House Panel Denies Billions In Aid To Afghanistan Pending Corruption Probes

WASHINGTON — A key House panel voted Wednesday to cut off almost $4 billion in aid to the government of Afghanistan pending an investigation into charges that Afghan officials are blocking corruption probes and huge amounts of foreign aid is being stolen.

The bipartisan move by the foreign aid appropriations subcommittee comes after The Washington Post reported that top officials in President Hamid Karzai's government were blocking corruption probes of political allies and amid widespread assumptions that Afghan powerbrokers are moving millions of dollars out of the country.

The panel's chairwoman, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., is instead demanding that the Government Accountability Office conduct an audit of billions of dollar of past U.S. aid.

"We have an obligation to every American to ensure that their hard earned tax dollars are not squandered through corruption and graft," Lowey said.

Military operations funded through a separate bill would not be affected, nor would humanitarian aid. The House is slated to vote as early as Thursday on legislation funding President Barack Obama's $33 billion military aid request, which would fund the president's surge of 30,000 troops.

And the bill in question, a $53 billion measure funding foreign aid for the upcoming budget year, retains the money in placeholder accounts that could still be tapped before the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year.

"I do not intend to appropriate one more dime for assistance to Afghanistan until I have confidence that U.S. taxpayer money is not being abused to line the pockets of corrupt Afghan government officials, drug lords and terrorists," Lowey said.

Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, top Republican on the panel, agreed with the aid cutoff.

"The administration's policy of providing direct assistance to the government of Afghanistan assumes a great deal of risk and with ongoing corruption inside the Afghan government, it is difficult to justify," Granger said.

But Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., worried that the move could imperil important projects such as improvements to Kandahar's electrical system, which he said is an important step to winning over the residents of the area to the U.S. mission.

Comments

[Takebackourmoney]

04:43 PM on 07/01/2010

Where is that money coming from and why can't they use it for the unemployed and vets

[evalela]

03:17 PM on 07/01/2010

How STUPID do they think we are this is NOT the only CORRUPT COUNTRY we SEND BILLION of DOLLARS in AID to,CUT THEM ALL OFF !!!!!!!!!

[leftpinkie]

08:14 PM on 07/01/2010

Yes, I agree ~ cut off the aid to ALL corrupt countries, those run by dictators too. While we're at it, we should cut off aid to those who practice repression on their citizens and those who use it to build up their arms and occupy others.

[grf67]

03:01 PM on 07/01/2010

Excellent - now bring our forces home and give Afghanistan to the corupt Afghans.

[atlantis1star]

02:15 PM on 07/01/2010

America must stop the $3 BILLION DOLLARS in Aid to the rouge State of Israel. America is in a financial crises and it appears the people of Israel are not suffering anywhere close to the Tax Payers of America. This Aid money to Israel is merged into the General Fund of Israel to be used for expanding illegal housing in the West Bank, their Social Medicine, for Guns and Missiles that kill woman and babies, (tell Hillary that it is suppose to be one of her hot buttons).

[littleblackcat]

02:10 PM on 07/01/2010

Remember, everyone, the Karzai government was installed by the bush/cheney regime. Anything those two had a hand in is immediately suspect and the level of corruption should surprise no one in view of the fact that the bush/cheney group was as corrupt an administration, treasonous toward this country and its people, as has existed ever in this nation.
I hope that Petraeus is going to change things enough to get out of this mess that we should not be still in. Had bush/cheney been less liars and more truly intent on breaking al Qaida(?) when the thing was first started, we would have been successfully out years ago. In view of the friendship between the bush clan and bin Laden's family, that was never the intent, it was all a smokescreen to cover their intention to invade Iraq from the very beginning. Why it escalated to the level it has and how al Qaida renewed itself is anyone's guess. That bush/cheney failed the American people is a given, as is the fact that they are getting rich through their ties to companies enriching themselves through those no-bid contracts.
We need to get out of this war and take care of our OWN PEOPLE!
The billions being wasted yearly could educate every child and most of the adults in this country, so we could open those small businesses that would boost employment and get us back on track to recovery.

[zaggy]

01:25 PM on 07/01/2010

I hope they are still going to feed the people !

[santiago sherwood]

01:39 PM on 07/01/2010

I have read estimates that less than 5% actually goes to food aid. The food that is sent in often ends up on the black market. The guardian about a years ago had an article which was very critical of how it is handled.

[Ted Miroe]

01:21 PM on 07/01/2010

All that money going out; $33 Billion (afghanistan extra military money) + $53 Billion (foreign aid) = $86 Billion!

The very politicians who signed onto government spending in the past, now have become deficit hawks, except for matters outside the US. Those who argue that the US is broke turns to cut Social Security to Americans while funding corruption abroad! It doesn't matter what party you are from, we are all Americans and this spending has to stop. That money needs to be directed to work on the US domestic economy.

I don't care which party comes up with the better solution, but it seems neither will. Both are too preoccupied in their own political careers rather than the greater good of the country. No sense in looking to the President. He is incapable of acting and taking up the role of "change" than any other politician. Too bad the constitution doesn't provide for a "vote of confidence." Bush would have been out sooner, and Obama just might not have made 2 years.

I urge all Americans to call for a refocus of American priorities, which should be getting its citizens back to work. That should be the only priority now.

[Voting citizen]

01:11 PM on 07/01/2010

Do we still have billions to give away? Shouldn't we be taking care of the people suffering here from the financial melt down first?

[Dan1902]

12:53 PM on 07/01/2010

FINALLY!!! The house is using the power of the purse!!! This war is one big circle jerk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shivabeach]

12:28 PM on 07/01/2010

Well lets just drop it into health care then Tank you/ Let Europe and the ME who is in much closer proximity to Afghanistan take care of them.

[Aikaterina]

12:22 PM on 07/01/2010

How about we stop paying our own legislators, representatives, justices, agency-department heads until they stop selling their loyalties to special (corporate and foreign) interests here at home?

The world's oldest profession thrives in our government, where those who are paid by taxpayers, swore to uphold the law and Constitution (promote the general welfare) betray this nation (commit TREASON) by selling out their country (in exchange for cash, gifts, perks, junkets) to those who cause more harm than al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah combined could pray for.

Deregulation, corporate exemptions, loopholes, tax cuts, subsidies for corporations that have inflicted unprecedented devastation, coupled with lavish aid to hostile, corrupt, apartheid regimes (Israel, etc.) have brought this nation's destruction in terms of soveriegnty, economic viability and security.

I'd love to see the financial "wizards," BP managers, etc. brought to account for their mismanagement, misdeeds that caused millions to lose their lives, health, livelihoods, communities and life-savings, rather than being protected by the government (caps-limits on liability, bail-outs) from the consequences of their reckless practices, and from which their victims still suffer, even as we subsidize their recovery (from their own follies).

[FoonTheElder]

12:19 PM on 07/01/2010

Great idea, delay all payments to Afghanistan. It is probably the only way to 'win' the war.

After all a big chunk of it goes right into the hands of the Taliban, making the American taxpayer the biggest financial supporter of the enemy troops.

http://www.hsdl.org/hslog/?q=node/5612
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/21/AR2010062104628.html
http://www.thenation.com/article/how-us-funds-taliban

[TexasTim]

11:23 AM on 07/01/2010

We conservatives want out of Afghanistan. I can't figure why Obooboo's dragging his heels on the issue, can you?

[FoonTheElder]

12:21 PM on 07/01/2010

The Military Industrial Complex and fellow big corporations who own the government and allow paid off politicians to run it on their behalf.

[shivabeach]

12:29 PM on 07/01/2010

You conservatives? Like McCain and the rest that say we will be there till its over? You may have meant to say hat "I as a conservative want out"

[OleLadySquawking]

11:22 AM on 07/01/2010

Ten years later and now they are investigating corruption? Shame on all of them.

[Grunty1]

11:15 AM on 07/01/2010

Very interesting. The Democrats want corruption probes to finish before giving new money

Mark Kirk, R-Ill, however, says we should keep giving away the money anyways.

Who is fiscally responsible again?

[onnyang]

11:45 AM on 07/01/2010

Kirk is concerned with infrastructure projects (like the electrical system in Kandahar).

You're generalizing libs vs cons...

It is good to see that (anyone in) congress finally will address this problem...
Unfortunately, it's billions of dollars late...

[FoonTheElder]

12:25 PM on 07/01/2010

Yeah he's concerned alright. Which corporation that contributes to his campaign gets the money for the electrical system project?

[FoonTheElder]

12:24 PM on 07/01/2010

We all know the Afghan government will get their money after promising they will reform. Then it will be back to corruption as usual.

When it all blows up, the polticians will claim that they were lied to and how could they possibly know that the Afghan government wouldn't keep its promise.