The Hypocrisy of 'Defunding' the Taliban
📰 THE STORY: Newsweek reports on a bill aimed at 'defunding the Taliban' and lists Democrats who voted against it, implying their resistance to combating the group's financial resources. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The U.S. government, under President Reagan, actively funded and armed the Mujahideen in the 1980s as part of Operation Cyclone, a proxy war against the Soviet
Union. This extensive backing, totaling billions of dollars, inadvertently laid significant groundwork for the rise of groups like Al-Qaeda and eventually the Taliban, providing them with military training, weapons, and a power vacuum in the region. The 20-year U.S. occupation that ended in 2021 cost over $2 trillion and resulted in the Taliban's return to power. Double Standard: While Newsweek
scrutinizes Democrats for not supporting a bill to cut off Taliban funds, it largely ignores the devastating impact of the U.S. freezing Afghanistan's central bank assets – nearly $7 billion – following the Taliban takeover in August 2021. This move, framed as preventing the Taliban from accessing funds, has plunged Afghanistan into a severe humanitarian crisis, with the UN estimating millions
facing starvation. The U.S. effectively 'defunded' the entire Afghan economy, punishing the populace for the sins of a government it helped create through failed intervention. Imagine the outrage if China or Russia unilaterally withheld billions from a nation, causing widespread famine, without it being framed as clear economic warfare. Follow the Money: The 'War on Terror' in Afghanistan alone