Bob Corker blocks Afghan spending bill over millions in payments to Karzai

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

Sen. Bob Corker, the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, is demanding to know why the U.S. government allegedly has made tens of millions of dollars in cash payments to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his relatives, despite continued complaints of corruption at all levels of the Afghan government.

Exasperated that Obama administration officials have ignored three previous written requests for information about the payments over the last two months, Corker, R-Tenn., has placed a hold on $75 million in U.S. government funding for Afghanistan until the administration briefs him on the program.

“As a matter of oversight of U.S. foreign policy operations, I have repeatedly requested briefings and additional information on the nature and effect of this policy, classified and unclassified, as appropriate,” he said. “The administration’s lack of response to these requests, its apparent decision to flout the Foreign Relations Committee’s oversight and its inability (or unwillingness) to explain such a policy is unacceptable.”