Anyway, while he and his handlers are taking a victory lap over taking out the big, scary al-Qaeda honcho, the fact is that Zawahiri was first declared dead in November 2020 and has only surfaced once since then. He was 71 years old and much more a man of the past than of the present. His killing, in other words, is more a matter of PR than evidence of an effective counterterror strategy. And meanwhile, Biden’s handlers are undermining the effectiveness of what little counterterror strategy they have by sending hundreds of millions over to Zawahiri’s friends, the Taliban.

According to a Tuesday report from The Foreign Desk, the U.S. “has pledged an additional $55 million in aid to Afghanistan.” This is just the latest in a more or less non-stop money train since the Taliban took over: “Over the past fiscal year, this totals to over $1 billion to humanitarian, economic, and military assistance aid to Afghanistan.”

Biden’s foreign policy wonks would likely insist that this money was not sent to the Taliban but to other groups that are operating in the country. The Taliban may be in control, says Biden’s State Department, but there is still a massive humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan that we cannot ignore. Unfortunately for that narrative, however, the aid money that is being sent to Afghanistan is ending up in the hands of the Taliban despite all the denials and claims to the contrary. “Now,” says The Foreign Desk, “humanitarian aid to the Afghan people is lining the pockets of the Taliban at the expense of innocent Afghans and American taxpayers alike.”

There is an important reason for this: “The Taliban’s ‘Monitoring and Control Plan of NGOs’ provides them with oversight and control of movements and work of various NGOs, including the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and the World Food Program.” Thus if the U.S. government sends money to any of those organizations, there is nothing that they can do to keep the Taliban from seizing the funds.

The Foreign Desk adds: “The Afghan people are desperately in need of this aid to ensure access to basic food and water, education, and health services. However, this Taliban program requires Afghan citizens and foreign NGOs to submit to the Taliban’s brutal rule in order to ensure they receive the necessary aid to survive. The U.S. cannot ensure that its humanitarian funding is being used as it was intended. More than likely, it’s only bolstering the Taliban’s repressive regime.” So the American taxpayers are funding the Taliban’s consolidation of power in Afghanistan, thanks to Old Joe Biden.