On the recordMarch 10, 2010
I just would like to talk for a minute about the mission in the context of what is going on with the government in Kabul. The Washington Post did a story on February 25 which talks about "Officials puzzle over millions of dollars leaving Afghanistan by plane for Dubai," and I will include that for the Record. [From the Washington Post, Feb. 25, 2010] Officials Puzzle Over Millions of Dollars Leaving Afghanistan by Plane for Dubai (By Andrew Higgins) Kabul.--A blizzard of bank notes is flying out of Afghanistan--often in full view of customs officers at the Kabul airport--as part of a cash exodus that is confounding U.S. officials and raising concerns about the money's origin. The cash, estimated to total well over $1 billion a year, flows mostly to the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, where many wealthy Afghans now park their families and funds, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. So long as departing cash is declared at the airport here, its transfer is legal. But at a time when the United States and its allies are spending billions of dollars to prop up the fragile government of President Hamid Karzai, the volume of the outflow has stirred concerns that funds have been diverted from aid. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, for its part, is trying to figure out whether some of the money comes from Afghanistan's thriving opium trade.
