Two State Department bureaus failed to comply with internal policies for vetting aid groups in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan that received $293 million in funds, potentially allowing extremists to benefit, according to a U.S. watchdog report released on Wednesday.
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) emphasized the importance of ensuring that aid is not diverted to the Taliban or other sanctioned entities. “It is critical that State knows who is actually benefiting from this assistance,” the report stated.
The report revealed that the Taliban has sought to acquire U.S. aid funds through various means, including establishing humanitarian organizations. This highlights the need for the State Department to “fully and consistently assess the risks posed by its implementing partners.”
SIGAR found that while three of the five State Department bureaus were in compliance with regulations requiring vetting of aid recipients, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs could not provide sufficient documentation to prove their adherence.
“State could not demonstrate compliance with its partner vetting requirements on awards that disbursed at least $293 million in Afghanistan,” the report noted. This lack of documentation increases the risk that terrorists and terrorist-affiliated entities may have illegally benefited.
State Department officials acknowledged the non-compliance, citing issues such as employee turnover and the dissolution of the Afghanistan-Pakistan office as reasons for the lack of documentation retention. The department agreed with the report’s conclusions and committed to “work to ensure compliance” with vetting requirements.
The United States remains the largest aid donor to Afghanistan, nearly three years after the Taliban seized Kabul as the last U.S. troops withdrew following 20 years of war. Since the U.S. withdrawal on August 30, 2021, Washington has provided more than $17.9 billion in assistance to Afghanistan.
