Exclusive-U.N. proposing paying nearly $6 million to Taliban for security -document, source

FILE PHOTO: A Taliban fighter guards a street in Kabul, Afghanistan November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ali Khara/

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United Nations is proposing to pay nearly $6 million for protection in Afghanistan to Taliban-run Interior Ministry personnel, whose chief is under U.N. and U.S. sanctions and wanted by the FBI, according to a U.N. document and a source familiar with the matter.

The proposed funds would be paid next year mostly to subsidize the monthly wages of Taliban fighters guarding U.N. facilities and to provide them a monthly food allowance under an expansion of an accord with the former U.S.-backed Afghan government, the document reviewed by Reuters shows.