Former Congressman Charged With Funding Terrorist

Mark Deli Siljander, a former Republican congressman, has been indicted for allegedly helping an Islamic charity fund Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a vicious Afghan militant leader with ties to al-Qaida. According to the book “Charlie Wilson’s War,” Hekmatyar was the largest recipient of U.S. weapons during the Afghan war with the Soviets.

BBC:

The indictment alleges the charity sent about $130,000 (£66,000) in 2003 and 2004 to accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan, that Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had access to.

It alleges the charity paid Mr Siljander $50,000 that was stolen from a US development agency.

It says Siljander “engaged in money laundering and obstruction of a federal investigation in an effort to disguise IARA’s misuse of taxpayer money that the government had provided for humanitarian purposes”.

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Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, second from right, signs an agreement with a rival warlord. Hekmatyar, a religious fundamentalist who has been described as a butcher, was once America’s most favored holy warrior, but the U.S. tried to assassinate him after he backed Osama bin Laden (another former recipient of American support).