$1 Billion US Aid Cut Would Greatly Defund Afghan Security Forces

In mid-March, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a $1 billion cut in US aid to Afghanistan to punish them for their unresolved election and failure to work together to resolve the disputed results, which Pompeo said was against US interests.

Though the State Department wasn’t clear at the time where that money was coming from, officials now say it’s $1 billion being pulled from the $4.2 billion Pentagon fund which pays for most of the Afghan security forces’ annual budget.

This means the cuts are going to have to come more or less entirely to security force budgets. That’s unsurprising, as Afghanistan admittedly spends a lot of money on those forces, at the behest of the US, but has accomplished little over the years besides producing a big army to lose to the Taliban.

Some in Congress are complaining the aid cut is against US interests in the country, though the administration clearly believes it has an interest in a resolved election in Afghanistan and a single president, which this cut is meant to encourage.