A new report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that there is an “increased risk” that at least $293 million in aid given to Afghanistan by the State Department could be intercepted by the Taliban.
SIGAR’s report noted that two State Department sub-agencies, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), did not provide complete information to SIGAR.
As a result of the incomplete documents, SIGAR could not determine if the sub-agencies complied with counter-terrorism requirements.
According to the report, these sub-agencies “could not demonstrate their compliance with partner vetting requirements because they were unable to provide supporting documentation for many of their respective awards. Collectively, State could not demonstrate their compliance with its partner vetting requirements on awards that disbursed at least $293 million in Afghanistan.”
The documents could not be obtained due to “employee turnover” and the “dissolution of its Afghanistan-Pakistan office.”
The Taliban has sought to intercept U.S. aid through the establishment of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the report explains. “The risk of Taliban-founded NGOs, or other organizations that could funnel money to terrorist groups, benefiting from U.S. taxpayer funds underscores the importance of State complying with its own vetting and document retention requirements,” it states.
SIGAR offered one recommendation to the State Department: “Take immediate action to ensure that State bureaus comply with federal and FAM partner vetting and award document retention requirements to enable policymakers and other oversight authorities to better scrutinize the risks posed by State’s spending.”
“As State continues to spend U.S. 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 State’s spending,” the report concluded.
SIGAR found in a previous report that nearly $11 million taxpayer dollars went to the Taliban.
The $10.9 million number is “likely only a fraction of the total amount of U.S. assistance funds provided to the Taliban in taxes, fees, duties, and utilities because UN agencies receiving U.S. funds did not collect data or provide relevant information about their subawardees’ payments,” SIGAR wrote.
