According to the inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, John Sopko, American taxpayers have allegedly provided $2.5 billion in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan without the U.S. government knowing where that money is going.
Sopko reportedly told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that cooperation from the Biden administration and its State Department has been minimal.
“The State Department has basically obfuscated, delayed reports … ordered their employees not to talk to us,” Sopko said. “We’ve gone out of our way to work with them but we’re still not getting cooperation.”
Sopko said that while he doesn’t know how the aid is being used, information from multiple sources has indicated that the “Taliban is diverting or otherwise benefiting” from the aid.
“Many 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 it’s impossible to entirely bypass the Taliban regime,” Sopko continued.
He also claimed that the Taliban “pressures the U.N. and other NGOs to issue contracts to Taliban-affiliated companies, to partner with Taliban-affiliated NGOs, and to not partner with other NGOs.”
“There are no good answers,” the Inspector General Sopko said. “There are no good alternatives when providing humanitarian assistance in an environment like Afghanistan, only trade-offs.”
From The Blaze:
The Taliban was recently pictured celebrating the second anniversary of the United States' botched withdrawal in 2021 with crowds lining the streets and militants on vehicles showing off guns and flags. Additionally, Taliban soldiers were shown in November 2023 videos patrolling the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan, on rollerblades. Soldiers were riding alongside Ford pickup trucks converted into what are typically referred to as a technical, or a non-standard tactical vehicle.
