Tornado Alley (PROG)

[livefree_ordie]

Sorry for the delay, but I must say the pre-empt the below links and articles they are by folks who may know the truth. Unlike all of the links I see on here that are supposedly trusted vetted sources of grand information. So I take no responsibility if any of you get hurt in your brains reading this information, have at it then.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/biden-admin-has-given-2-35-billion-to-taliban-controlled-afghanistan/

The Biden administration has provided more than $2.35 billion in taxpayer dollars to Afghanistan since the Taliban retook control of the government in 2021 following a deadly U.S. evacuation.
The United States remains Afghanistan’s top patron, even as lawmakers and federal oversight officials warn that these funds could be propping up the Taliban’s terrorist government. Updated spending figures were disclosed Tuesday in a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a federal watchdog that documents waste, fraud, and abuse related to U.S. expenditures in the war-torn country.
Around $1.7 billion "remained available for possible disbursement" at the time of SIGAR’s report, meaning that this money is ready to flow into non-profit groups and other entities working on reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. With the Taliban exerting control over nearly every sector of the country’s infrastructure—including the NGO community—it is more than likely that a sizable portion of these funds will end up in the terror group’s coffers.
The latest figures are certain to increase congressional pressure on the Biden administration to stop sending taxpayer funds into Afghanistan until officials can ensure the Taliban is not stealing the money. John Sopko, head of SIGAR, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in April that he "cannot assure this committee or the American taxpayer we are not currently funding the Taliban." Sopko also accused the Biden administration of blocking his investigatory efforts and refusing to hand over documents that could show if the Taliban is being propped up by American cash.
In the two years since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan following the Biden administration's withdrawal of American forces in 2021, it has become increasingly clear that the terrorist group views international assistance as a "revenue stream," according to SIGAR’s latest report.
The United States Institute of Peace recently warned the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the primary vehicle for U.S. spending in Afghanistan, that the Taliban is "pushing for ever-increasing degrees of credit and control over the delivery of aid." United Nations officials also disclosed to the watchdog that "the Taliban have effectively infiltrated and influenced most UN-managed assistance programming."
This reality is raising questions about the nearly $2 billion in funds the Biden administration has made available for disbursement in the country. As U.S. aid money flows to the country, "Taliban interference with NGO work escalated, leading to a steady decline in humanitarian access in 2023, with a 32 percent increase in incidents between January and May 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022," according to the report.
The Taliban is "comfortable accepting foreign support insofar as they can closely monitor the organizations, including restricting and controlling them, and claim some credit for the provision of the benefits," SIGAR reported. USAID told the watchdog group that "Taliban interference in humanitarian assistance is the main barrier to beneficiaries accessing aid in 2023."
The Taliban government also has not moderated its jihadi principles since seizing the country.
"Despite Taliban promises made since gaining power in August 2021 to be more inclusive, counter terrorism, respect human rights, and not pose a security threat to the region, the U.N. says that the Taliban shows no signs of bending to pressure for reform or compromise,'" according to the report.
As SIGAR and congressional oversight committees raise concerns about the Biden administration’s push to pump money into Afghanistan, the government agencies in control of these expenditures are not cooperating with investigations.
Sopko revealed in April that the "the Department of State, USAID, the U.N., and other agencies are refusing to give us basic information that we or any other oversight body would need to ensure safe stewardship of tax dollars."


https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/08/10/iran-releases-five-iranian-american-prisoners-to-house-arrest/

Latest Developments
The United States and Iran reached a deal on August 10 for Tehran’s release of five Iranian-American dual nationals to house arrest in exchange for Washington’s release of several jailed Iranians and the unfreezing of about $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue. The prisoners Iran freed include Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi, and Morad Tahbaz — all of whom Tehran incarcerated on spurious espionage charges — as well as two unnamed detainees. A lawyer for Namazi said Iran transferred the three named prisoners and one other to a hotel in Tehran, where they will remain for several weeks before they can board a plane to Qatar, which helped broker the agreement. Tehran released the fifth prisoner to house arrest earlier.
Expert Analysis
“It’s good news that American hostages, illegally seized by the regime in Iran, are coming home. But paying $6 billion in ransom payments means the regime will only take more hostages. This has become a lucrative means of international extortion for Iran’s supreme leader. The $6 billion will not only be used for humanitarian purposes. In the real world, where cash is fungible, it will free up $6 billion to be used for terrorism, funding drones for Russia, domestic repression, and nuclear weapons expansion. Only when the regime is severely punished for illegally seizing hostages, not rewarded with billions in ransom payments, will it put a stop to these humanitarian abuses.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO
“This is not a prisoner exchange; it’s the largest hostage ransom payment in American history. This money isn’t for humanitarian relief; it’s budget support to the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. At more than $1 billion per hostage, Iran, Russia, and China will be more likely to take Americans hostage, not less.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor
“A prisoner swap deal with Tehran and Washington is emerging. But this time, the Islamic Republic reportedly stands to receive access to both frozen funds and the release of persons jailed by the United States —assumedly on sanctions busting or worse violations — in exchange for hostages it has taken. Should this be the opening salvo of a lesser or unwritten political arrangement with Iran over its nuclear program, Washington will have truly, to borrow a phrase, learned nothing and forgotten nothing about how to conduct diplomacy with Tehran.” — Behnam Ben Taleblu, FDD Senior Fellow
A History of Ransom Payments
The latest prisoner release is not the first time Iran has demanded ransom payments in exchange for releasing hostages. In 2015 and early 2016, the Obama administration negotiated a similar scheme alongside the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, sending Iran $400 million — the first installment of a $1.7 billion payment — as Tehran released four Americans. The result was more hostages taken by the clerical regime, which transferred the $1.7 billion to its military budget. If $1.7 billion encouraged the regime to take more hostages, $6 billion will guarantee much more hostage-taking to come.
Iran Deliberately Pursues Hostages
Iran deliberately seeks hostages as a form of economic pressure against the West. “We’ll take 1,000 Americans hostage,” Mohsen Rezaei, a former vice president of Iran for economic affairs who has held multiple senior positions in the regime, said in 2021. “America will have to pay several billions to get every single one freed. This is how we can solve our economic problems.”