Two U.S. State Department bureaus failed to prove they followed vetting rules for aid groups in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, aSpecial Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reports. This concerns $293mn in aid, leading to worries that extremists may have benefited.
The SIGAR report noted that the Taliban tried to access U.S. aid funds by setting up fake humanitarian groups. This shows the need for the State Department to carefully and consistently check the risks of its aid partners.
"It is critical that the 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," the report stated.
SIGAR found that while three of its five bureaus followed aid vetting rules, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs couldn’t provide enough proof of compliance.
The report noted, "State could not demonstrate compliance with its partner vetting requirements on awards that disbursed at least $293mn in Afghanistan," increasing the risk that terrorists and affiliated entities may have improperly benefitted.
In response, the State Department agreed with the report's conclusions and committed to ensuring compliance with vetting requirements. Despite the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops in August 2021, the U.S. remains the largest aid donor to Afghanistan, providing over $17.9bn in assistance since then.
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