The U.S. House of Representatives passed Representative Tim Burchett’s (R-TN-02) bill that would discourage countries that receive U.S. foreign aid from sending money to the Taliban.
Burchett’s No Tax Dollars for the Taliban Act filed as H.R.6586, would require the Secretary of State to report on countries that have “provided the Taliban with assistance, the amount of assistance, and how the Taliban has used that assistance.”
The bill would also require the Secretary of State to “develop a strategy to discourage foreign countries from providing aid to the Taliban and to determine whether countries that do should still receive U.S. assistance.”
Furthermore, Burchett’s bill would require the following two reports to be compiled and submitted to the appropriate congressional committees in relation to the Taliban:
- A report on Direct Cash Assistance Programs in Afghanistan that includes identification of partners and recipients of direct cash assistance, descriptions of how these payments occur, and how the State Department prevents the Taliban from accessing cash assistance; and
- A report on the Afghan Fund which includes a list of Taliban members working at Da Afghanistan Bank (Afghanistan’s central bank), a description of the influence the Taliban has over the bank and the Afghan Fund’s Board of Trustees, and what controls are in place to ensure disbursements are not diverted to the Taliban from the Afghan Fund.
Burchett’s bill passed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in December 2023 and was agreed to in the full House by a voice vote on Tuesday after 45 minutes of debate.
During remarks on the House floor, Burchett said the fact that American money is winding up in the hands of the Taliban is “just a complete disgrace.”
“13 brave U.S. servicemembers, including my constituent Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss, lost their lives in the Afghanistan withdrawal. We need to make sure our tax dollars don’t go toward the terrorists who killed them,” Burchett said.
Earlier this year, a report by the watchdog Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that the U.S. government has sent at least $10.9 million to the Taliban since the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan; however, it also noted that the $10.9 million is likely only “a fraction” of taxpayer dollars going to the terrorist group.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Tim Burchett” by Tim Burchett.
