Taliban Pocketing $2.5 Billion in US Taxpayer Humanitarian Aid: Inspector General

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Congress-appointed auditor tells panel he’s ‘not getting cooperation’ from Biden administration in tracking how billions for Afghan assistance is being spent.

Since the United Statesโ€™ abrupt August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistanโ€”a chaotic departure scarred by suicide bombings that killed 180 people, including 13 American service membersโ€”the nationโ€™s taxpayers have funneled $2.5 billion in humanitarian assistance for the impoverished country to international nonprofits.

No one knows how that money is being spent except, likely, the leaders of Afghanistanโ€™s ruling Taliban.

And, apparently, thatโ€™s acceptable with the Biden administration and its State Department, which has resisted efforts by an Inspector General cadre in 2008 to track Afghan economic assistance allocations.

โ€œThe State Department has basically obfuscated, delayed reports โ€ฆ ordered their employees not to talk to us,โ€ Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Nov. 14.

โ€œWeโ€™ve gone out of our way to work with them but we’re still not getting cooperation,โ€ he added, noting Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West has ignored โ€œcountless entreaties to meetโ€ to โ€œshare information, learn what’s going on, and what their issues are so we can try to help them.โ€

The House panel hearing preceded a later Afghanistan-related discussion before the House Foreign Affairs Oversight & Accountability Subcommittee that retraced decisions by the Trump and Biden administrations leading to the Aug. 26, 2021 calamity that ended Americaโ€™s near-20 year Afghan war. The hearings spanned nearly six hours.

Mr. Sopko, who has led SIGAR since its inception, said, โ€œWe do not know, periodโ€ how humanitarian assistance is being used but evidence from multiple sources, including USAID, indicates โ€œthe Taliban is diverting or otherwise benefitingโ€ while intended beneficiaries are not.

โ€œMany would like to believe we are aiding Afghan people while successfully bypassing the Taliban. This can be viewed as a useful fiction, as it ignores the fact that itโ€™s impossible to entirely bypass the Taliban regime,โ€ he said.

Because the United States does not recognize the Taliban-led Afghan government, it allocates humanitarian aid through international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and United Nations agencies.

Byย John Haughey

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