Is Taxpayer Money Funding the Taliban?

It is taxpayer money meant to fund aid and development projects in Afghanistan: roads, bridges and schools.

But there are new claims that U.S.-funded contractors have been spending a hefty chunk of that funding on protection payments to the Taliban - for years, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

"That translates into money that the Taliban are using to attack and kill American military personnel, and that's just simply outrageous," said Rep. Bill Delahunt.

The international news organization GlobalPost quoted several unnamed contractors who said 20 percent of their budgets - or more - go to pay off the Taliban so it won't bomb their projects, or their people. It's a protection racket far more sophisticated than the typical mob-style shakedown.

"The Taliban literally has an office in Kabul where it works out what percentage will be charged on these contracts," said Charles Sennott, the executive editor of the GlobalPost. "This is so open."

The State Department has spent more than $4 billion on development contracts in Afghanistan since 2002. Experts say the kickbacks could have netted the Taliban tens of millions of dollars and are such an open secret on the streets that the U.S. government had to know.

"You cannot do anything about it," said CBS News consultant Jere Van Dyke. "This is how it operated, this is how it was in the 1980s, this is how it is today."

Contractors have good reason to fear the Taliban. As of last September, 291 State Department-funded contractors, most of them foreigners, had been killed by Afghan insurgents.

The State Department has launched an investigation into the alleged protection payments.

"In Afghanistan, any diversion of funds for any reason makes it that much more difficult for us to achieve our objectives," said P.J. Crowley, an assistant secretary of state for public affairs.

Especially because popular support for the war, which has fallen lately, could sink ever further if taxpayers fear their money is going to fund our adversaries.

[patriciaohio]

The Van Jones (non) feeding frenzy
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
09/04/09 11:30 AM EDT
From a Nexis search a few moments ago:

Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the New York Times: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the Washington Post: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on NBC Nightly News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on ABC World News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on CBS Evening News: 0.

If you were to receive all your news from any one of these outlets, or even all of them together, and you heard about some sort of controversy involving President Obama's Special Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, your response would be, "Huh?" If you heard that that adviser, Van Jones, had apologized for a number of remarks and positions in the recent past, your response would be, "What?" And if you were in the Obama White House monitoring the Jones situation, you would be hoping that the news organizations listed above continue to hold the line -- otherwise, Jones, who is quite well thought of in Obama circles, would be history.

[babooph]

I was wondering when we would finally be told how some shoeless goatherders could afford machine gun ammo at 1$/round-our "contractors"[that seems to be propagandist for mercenaries],have lobbied for enough tax $$$ to fund BOTH sides.

[signseeker1717]

These contractors are traitors, and should be treated accordingly. If we leave Afganistan, and the Taliban takes over, Pakistan is next. Do you really want the Taliban to have access to Pakistan's nuclear stockpile? There's a very good reason why NATO and the US are in Afganistan: it's called WORLD security. We're not just talking about a few crazy tribesmen who will stay put - they haven't (9/11, bombings in London, Madrid, etc., etc.) and they won't. This isn't View Nam, which was an ideological war - this is truly a GLOBAL threat. We cannot AFFORD to lose!

[random_radar]

Surprise! Money talks in every language across every ideology in every corner of the world. There will never be enough soldiers to defeat economic self-interest. Good luck winning the war in Afghanistan. They beat the British, the Russians, and they will win this round too.

[Beatrice-Boltz]

Just say no to war! Our planet is addicted to war. It's time we all worked a 12 step program for peace.