This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Taxpayers in the United States are being taken to the cleaners by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and it appears that the Biden administration knows already.
A new report from Judicial Watch confirms that the Taliban, Islamic extremists who took over the nation – and tens of billions of dollars worth of American war machinery – when Joe Biden abruptly withdrew American forces in 2021, is manipulating American programs to benefit itself.
"In one of the most recent Afghanistan debacles, the Taliban has established fraudulent non-governmental organizations (NGO) to loot the hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid that the United States has sent Afghanistan since the 2021 military withdrawal," the report said.
Judicial Watch noted NGOs typically are nonprofit groups with specific humanitarian agendas, ranging from schools to health to social welfare.
"Approximately 1.5 million NGOs operate in the U.S., according to the State Department, and they advocate for a variety of issues that include the environment, healthcare, women’s rights, marginalized populations, youth empowerment, and economic development," Judicial Watch reported.
U.S. taxpayers, through the Biden administration, give "billions" of dollars to them every year.
In Afghanistan, the terrorists in the Taliban "not surprisingly" are stealing that aid, through "fake NGOs."
"Specifically, the Taliban is benefiting from American education funding through the establishment of fraudulent NGOs to receive donor assistance, according to an audit published recently by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR)," Judicial Watch confirmed.
The SIGAR report said, "For example, an NGO official told us the Taliban are targeting and extorting Afghans who receive monetary support from U.S.-funded education programs under the guise of taxation. In another example, NGO officials told SIGAR that the Taliban are coercing NGOs to hire Taliban supporters or purchase goods from Taliban-owned companies."
Judicial Watch warned, "It's not like American government officials don’t know the Taliban is taking the money. A report issued earlier this year by the United States Institute of Peace, the federal institution founded by Congress to promote worldwide conflict resolution, concluded that foreign-funded assistance is unlikely to prove effective as leverage to shape the Taliban government’s behavior."
The institute concluded, "The Taliban are likely to increasingly regard foreign-funded activities as just another potential revenue stream. Any form of humanitarian or development assistance is prone to manipulation by the Taliban."
Judicial Watch revealed before Biden's pullout, which also left hundreds of American citizens, and thousands of Afghanistan residents who helped the U.S. work there, in the hands of the terrorists, America invested $1.3 billion in education-related programs.
That reportedly produced "significant improvements.
"Since the terrorist group returned to power in August 2021, Uncle Sam has continued to fund Afghanistan’s education sector through six programs that cost $185.2 million even though the Taliban has issued decrees drastically limiting access to education for girls and women as well as restricting women’s ability to work and other basic freedoms. Nevertheless, the American taxpayer dollars keep flowing. In fiscal year 2023, which ended in September, the U.S. sent Taliban-ruled Afghanistan over $566 million in humanitarian assistance," Judicial Watch said.
