Congressman urges Trump to end ‘foreign aid’ to Taliban

WASHINGTON: A United States lawmaker has written to President-elect Donald Trump to express concern over the foreign aid being provided to the interim government in Kabul led by the Afghan Taliban.

“The US should not fund its enemies abroad,” said Burchett while expressing strong concerns with foreign aid being funnelled to the Afghan Taliban.

Recalling US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s confirmation during the 118th Congress that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had paid nearly $10 million of foreign aid to the Taliban in taxes, Burchett warned that the cash shipments were impossible to track after being auctioned off.

“This is how the Taliban (are) being funded and plans to fund terrorism around the world,” warned the lawmaker while lamenting his failed attempt to introduce legislation in 2023 aimed at “discouraging foreign countries from providing financial or material support to the Taliban and to report on direct-cash assistance programmes and the Taliban’s influence over Afghanistan’s Central Bank”.

Expressing his urge to work with the Trump administration, Congressman Burchett called on the president-elect to “take action and put an end to wasteful foreign aid spending”.

He further remarked that he intends to reintroduce his legislation on the said issue in the 119th Congress and would “welcome his (Trump’s) support”.