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A Republican-led panel advanced legislation that would stymie the flow of taxpayer dollars to the Taliban, despite opposition from Democrats who said that in the name of defunding the terror group, it actually targets nongovernmental organizations that do good works.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday advanced the No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act on a party-line vote. The bill from Rep. Tim Burchett is designed to stop foreign aid from ending up in the hands of the terrorist organization following its takeover of the Afghan government in 2021.
Mr. Burchett, Tennessee Republican, previously introduced a similar version of the bill that was cast aside by the then-Democrat-led Senate last year.
He pitched his latest iteration as a way to ensure that U.S. foreign aid goes to those who need it in Afghanistan, while ensuring that the money does not fall into the hands of the Taliban.
The lawmaker said that since December 2021, the U.S. has sent $5 billion to Kabul, much of which has been “taxed and stolen by the Taliban.” He said that just this year, $200 million has been delivered and deposited into the Afghanistan Central Bank, which is “under control of the Taliban.”
“I don’t trust the Taliban to properly distribute $40 million every week, only to aid workers,” Mr. Burchett said. “I don’t see how anybody can on either side of the aisle.”
His bill would require that the U.S. make a statement of policy opposing financial or material support to the Taliban by foreign countries and NGOs, and require that the State Department provide a report on cash assistance programs in Afghanistan.
It would also require a report to Congress on that includes a list of Taliban members working at Afghanistan’s Central Bank, a description of the Taliban’s influence over the Bank, details regarding the Afghan Fund’s board of trustees, and a description of what controls are in place to prevent the Taliban from accessing those funds.
But the inclusion of NGOs ruffled the feathers of Democrats on the panel.
They wanted to have NGOs removed from the bill, and questioned whether the measure still had merit given that the Trump administration had canceled many of the funding programs and contracts that sent money to NGOs in the region.
The latest instance came over the weekend, when President Trump cancelled funding to the United Nations World Food Program that provided aid to Afghanistan and over a dozen other countries.
Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the panel, previously supported the first iteration of Mr. Burchett’s legislation that was introduced in 2023, but said that he could not support the latest version because it lacked bipartisan input.
“How does risking a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan advance U.S. national security,” Mr. Meeks said. “How does abandoning vulnerable Afghans, or undercutting NGOs, help … serve our interest?”
House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast, Florida Republican, argued that much had changed since the original bill was drafted.
He noted the release of a report last year from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction that found that at least $10.9 million in U.S. taxpayer money was paid to the Taliban-controlled government by “implementing partners” such as NGOs in the form of duties and taxes.
“It is important for us that we have transparency where our dollars are going, or not going,” Mr. Mast said. “And that includes through NGOs, and especially NGOs that are working with the Taliban.”
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