Da Afghanistan Bank, Afghanistan’s Taliban-controlled central bank, tweeted the images on Nov. 29, Dec. 5, Dec. 6, and last Wednesday: massive stacks of American hundred-dollar bills, wrapped in plastic, bar-coded, and placed in boxes or blue plastic bags on the tarmac at the Kabul airport. The bank said this was $40 million in “humanitarian aid,” but said nothing about who had sent it. One observer says that judging from the photos, there looks to be much more than $40 million flowing into the Taliban’s coffers. So who is funding the Taliban with tens of millions in untraceable cash?
۱۴۴۴ جمادي الاول ۲۰ مه – افغانستان ته د ۴۰ میلیونه ډالرو نغدي بشري مرستو بله کڅوړه را ورسېده او په کابل کې یو سوداګریز بانک ته و سپارل شوه. pic.twitter.com/VcyPK6c1aR
— Da Afghanistan Bank- Afghanistan (@AFGCentralbank) December 14, 2022
The prime suspect, of course, is Old Joe Biden and his handlers, which may explain why it looks as if it’s more than a paltry forty million bucks. Dr. Anas Iqtait of the Centre of Arab and Islamic Studies at Australian National University, noting that “what is very clear is that it is not clear where this cash is being shipped from,” added that Da Bank’s photos looked to be of far more than that: “Especially on the runway, it may have been hundreds of millions of dollars.”
That’s how much Biden’s handlers have pledged to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. On Aug. 31, 2021, Old Joe declared, “We will continue to support the Afghan people through diplomacy, international influence, and humanitarian aid.” Then in January 2022, National Security Council spokeswonk Emily Horne said proudly, “The United States is announcing a new contribution of more than $308 million in humanitarian assistance for the people of Afghanistan. This brings total US humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and for Afghan refugees in the region to nearly $782 million since October 2021, and we remain the single largest donor of humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.”
Biden’s handlers insisted that the Taliban would not get this money, but never adequately explained how it would be kept away from the group that has no significant challenges to its rule in 90% of the country. Da Afghanistan Bank insisted, however, that the money was going to unfortunate people in the country: “Any principled action that leads to the transfer of reserves to the country and helps the needy people of the society, the Da Afghanistan Bank appreciates it, and this bank will continue its efforts in strengthening the banking sector.”
That sounded fine, but the Australian Broadcasting Corporation pointed out that “the bank has not clarified where the cash is coming from, or what it meant by humanitarian aid, prompting concerns over financial transparency in Afghanistan.” Iqtait noted that Da Bank’s tweets have been “quite vague” about what exactly the money is for. “This is not money for humanitarian support,” he explained, “otherwise it would have gone through other destinations. Yes, the tweets say that, but … I think they are talking about how any humanitarian effort to support the Afghan people is welcome.” He also added that some governments around the world have “shown leniency towards the Taliban government,” but wouldn’t name any of the offenders, as if we didn’t know who they were.
The chief offender is Old Joe, but there’s also the UN, which, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, “has imported $US1.8 billion in cash to fund humanitarian operations in Afghanistan since December 2021.” This cash, according to a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), is “then credited to the respective AIB [Afghan International Bank] accounts of the various United Nations agencies, funds and programs and approved international humanitarian partners, non-government and international government organizations. In turn, the various organizations are able to use the funds, either in US dollars or converted to Afghanis as needed, in order to maintain their operations in the country.” The wonk added that “this cash transfer mechanism is essential for the day-to-day operations of UNAMA, United Nations agencies, funds and programs (UNICEF, UNHCR, WFP, UN Women, OCHA, UN Habitat, WHO, FAO, IOM and others) and other humanitarian partners.”
Related: Biden Killed the al-Qaeda Chief While Sending a Billion Dollars to the Taliban
Counterintuitively, sending massive amounts in cash is supposed to “increase accountability, transparency and the effective use of aid, and manage risks including the risk of aid diversion.” The UN spokesperson did not, however, explain how handing out mad stacks of hundred dollars bills would do anything but decrease accountability and increase the risk of aid diversion. And for some reason, “the agency did not directly respond to a question asking if the cash in the central bank tweet was UN aid money.” Why not? What does anyone have to hide in all this?
Dr. Niamatullah Ibrahimi, whom the Australian Broadcasting Corporation identifies as “an international relations lecturer and Afghanistan expert from La Trobe University,” said that it would not be difficult at all for the Taliban to hijack this aid money: “The distribution and dispersal of the money is not very transparent. There is very little that we know about how this money is used in Afghanistan and the mechanisms of control over aid delivery.”
Indeed. But no one seems to mind, and the money just keeps flowing in. What could possibly go wrong?
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