US Senator Tim Burchett said this week that he believes over $40 million of American taxpayers’ dollars is still going to Afghanistan weekly, despite President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign aid.

Speaking to Breitbart News, the Republican senator said Friday: “We’ve been told that it is, somehow they’re getting it,” he said.

“That’s on the surface that we know about.”

The $40 million weekly cash transfers to Afghanistan were started following the collapse of the former government and the take over of power by the Islamic Emirate.

However, the cash shipments have gone to the United Nations’-led humanitarian assistance program in the country, and the Islamic Emirate has repeatedly, over the years, dismissed claims that they benefit from this money.

In April 2023, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko testified to Congress that the U.S. had made available $8 billion to Afghanistan after the August 2021 withdrawal.

Breitbart News reported however that it is not clear whether the $40 million weekly cash infusions for humanitarian aid are being drawn from the $8 billion and over what time period the $8 billion is meant to last for.

SIGAR has however claimed that the IEA “siphoned or benefited from a considerable amount of humanitarian aid,” by infiltrating United Nations-partnered Non-Governmental Organizations to access their aid budgets; imposing taxes and “security” fees on humanitarian workers; directing aid agencies to serve IEA officials and family members; and taxing Afghan aid recipients at high rates, in some cases amounting to 60 to 100 percent of the aid received.

In December 2023, Burchett however introduced a bill to stop the flow of money to the IEA. The bill passed the US House of Representatives unanimously, but did not gain support in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Last month, Burchett reintroduced his bill, dubbed the No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act.

At the time, Burchett said in a statement: “I look forward to working it through both chambers and getting it to President Trump’s desk as quickly as possible.”

If passed, the bill would force the State Department to develop and implement a policy to oppose any foreign aid from going to the Islamic Emirate; it would require a report on any cash assistance programs in Afghanistan and how the US keeps the IEA from accessing that; and it would require a report on the Afghan Fund and on IEA members attached to Da Afghanistan Bank – the country’s central bank.

Speaking to Breitbart News, Burchett said his father “used to have a saying, ‘Old men make decisions and young men die.’”