By Michael Lee
Fox News
While the Treasury's new general licenses put certain conditions in place on transactions with the Taliban, critics warn that it could serve to legitimize and assist Taliban rule.
House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, was critical of the move, saying that while he supports "efforts to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance directly to the Afghan people," the new policy is "shortsighted" and will "offer broad sanctions carveouts [that] could result in using American taxpayer funds to reward, legitimize and enable" the Taliban.
"Providing these exemptions under the guise of ‘humanitarian aid,' and without any prior consultation with Congress, further undermines bipartisan support and faith in the administration’s transparency and decision-making," McCaul said in a statement Wednesday. "I remain deeply frustrated that the administration still can’t confirm what assistance programs have been restarted. This committee must be permitted to conduct oversight of foreign assistance resources and priorities."
One GOP source took issue with General License 19, warning that it "paves the way" for all kinds of assistance programs that legitimize and further enable Taliban rule that has shown no assurances that they will behave according to international norms.
The source pointed out that General License 19 also opens up "environmental programs and natural resource protection," without including a clear definition as to what that means.
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