In 2021, the United States withdrew all forces from Afghanistan after nearly two decades. Since then, the U.S. government has focused on providing humanitarian assistance to the country.
But viral posts online say the Taliban, an extremist group that regained control of the country, is receiving money directly from the United States. One post features a letter from Republican Tennessee representative Tim Burchett regarding the U.S. government sending money to the Taliban and says, “Imagine giving these terrorists $40 million dollars of your tax money every week? Sound crazy? Because it is – pure insanity.”
Elon Musk quoted the post, writing, “Are we really sending US taxpayer money to the Taliban?”
THE QUESTION
Is the United States sending taxpayer money to the Taliban?
THE SOURCES
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A statement by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul
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An October 2024 Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report
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An August 2024 Congressional Research Service report
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A 2022 SIGAR report
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A post published by Representative Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.)
THE ANSWER
The U.S. government has provided billions of dollars in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, which wasn’t sent directly to the Taliban. But some of those funds may have been diverted to support the extremist group due to its control over the region.
WHAT WE FOUND
The United States is not sending money directly to the Taliban, but to Afghans in need of humanitarian aid. The Taliban does not have direct access to U.S. funds due to its categorization on the U.S. Specially Designated Global Terrorist list. But because the Taliban is in control of many aspects of the country, the United States has acknowledged the possibility that some of the funds are being diverted to support the extremist group.
Since the removal of U.S. forces out of Afghanistan in 2021, the United States has provided over $2 billion in humanitarian aid to the country, according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which leads humanitarian assistance efforts in other countries.
This aid is used to prioritize food assistance and to promote “health, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene,” according to the latest report from Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a government office that was created in 2008 to monitor and evaluate reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.
Claims that the United States has provided funding to the Taliban likely stem from a May 2024 statement by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, addressing funds sent to Afghanistan since 2021.
“Last year, I requested that SIGAR report on the extent to which U.S. taxpayer dollars are benefitting the Taliban. Unsurprisingly, SIGAR has found that at least $10.9 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars have been provided to the Taliban,” McCaul stated.
“USAID stopped its two on-budget projects in August 2021, the Power Transmission Expansion and Connectivity project and the Textbook Printing and Distribution II project. USAID did not provide complete responses to our requests for information on plans or strategies to recover the $10 million in funds that may have been accessible to the Taliban—$4.3 million it disbursed in 2021 for the Textbook Printing and Distribution II project and $5.7 million it disbursed in 2021 for the Power Transmission Expansion and Connectivity project,” the 2022 SIGAR report said.
This differs from Burchett’s $40 million a week claim, which Burchett attributed to an anonymous Afghan American and former U.S. Army noncommissioned officer. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Burchett directed VERIFY to the 2024 post from Burchett’s website.
Burchett’s post also references a 2022 SIGAR report that said the Taliban may have gained access to $57.6 million provided to the former Afghan government in 2021.
It’s possible that some of the U.S. funds sent to Afghanistan for humanitarian causes are being diverted after reaching the NGOs to support the Taliban due to their control over the region, SIGAR said in its report.
The U.S. handles humanitarian aid funding through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or other third parties, which may cooperate with the Taliban, the SIGAR report says.
“The Taliban exert some control over humanitarian activities and have at times required NGOs to sign memoranda of understanding (MOUs) as a condition for operating in Afghanistan,” the report explains.
While the U.S. government typically prohibits these organizations from negotiating with the Taliban, the NGOs are sometimes allowed to do so on a case-by-case basis for safety or other reasons.
USAID has emphasized its efforts to avoid the diversion of funding for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan to the Taliban, noting that its partners have reported incidents of the Taliban pressuring them to “hire certain job candidates or use specific vendors.” The agency added that it temporarily suspends its activities when this happens to ensure aid will reach the intended recipients.
“We continuously analyze the operational environment to prevent and mitigate risks of fraud, diversion, and abuse — and to ensure that USAID assistance does not reach the Taliban,” the agency added.