This treason was one of the first things exposed by Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks in 2010.

https://abcnews.go.com/WN/Afghanistan/united-states-military-funding-tal...

abcNEWS
Report: U.S. Bribes to Protect Convoys Are Funding Taliban Insurgents
By NICK SCHIFRIN KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 22, 2010

"One senior Department of Defense official in Afghanistan stated that there have been significant discussions within the Department [of Defense] of the problem of protection payments to local warlords and the Taliban, but no action has been taken" today's report says. "In [the senior official's] view, the contracting officers with responsibility for the contract 'intentionally turn a blind eye to the problem and refuse to look past the prime [contractor] to see how the security subcontractors operate -- hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.'"

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/07/27/afghanistan.wikileaks.corrup...

Truckers shaken down from both sides in Afghanistan, reports show
By the CNN Wire Staff
July 27, 2010

(CNN) -- Truckers moving vital supplies along the roads of war-torn Afghanistan have faced shakedowns by both the Taliban and Afghan authorities, with Taliban fighters charging up to $500 for safe passage, leaked U.S. military reports show.

... The report was among the more than 75,000 documents released Sunday by the online whistleblower site Wikileaks. It is just one of several reports documenting the problems faced by drivers across Afghanistan, where U.S. and allied troops have been battling the Taliban for nearly nine years.

... That report found portions of a $2.1 billion Pentagon contract to truck supplies to U.S. troops was being indirectly paid to Afghan insurgents and corrupt public officials as protection money...

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/families-of-americans-killed-in-afghani...

Families of Americans killed in Afghanistan sue contractors over alleged Taliban payments
By Adam Shaw | Fox News
December 27, 2019

Families of more than 140 U.S. service members and contractors killed or wounded in Afghanistan are suing U.S. and international contractors, alleging that those companies paid the Taliban for security services -- giving the group money that later funded deadly attacks on U.S. troops.

The lawsuit, filed Friday by families of 143 troops and contractors killed and wounded between 2009 and 2017, seeks damages under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act.

"While these men and women worked to rebuild post-invasion Afghanistan, they were attacked by a Taliban-led terrorist insurgency that Defendants helped finance,” the lawsuit says.

According to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the lawsuit, the companies named in the lawsuit include a host of U.S. government contractors, including two top contractors for the U.S. Agency for International Developments. Companies are alleged to have often paid the Taliban through local subcontractors, who then in turn funneled payments or hired Taliban guards.

The lawsuit says that the companies were all large Western companies with lucrative businesses in the country and so allegedly paid the Taliban in order to protect their interests from attacks.

“Those protection payments aided and abetted terrorism by directly funding an al-Qaeda-backed Taliban insurgency that killed and injured thousands of Americans,” the lawsuit says.

The filing says that the lawsuit is based on evidence including interviews with a number of confidential witnesses with direct and indirect knowledge, internal company documents, declassified government documents and congressional testimony and investigations.

“The plaintiffs look forward to proving their case to a jury," Ryan R. Sparacino, one of the lawyers, told Fox News. "Though this litigation will not bring back the family members who were lost, or reverse the permanent, life-altering injuries that were suffered, the jury will determine the appropriate measure of financial compensation due the plaintiffs."

The U.S. has been involved in Afghanistan since shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. President Trump has expressed frustration about the war and has indicated that he wants to bring U.S. troops home...