World Watch
September 3, 2009 11:25 AM

Is the Taliban Getting a Cut of U.S. Aid?

By
Dana Chivvis
Topics
Afghanistan
(AP)
The Taliban may be on the unofficial payroll of the United States government.

A portion of American taxpayer dollars slated for development projects in Afghanistan is alleged to end up in the hands of the Taliban, the GlobalPost reports. The United States Agency for International Development is investigating if its funds are being used by contractors to pay the Taliban for protection — from itself.

Payoffs to the Taliban are a widely known practice in Afghanistan, according to a report by GlobalPost last month. When the money is not paid, they wreak havoc in the area, blowing up bridges, kidnapping contractors and bringing projects to a halt.

GlobalPost reporter Jean MacKenzie writes, "the Taliban allegedly receives kickbacks from almost every major contract that comes into the country."

MacKenzie adds that the deal are "at times highly formalized" and "the Taliban actually keeps an office in Kabul to review major deals, determine percentages and conduct negotiations. The arrangements are often more personal, as when a local supplier pays off a small-time Taliban commander to allow free passage of goods through his patch of insurgency-controlled terrain."

One source told the GlobalPost that the Taliban takes as much as 20 percent of development aid awarded to contractors. An embassy worker in Kabul described the arrangement as "organized crime."

Dona Dinkler, the chief of staff for congressional affairs at USAID's Office of Inspector General in Washington, D.C., told the GlobalPost that the allegations are a cause for concern, but added a note of caution.

"It's a real hard thing to prove. Who is going to survive to testify about that? That is our challenge. But that doesn't mean we stop trying. We want to get to the bottom of it," Dinkler said.

USAID has only one inspector and two auditors in Afghanistan following the billions of dollars in aid money that the United States provides.

Add a Comment See all 26 Comments
by uoyyi September 3, 2009 8:52 PM EDT
American aid to Afghanistan need to be looked at and reconsidered. Colby Pacheco addresses this issue at asiachroniclenews.com
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by nomealaska September 3, 2009 7:15 PM EDT
If I gave money to the Taliban or was even suspected of such, I would be locked up and treated like a treasoning terrorist, with few rights and fewer friends. Some sort of double standard. Can we pay everyone not to steal and commit crimes? We could use the money we save by not having to prosecute and jail them. Oh, someone would probably get greedy and steal something anyway, then the everyone would suffer because of some thoughtless individual.

Hey willymacaroni! You got two words to rhyme! Yeah! Second grade awaits you.
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by willymack September 3, 2009 5:37 PM EDT
Is Obama a buffoon or does he simply have the mentality of a baboon?
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by willymack September 3, 2009 5:33 PM EDT
Soooooooo tired of Bush /Cheney still being blamed for everything. We should now be out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Where is the Obama "Change" you all voted for. You just never understood that he is a man of beautiful but meaninless words. Where is his great Universal Health Care Plan that only 30 % of his followers understand and now only 15% want. Even the dummies in congress are smart enough to understand it is a farce. When will you wake up.
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by cattiej September 3, 2009 5:11 PM EDT
We have send 34 Billion dollars to Afghanastan. There are 87,000 missing weapons that we have sent to Afghanastan. Who do you think profits from this? The Taliban and President Karzi and his buddies. Obama, get us out of Afghanastan. Get us out how. Arrest the Whackenhut Contractor Guards for treason. Sent them to prison for life.
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by woeisme1 September 3, 2009 4:56 PM EDT
by Constitionalist September 3, 2009 3:49 PM EDT
So, I pay taxes so that the gooberment can give the money to people who want to kill us? Isn't it their primary responsibility to protect the people? Haven't we been freezing bank accounts of known or supected terrorist supporters? I wonder if it's possible to freeze the gooberment's spending.
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No. You paid taxes so Bush could have warlords over there capture nationals, sell them to the U.S. throw them in Gitmo onlt to discover years later that we were had by the warlords, only to discover that some of those men never were terrorists at all. Nice job Bush did there with tax dollars not to mention the tax dollars funding an illegal war and getting America into a quagmire both in Iraq and Afghanistan.

THAT'S what you paid taxes for.
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by prometheus21 September 3, 2009 4:05 PM EDT
Payoffs to the Taliban are a widely known practice in Afghanistan, according to a report by GlobalPost last month. When the money is not paid, they wreak havoc in the area, blowing up bridges, kidnapping contractors and bringing projects to a halt.

I believe the U.S. taxpayer funded splurge in Iraq is very similar. The idea is that you spend taxpayer money funding the lies, you spend taxpayer security and American credibility by saying **** YOU to the U.N. and international law, you kill and maim hundreds of thousands of Americans and Iraqi/Afghanistan citizens, destory MASSIVE AMOUNTS of property and infrastructure, and spend MASSIVE AMOUNTS of taxpayer money doing that, and then afterwards you spend MASSIVE AMOUNTS of taxpayer money rebuilding and inserting political priorities to serve special interests (that are actively engaged in high risk profit taking through U.S. contracts and other domestic and international priorities for taxpayer subsidized and socialized profits for private interests, all the losses of which will be carefully pruned and socialized by taxpayers) and then you pay off the invaded population's rebels/insurgents, you guess it, with MASSIVE U.S. taxpayer contributions -- mostly from the unborn U.S. taxpayer of the future.

It just seems so much less offensive to lawfully prosecute the war criminals and fry them in an electric chair FIRST, before any of this is allowed to proceed any further. To think of Bush remaining on the U.S. taxpayer doll INSTEAD -- truly a staggering assault to civilization and the human condition in every way and form.

It's like feeding cancer.
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by Constitionalist September 3, 2009 3:49 PM EDT
So, I pay taxes so that the gooberment can give the money to people who want to kill us? Isn't it their primary responsibility to protect the people? Haven't we been freezing bank accounts of known or supected terrorist supporters? I wonder if it's possible to freeze the gooberment's spending.
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by jwesel1 September 3, 2009 7:54 PM EDT
Haven't we been freezing bank accounts of known or supected terrorist supporters?
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On the contrary, we provide money and weapons to Israeli terrorists and then keep on wondering why do Muslims hate us.
by quickly101 September 3, 2009 3:17 PM EDT
This is not uncommon in a war zone. It isn't right but it happens. When I was in Viet Nam working at a large medical depot, we found out the S. Koreans we were providing medical supplies to were taking them and reselling some to the VC. When we found out about it, we cut them off in a hurry.
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by hologram5 September 3, 2009 3:13 PM EDT
by myristic September 3, 2009 1:39 PM EDT
Uh..It's Obamie that's doin this..LOL What did you expect of HUSSEIN Obama?
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HUH? Sorry to burst your bubble there but we have been funding the Taliban/Mujahdin (SP?) for 25 years now. Obama had nothing to do with it. Check your history/facts prior to posting ignorance.
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