[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 144 (Wednesday, October 7, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H10525-H10526]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN AID

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, day in and day out our soldiers in 
Afghanistan are fighting a resurgent Taliban that directs its 
activities out of the lawless regions of Pakistan. They are fighting 
bravely but are consistently undermined by the poor direction of 
resources meant to aid Afghanistan and Pakistan.
  It is deeply disturbing to hear that the Taliban are successfully 
diverting our own U.S. aid money to fund their insurgency. According to 
recent reports from GlobalPost, the Taliban has

[[Page H10526]]

extorted as much as $80 million from American aid contractors in just 
the last year. Taliban insurgents insist on getting a cut before 
projects are built in areas under their control, and then they turn 
around and use these funds to fight coalition forces. Further reports 
out of Pakistan indicate that billions of dollars in military aid from 
the U.S. was diverted to nonmilitary purposes over the course of the 
last 6 years.
  This region must not become a haven for worldwide terrorism. 
Supporting our troops means that we must do everything in our power to 
root out this corruption and stop our tax dollars from being diverted 
to our enemies or misused by our allies.

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