KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban has rejected U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s claim that the Biden administration is paying billions of dollars to the Taliban, asserting that it has not received a “single penny.”
In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said that the group neither expects nor has ever sought aid from the United States.
Speaking at a press conference in Florida on Tuesday, Trump criticized the Biden administration, alleging that “billions of dollars” are being funneled to “the Taliban in Afghanistan.”
“It’s not even believable. Billions of dollars, not millions—billions,” Trump told reporters, adding, “We pay billions of dollars to essentially the Taliban in Afghanistan. And that’s given by Biden.”
Fitrat responded, saying, “The United States’ claims regarding the provision of billions and millions of dollars in aid to the Islamic Emirate [Taliban] are entirely incorrect, and we categorically reject these assertions.” He added, “In reality, the United States has not provided a single penny to the Islamic Emirate; instead, it has confiscated and frozen billions of dollars that rightfully belong to the people of Afghanistan.”
The Taliban deputy spokesman said that the funds recently mentioned by U.S. officials were mainly used for the country’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the evacuation of its allies.
While acknowledging that some funds might have been allocated to humanitarian aid, Fitrat argued that these efforts brought no tangible benefits to the people of Afghanistan.
Fitrat also accused the U.S. of using the pretext of supporting Afghanistan to further its own interests and labeled these claims as “propaganda against the Islamic Emirate.”
According to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the U.S. has provided over $3 billion in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan since the Taliban’s takeover. SIGAR also revealed that U.S. partners paid nearly $11 million to the Taliban in taxes, fees, duties, and utility bills. Additionally, the watchdog highlighted that some U.S. funds have reached the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan Central Bank, and that certain Taliban authorities have established NGOs to access and potentially misuse humanitarian aid.
Recently, U.S. Congressman Tim Burchett urged Trump, who is set to assume office in less than two weeks, to end U.S. financial support to the Taliban, expressing concern over the misuse of funds to finance terrorism.
“The United States of America should not fund its enemies abroad,” the Congressman wrote in a letter to Trump. “I implore you to take action to put an end to wasteful foreign aid spending and support efforts in Congress to put Americans first.”
