The Taliban has actually received money from the United States government on two separate occasions. The first loan, given in the early eighties, was a part of a larger effort to combat the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. The Soviets had decent support from the Afghan people, strong backing by the Afghan government, and a deep foothold in the Afghan landscape. The only resistance to the Soviet occupation came in the form of small rebel groups, most of whom were hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban was one of these groups. In order to suppress the Soviet ambitions in the middle east, without turning the area into a war-zone, the U.S. decided to fund the local resistance groups. Millions of dollars, along with weapons, training, and equipment, were sent to the various groups. The Taliban was among these recipients. The second loan was given shortly after the turn of the second century, and was designed to combat the flood of opiates from Afghanistan. No longer one of many faceless resistance groups, the Taliban had become the dominant political, religious, and military force in Afghanistan. Their corruption and record of human rights violations were well known by this point and, as such, they were facing several UN sanctions which prohibited them from receiving foreign aid money. The Taliban, recognizing the potential of aid dollars, soon let the world know that without the help of foreign money the poppy farmers of Afghanistan could never be stopped. Only with enough outside money could the government sufficiently subsidize the farmers whose trade they were attacking, the Taliban claimed. The U.S. agreed. After the millions of dollars began pouring into the country, and into the Taliban's coffers, Mullah Omar ordered that all poppy cultivation in Afghanistan cease.
Clearly, the Taliban has misused the American money they were given. Well-documented terrorist attacks, the legal subjugation of women, and horrible violations of human rights have became a huge part of the group's legacy. The Taliban's atrocities should be well-known to most Americans. On top of this, however, the temporary ending of Opium production in Afghanistan appears to have been only a Taliban ploy. By stopping any further production of opiates for a few years, the Taliban greatly increased the value of the opiates that already existed. Given that the Taliban controlled up to 70 percent of the raw opiates at the time, this was a major boon to their cause. Then, after war was underway and diplomatic gifts were out of the question, poppy cultivation was once again encouraged.

Back in the early eighties, very few government priorities ranked as highly as stopping the international spread of communism. Soviet Russia was increasing its nuclear stockpile every day, South Vietnam had recently been captured by the Viet Cong, and all over the world countries seemed to be drifting towards a communist form of government. People were scared. So when word came around that a small rebel group in the Central American country of Nicaragua was staging a resistance against the communist Sandinista government, and was in desperate need of weapons and money, we were eager to help. Leveraging first hand accounts of the crimes of the Nicaraguan government and heavy support from the Nicaraguan Catholic community, the Reagan administration was able to convince congress to send some hefty aid to counter-revolutionaries (Contras for short). Unfortunately, the exact amount of money given to the contras is impossible to determine, due to the actions of a man named Oliver North. In July 1989, Mr. North, a high ranking military adviser of the time, was sentenced to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines, and 1,200 hours community service. Apparently, in the mind of North, John Poindexter (another senior military figure), and other collaborators, the 100 million dollars, thousands of fire-arms, and racks of Red-Eye missiles approved by congress for shipment to the contras were simply not enough. Taking matters into their own hands, the men began selling weapons to Iran and drugs to various sources in order to make more money to funnel to the contras. The exact amount of money they were able to generate is unclear, but is figured to be clearly in the millions.
After receiving the money, weapons, and training that they needed from the U.S., the Contras became a formidable combat force. Their synchronized strikes, strategic vision, and use of strong guerrilla tactics eventually led to major concessions by the Sandinista government, commander of the largest standing army in the history of Central America. Unfortunately, the violent capabilities of the Contras were not solely reserved for enemy combatants. According to Human Rights Watch (Americas Watch at the time), the contras were responsible for targeting health care clinics and health care workers for assassination, executing civilians, including children, who were captured in combat, burning civilian houses in captured towns, torturing civilians, and raping indiscriminately. The Reagan administration routinely dismissed these claims as overblown, or simply communist propaganda.

Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier came to power in Haiti after a long period political unrest, during which most governments lasted less than five years before being overthrown. As a senior figure in one such deposed government, Francois was initially forced into hiding during a time of purging. On his return from exile, he quickly began eliciting the support of the Haitian military. Leveraging this support, Duvalier was able to use the racial tensions that run so deep in Haiti to bulldoze his mulatto opponent, whom he described as a member of the lighter ruling class that was responsible for Haiti's hardships. He won the election in a landslide.

Shortly after his victory, "Papa Doc" (which he was called due to his medical degree which he used earlier in life) began using his country's poverty and death rates as excuses to ask for foreign aid, which he received in droves. Along with France, Britain, Germany, and others, the United States began sending an annual aid stipend to Haiti in the amount of 15 million dollars a year.

Not satisfied with this, however, Duvalier soon let the U.S. know that, "Communism has established centres of infection... No area in the world is as vital to American security as the Caribbean... We need a massive injection of money to reset the country on its feet, and this injection can come only from our great, capable friend and neighbor the United States." The U.S. was more than willing to comply, figuring that Haiti could serve as a bulwark against the encroaching Caribbean communism.

Aside from being a shrewd negotiator, Papa Doc was also a superstitious, greedy, and corrupt. Every cent of the fifteen million dollars that was sent each year to Haiti can be traced to one of the ruler's personal accounts. Millions more from different sources were also misappropriated into funds set up for Duvalier or his friends. In order to generate even more money, a system of mandatory blood transfusions was put in place, forcing the Haitian people to sell their blood to the government for less than three dollars a pint. Papa Doc then sold the blood to foreign sources for upwards of twenty dollars per pint.

On top of his fiscal corruption, Duvalier also established a horribly repressive regime in Haiti. Free speech was all but abolished, political dissidents and oppositions were exiled from the country, and a militarized secret police force, commonly referred to as the Tonton Macoutes, was free to terrorize the population. Among other crimes, the Tonton Macoutes were responsible for killing hundreds of Duvalier's opponents, hanging bodies in the streets as warnings, stoning civilians to death, removing the heads of victims, raping civilians, and indiscriminate torture. The words Tonton Macoutes, in fact, literally translate to "uncle gunnysack." Uncle Gunnysack was the Haitian boogeyman, said to kidnap people in the night and put them in his sack, after which they were never seen or heard from again.

Ferdinand Marcos was a powerfully gifted lawyer, and president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986 . During his first term as president, with little to distract him from his goals, Marcos impressed both his own people and the powers of the foreign world by establishing important institutional and constitutional changes that brought the Philippines into the modern world.

During his second term, however, several problems arose in the country. An economic crisis began to unfold, the south of the country threatened secession, and a growing communist resistance began to challenge the government at every turn. In exchange for his loyalty to democratic ideals, Marcos began asking for money from many developed countries to aid his efforts. Given the strategic position of the Philippines in relation to Vietnam (where the U.S. was fighting a war at the time), the United States quickly began sending billions of dollars as humanitarian and military aid.

In order to suppress the opposition in his country, Marcos established martial law in the Philippines. Freedom of speech and freedom of press were both curtailed significantly, and political dissidents (communists) were detained, exiled, or killed. Up to 35,000 people were tortured, up to 120,000 were needlessly incarcerated, and up to 750 disappeared without explanation during this time of military rule. As the sole authority in time of martial law, Marcos also was able to discreetly move billions of dollars of U.S. foreign aid money into personal accounts. Between Ferdinand and his wife, Imelda, enough money was pilfered from U.S. donations that experts have trouble estimating the amount to the nearest billion. The amount is so vast, in fact, that the Swiss government recently returned 684 million dollars in ill-gotten Marcos money. It was in only one of Marcos' many accounts.

Suharto was the second President of Indonesia, and a vehement anti-communist. Under the leadership of the first president, Sukarno, Indonesia had entered a period of hyper-inflation that was on the verge of completely decimating Indonesia's economy. Recognizing this, Suharto began seeking international aid. The International Monetary Fund, several western banks, and a few friendly governments began to answer his call. The United States, among many many others, began sending relief dollars into Indonesia to help the Country's economy take its final steps in becoming functionally capitalistic. Over the years, the IMF was said to donate roughly 43 billion dollars for the bailout. The United States was responsible for a sizable portion of this loan. Suharto, in order to make a reality of his capitalistic dream, made examples of all of the communists in his country. Beginning in the mid-sixties, the communists were systematically purged from Indonesia. Most estimates suggest that at least half a million people were killed during this time, and roughly 1.5 million were imprisoned. Then, in 1975, the Indonesian army moved into Portuguese Timor and declared it Indonesian property. The world was outraged, and the East Timor citizens fought hard for their freedom. Suharto responded with force. An estimated minimum of 102,800 conflict-related deaths occurred in East Timor between 1975 and 1998. Noam Chomsky, a noted scholar, claims that Indonesia was responsible for the second most heinous example of genocide in history, after the Holocaust. As if this weren't enough, Suharto also kept much of the money that he received for himself. Transparency International placed the amount of funds misappropriated by Suharto at roughly 15–35 billion dollars. Given that the Suharto fortune was estimated to be 15 billion dollars, this means that in the space of only a few decades Suharto spent billions and billions of dollars of his country's money for his own selfish purposes.

Than Shwe is the current leader of Myanmar (formerly Burma), a South Asian country next to Laos. Like many leaders of impoverished countries, Than Shwe has been focused throughout his administration on industrializing his country and implementing reforms that will make it competitive in the world market. And like the leader of many developing countries, he has asked for western aid in his efforts. The United States proceeded to send the money in small, reasonable, helpful amounts. Nothing more than generous humanitarian aid, the money was intended to be used for education, health care, and social welfare programs. The total amount before 2006 was estimated at approximately 32 million dollars.
Than Shwe, as leader of the ruling military junta in Myanmar, has done whatever necessary to remain in power. This includes suppressing free speech, intimidating opponents, and rigging elections. But even those with a solid knowledge of Shwe's position as a repressive dictator were shocked and outraged by his reaction to his country's most extreme natural disaster ever. On May 2, 2008, Cyclone Nargis touched down in Myanmar. The destruction and mayhem was severe. Over ten billion dollars worth of damage was inflicted in a matter of hours. Over 100,000 people were killed, tens of thousands more were injured, and thousand were simply nowhere to be found. Myanmar was in rubble. Instead of instantly initiating rescue procedures, however, Than Shwe focused his efforts on making sure that a popular vote still went through on his project: a constitutional referendum that would make it easier for him to stay in power. Even as the rest of the world started to react to the trajedy, Than Shwe actually refused their aid. He would not let foreign aid workers into his country, and would not accept their offers of money. Instead, he let his people die of disease, starvation , and trauma while he used their suffering to further his political ambitions.

Nicolae Ceausescu was once considered by the west to be an example for other eastern countries of what a west-friendly communist government could look like. As president of Romania, a country that is sandwiched between the Ukraine, Serbia, Hungary, and Bulgaria, Ceausescu had little choice but to embrace communism and the Warsaw Pact. Despite this, he continued to implement policies that endeared him to the west, and the U.S. specifically. He refused to take part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia, joined the IMF, was the first Warsaw-Pact country to recognize West Germany as a party, and received president Nixon as a friendly diplomat. Given his efforts to be friendly, the west was eager to help Ceausescu pull his country out of poverty. In order to help Romania implement sweeping reforms, Ceausescu eventually borrowed upwards of 13 billion dollars from western powers. The United States was one of these western powers.
After Ceausescu realized that the huge amount of borrowing by Romania was devastating the country's economy, and that he had alienated all of his Central European neighbors, he turned an about face. Using a referendum and an amendment to the country's constitution, Nicolae set Romania on a course to repay all of the debts he had incurred. He also passed a measure that prohibited Romania from taking foreign debts in the future. In order to repay all of his massive debts, Ceausescu began exporting almost everything he could from his country. Using his country's crops and natural resources, as well as huge amounts of his citizen's money, Nicolae planned to repay every cent of foreign debt his county currently held. As could be expected, this led to massive shortages. Food, fuel, and medicine all became extremely hard to find in Romania, as they were all being sold to reduce debt. Everyday life in Romania became a struggle to survive. In order to keep his ludicrous policies alive, Ceausescu resorted to a traditional system of propaganda and intimidation. Often, on state-controlled television stations, Nicolae was shown smiling and walking into a store filled with food, while in the cities people lined the streets to get a ration of bread. Many citizens attempted to bring Romania's poverty to the attention of Ceausescu, but any report or petition brought to the president was immediately given to members of his security force. Attempts to hand anything directly to the president were discouraged by the Securiate, Nicolae's secret police. Whether or not he ever read any of the documents is unknown.

Zimbabwe is one of the world's most tragic nations. Unemployment stands at around eighty five percent, forty five percent of citizens are malnourished, and the Zimbabwean government recently printed a fifty billion dollar note, worth about two loaves of bread. The life expectancy of the average Zimbabwean is 39. About thirty percent of the adult population is living with HIV/AIDS. The people of Zimbabwe need serious help. In order to give them that help, Robert Mugabe, the current ruler of Zimbabwe, claimed that he needed extensive assistance from the western world. Given the state of his country, most foreign nations were quick to offer Mugabe whatever assistance he needed. The U.S. specifically began sending roughly 1 billion dollars a year to Mugabe, for use in humanitarian aid and disease treatment/prevention.
Rather than using the money to improve his country, Mugabe kept most of it and gave the rest to his most loyal friends. While the rest of his country fought for a living wage or a meal at the end of the day, Mugabe recently spent 45 million dollars on a new retirement home in Hong Kong. He has declared himself ruler for life, and continues to petition for more money in foreign aid. In order to suppress criticism from opponents in his own country, Mugabe has brutally repressed all dissenters. In the general election of 2008, Mugabe's major opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, won up to fifty percent of Zimbabwe's parliamentary seats, and clearly more than Mugabe's party. Rather than cede the election, however, Mugabe had it declared the the results were inconclusive. This necessitated a second, run-off election. In anticipation of the second election, Mugabe used the military to begin harassing and terrorizing anyone who could cost him the election. Poll managers were arrested, campaign headquarters were raided, and supporters were generally abused. Reports of rape, beatings, and unlawful arrest were widespread. In the aftermath of this, Mugabe emerged and claimed himself to still be president, having won more than eighty percent of the vote.

In 1970, when the far-left Salvador Allende won the presidency of Chile, President Nixon vocalized concerns that Chile could become a "new Cuba." In order to keep this from happening, a two-track plan was quickly put into action. The first track was headed by the U.S. State Department and was intended to subvert the Chilean presidency (within the bounds of Chilean law) and create conditions that would encourage a coup. The second track , headed by the CIA, was designed to find and support military leaders that would execute the coup. Augusto Pinochet was one of these leaders. In 1973, the military staged a coup, during which president Allende was killed. Pinochet rose up as leader of the new government. While it is hotly contested whether or not the CIA gave material support to Pinochet before the coup, it is clear that they did after he had assumed power. Money, weapons, and training were delivered quickly and efficiently to this new, right wing, U.S.-friendly government. At least 10 million dollars annually was delivered from the U.S. Many of Pinochet's colleagues were even hired by the CIA as informants.
Immediately after coming to power, Pinochet banned all left-wing parties in Chile. It wasn't long after this that he banned all political parties except for his own. Then, after establishing complete control over the country, he began using his power to intimidate and steal from his own people. It is estimated that nearly thirty thousand political dissidents were tortured by the Pinochet regime. Over three thousand are thought have been killed, including Eugenio Berrios, a scientists whom Pinochet used to produce sarin gas, anthrax, and botulism for use against political opponents. Shortly before his death, Pinochet was faced with more than 30 charges of kidnapping, over twenty charges of torture, and one charge of murder. On top of all this, Pinochet was also discovered to have been stealing money from the United States since the beginning of his leadership. In the aftermath of 9/11, a U.S. money laundering investigation turned up a network of over one hundred bank accounts that Pinochet used to move millions of dollars. All in all, it is estimated that Pinochet pilfered approximately twenty seven million dollars. Add to that the 11 million dollars he was sued for in a tax-evasion case, and the amount of money Pinochet stole is staggering.