September 13, 2001

11:36 AM

Bush Gave $43 Million to Taliban Last May - "The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban..." - pulled out of a thread, originally posted by mrgrimm.
posted by Zettai (4 comments total)

It was discussed last may here: http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/7957
posted by mathowie at 11:47 AM on September 13, 2001

Thanks Matt.

Please, if you're calling for the destruction of the Taliban or bombing of Afghanistan... read this article.
posted by Zettai at 11:53 AM on September 13, 2001

I will be honest and say that I do not keep up on world events until something like this happens.

Regardless, from the articles linked to last year, this seems to have been relief aid for the Afghanistan people that would bypass the Taliban, so the header to this new post is incorrect.
posted by SiW at 1:14 PM on September 13, 2001

After reading this article, at first I thought, "Great, what if the Taliban decided - It's free money let's give some to our brother Osama." But after doing a little reserach, I uncovered this document that covers the original annoucement. Mr. Scheer portrays it as if we gave the Taliban $43 million, but the other document explains that it is in the form of humanitarian aid for the Afghan people administered by the U.N. That's a totally different scenario. No doubt this "news" is being spun by both sides. I caution everyone always look for all the information to make your own judgment before falling in line with rhetoric.

That being said, I think $43 million could help a lot of homeless Americans.
posted by abosio at 1:18 PM on September 13, 2001