Legislation from Congressman Bill Huizenga seeks to reduce U.S. government payments to the Taliban.
Huizenga says U.S. taxpayer dollars go to the extremist government in the form of taxes, fees, duties, and utilities. It all adds up to about $10 million per year.
“What we’re using is literally U.S. taxpayer dollars to pay taxes to the Taliban government in Kabul, and that just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me,” Huizenga said. “As we know, whether it’s Abbey Gate and the other actions that have been in Afghanistan, these folks are not our allies.”
Huizenga says the Protecting Taxpayer Dollars from Taliban Theft Act would prohibit taxpayer dollars in the form of taxes, fees, duties, and utilities from being paid to the Taliban. It would also require the State Department to publish reporting regulations for any payments or withholdings made to the Taliban or state-owned enterprises in Afghanistan.
Huizenga introduced the legislation in September.
