is that key Taliban leaders –like the Haqqanis often use ISIS-K to launch attacks for which they do not wish to take credit. It allows them to attack their enemies while maintaining plausible deniability.
ISIS-K is only one of a host of terrorist groups now afforded shelter in Afghanistan. Other groups include Al-Qaida, which has not gone away, and groups focused on attacks inside India and in Central Asia.
Waste, fraud and abuse…
Even when the United States was in charge in Afghanistan our aid to that nation went largely into the pockets of corrupt Afghan officials. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in October of 2020 that $19 billion dollars in U.S. aid had been lost to “waste, fraud, and abuse.” At one point, U.S. diplomats estimated that drug traffickers and corrupt Afghan officials were moving $231 million a week out of the country and stashing it abroad. If we could not keep aid from being stolen when we were on the ground in Afghanistan with tens of thousands of troops, how will we now ensure it is used as intended by the Taliban?
The Taliban are not just holy warriors. They are also perhaps the world’s largest drug cartel trading in opium, heroin, hashish, and methamphetamines. Afghanistan’s drug trade generates an estimated $35 million a month for the Taliban and associated drug gangs. One in ten Afghans is involved in the drug trade. A similar percentage are addicts.
Afghanistan is the world’s biggest producer of opium, from which heroin is derived. The Taliban supply most of the major criminal organizations on the planet with heroin. The total value of all the illicit drugs the Taliban produces was estimated in 2017 to be $6.6 billion a year. They are drug dealers to the world.
So, the apparent contention of the Biden administration is that international drug dealers, who harbor and support terrorists and behead women for daring to play volleyball, can be trusted to honor their commitments and ensure that aid handed to them is distributed fairly. The suggestion is absurd. Every dollar given to the Taliban will go to make that murderous group richer and more powerful.
Biden is bankrolling a terrorist superstate in Afghanistan and as usual, you are paying for it.
