The Taliban, after a meeting with a United States delegation in Qatar for two days, was quick to rush to the media when it was over.

Why? It seems that they wanted to crow to the whole world that they’re going to get some money from the United States. How are they going to get money from American taxpayers? In the form of humanitarian aid, they claim.

The U.S. has agreed to provide humanitarian aid to a desperately poor Afghanistan on the brink of an economic disaster, while refusing to give political recognition to the country’s new Taliban rulers, the Taliban said Sunday.”

The statement came at the end of the first direct talks between the former foes since the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of August.”

The Taliban said the talks held in Doha, Qatar, “went well,” with Washington freeing up humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after agreeing not to link such assistance to formal recognition of the Taliban.”

Now, it is an undeniable fact that the economy of Afghanistan is completely wrecked and the Taliban don’t have any idea how to fix it. They can’t even remember to pay their power bills on time, and we have reports of parents selling their children. The United Nations is estimating, with the current conditions on the ground, that up to a million Afghan children could die of starvation over the winter months.

A quick aside: wasn’t this something the Biden administration knew about, and took into account, when Biden made the decision to withdraw? Just asking.

While the Afghan people are desperate for relief, the problem is, of course, the Taliban. How do we know that the Taliban won’t simply walk away with any “aid” they get?

The State Department spokesman, Ned Price, issued an official statement that contains a lot of filler words. Does it confirm what the Taliban claims? You be the judge.

A U.S. interagency delegation traveled to Qatar to meet with senior Taliban representatives from Kabul and discussed issues of vital national interest. The delegation reiterated that the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words. https://t.co/i5wP3sDXBa

— Ned Price (@StateDeptSpox) October 10, 2021

On October 9 and 10, an interagency delegation traveled to Doha, Qatar to meet with senior Taliban representatives. The U.S. delegation focused on security and terrorism concerns and safe passage for U.S. citizens, other foreign nationals and our Afghan partners, as well as on human rights, including the meaningful participation of women and girls in all aspects of Afghan society. The two sides also discussed the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people. The discussions were candid and professional with the U.S. delegation reiterating that the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words.”

After reading that statement, and seeing what the Taliban are saying, there are only three possibilities.
1) The Taliban is lying.
2) The State Department is lying.
3) Both sides are lying.

Let’s look at each possibility. First, the Taliban could well be lying about whatever aid was discussed. After all, they just informed the United States that they would not be cooperating with us to contain ISIS-K, because they could do it themselves. Given what happened at the Kabul airport when we lost 13 servicemembers to an ISIS-K suicide bomber, the State Department would be complete fools to believe that (more on that in the second possibility). The Taliban could be lying to the media in order to attempt to put the United States in a corner. After all, Joe Biden’s vaunted “empathy” surely would not let children starve, would it?

In the second possibility, we must consider that the State Department is lying. “Robust humanitarian assistance” is such a loose term that it can mean almost anything, and the State Department has to be aware that telling the American taxpayer that we are now going to give the Taliban money would go over like a fart in an elevator. Would the State Department truly be stupid enough to release cash money to the Taliban, with a pinky-promise that it will absolutely, totally, and completely go toward making sure that the Afghan children don’t starve? Given the track record of the State Department, the question is almost laughable. Of course they would. There is no way that the State Department could guarantee that ANY aid would or could be given “directly to the Afghan people.” Does anyone at Foggy Bottom remember that WE HAVE NO ASSETS ON THE GROUND? We can’t even drop off food in a Berlin Airlift style supply run, as we can’t even land a plane in Afghanistan at the moment. “Robust humanitarian assistance” most likely means money, and even giving that money to the United Nations is no promise that it goes anywhere except into other people’s pockets.

The third possibility is that both sides are lying. The Taliban is overselling what they were promised, and the United States is underselling what they did promise, for all the reasons listed above.

So if anyone thought that just because we left Afghanistan meant that American taxpayer dollars were going to stop going to Afghanistan, forget it. The money is still going to go there. How much, when, what we will be told it is for – we don’t know. All we do know is that because we no longer have any assets on the ground, aside from some NGOs, once that money is sent, we will have no idea where it’s going. Anyone feel reassured about that?

Featured image: Taliban leadership by Daniel Moskowitz via Flickr, cropped and modified, public domain