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The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has reported that two US State Department bureaus failed to prove compliance with vetting policies for aid groups in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, potentially allowing extremists to benefit from $293 million in funds.
Digging Deeper:
While three other bureaus met the compliance standards, the “Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor” and the “Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs” fell short. According to the Inspector General, State Department Officials told SIGAR that the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs “did not retain” any “documentation because of employee turnover and the dissolution of its Afghanistan-Pakistan office.”
In a report issued by SIGAR, they wrote, “As the Department of State continues to spend US taxpayer funds on programs intended to benefit the Afghan people, it is critical that State knows who is actually benefitting from this assistance in order to prevent the aid from being diverted to the Taliban or other sanctioned parties, and to enable policymakers and other oversight authorities to better scrutinize the risks posed by the State Departments spending.”
SIGAR added, “Since its takeover in August 2021, the Taliban have sought to obtain U.S. funds intended to benefit the Afghan people through several means, including the establishment of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). State officials told SIGAR in September 2023 that they were not aware of any instances in which potential implementing partners were identified as newly created Taliban-affiliated organizations. However, in that same month, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) officials told SIGAR that USAID had “heard reports that over 1,000 new national NGOs have registered with the so-called [Ministry of Economy], and there are rumors that many of these newly registered NGOs may have Taliban affiliations.”
The report called for the need for stringent risk assessment of aid recipients to prevent the diversion of funds to the Taliban.
The State Department agreed with the findings and committed to improving compliance with vetting requirements.