A State Department office gave the Taliban $1.8 million through foreign aid programs and defended the payments when asked about them, according to a government watchdog report.
A Department of Defense (DOD) inspector general report released Tuesday tells a story of bureaucratic procedures and excuse-making that allowed taxpayer dollars to enrich Afghanistan’s Islamic terror regime. The $1.8 million is a fraction of the foreign aid funneled toward terrorism under Former President Joe Biden, an issue the Trump administration seeks to address.
“State’s implementing partners made payments to the Taliban,” the report said regarding humanitarian organizations the State Department funds. “One State office reported that between September 2021 and December 2024 its implementing partners paid
$1.8 million to the Taliban for a variety of expenses, including taxes on local staff salary and vehicle registration fees.”
Biden withdrew the U.S. military from Afghanistan in 2021 in a chaotic operation that saw 13 service members killed, military supplies left behind and the Taliban retaking the country within days. His officials continued sending U.S. tax dollars for humanitarian programs while government reports repeatedly showed that millions were benefitting the terrorist group, which the U.S. fought for over two decades after it protected 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
According to Tuesday’s report, the State Department told the DOD inspector general’s office that its $1.8 million in payments were “authorized” by “General Licenses” from the Treasury Department and claimed they aligned with other regulations. Biden’s Treasury Department issued the licenses under the pretense that they “do not authorize financial transfers to the Taliban,” the agency’s website says.
The Treasury Department said it “does not view financial transfers to governing institutions in Afghanistan or state-owned or -controlled companies and enterprises in Afghanistan as financial transfers to the Taliban.” However, Tuesday’s report notes the U.S. has chosen not to “recognize a government in Afghanistan” since the Taliban’s takeover.
The Treasury Department and State Department did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
Trump’s State Department previously told the DCNF that “national security is and will remain a top priority” as it reviews foreign aid programs for potential waste or abuse. The Trump administration plans to cut more than 90% of foreign aid contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), plus 45% of State Department grants, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Elon Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has similarly been evaluating the spending of several federal agencies to align with Trump’s agenda. In a Feb. 1 X post, Musk said his team found that “payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups.” Mainstream media outlets dismissed his “claim” as lacking “evidence.”
Republicans such as Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee have repeatedly introduced legislation meant to safeguard U.S. funds from the Taliban, including in the current Congress.
One day after Tuesday’s revelations surfaced, the federal government charged a Tajik man with, among other things, sending money to foreign terrorists. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison for that charge alone.
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