Afghanistan Inspector General Warns U.S. May Be Funding Taliban | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Daniel Chaitin.

    A government watchdog told Congress on Wednesday the Taliban may be stealing money from the billions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers meant to help the people of Afghanistan.

    Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko issued the warning during a hearing before the House Oversight Committee alongside other inspectors general.

    "Unfortunately, as I sit here today, I cannot assure this committee or the American taxpayer we are not currently funding the Taliban," Sopko said in his opening remarks.

    "Nor can I assure you that the Taliban are not diverting the money we are sending from the intended recipients, which are the poor Afghan people," he added.

    The focus of the hearing, as described by the GOP-led panel, was the Biden administration's "disastrous" withdrawal in 2021 when 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghan civilians were killed in a blast outside the airport during the evacuation.

    After 20 years of war, the Taliban quickly toppled the U.S.-backed Afghan government and regained control of the country. Billions of dollars in military equipment, which the U.S. sent to Afghan security forces that were fighting the Taliban, were left behind. The Taliban recently released photos showing hundreds of U.S. military vehicles it claims to have commandeered.

    In written testimony for the hearing, Sopko announced his team planned to release a 2023 High Risk List report on Tuesday that outlines "five serious risks to the more than $8 billion the United States has provided or otherwise made available to the Afghan people since the U.S. withdrawal."

    The testimony outlines several ways the Taliban may be diverting funds intended for the Afghan people to itself, including imposing customs charges on shipments coming into the country, charging taxes and fees directly on NGOs, and diverting funds away from groups "the Taliban considers hostile and toward groups they favor."

    In addition to criticizing opacity from the United Nations, Sopko accused the State Department and United States Agency for International Development of refusing to cooperate with audits and other inquiries, which he says is hampering SIGAR's ability to oversee funds spent on Afghanistan.

    "In sum, due to the refusal of State and USAID to fully cooperate with SIGAR, I cannot report to this Committee or the American people on the extent to which our government may be funding the Taliban and other nefarious groups with U.S. taxpayer dollars," he wrote.

poll#145

After one full year of the Biden /Harris Administration: Does Joe Biden have the intellectual capacity, and, or the energy to lead the United States of America through the mess that he predominately created ... in just one year?

  Yes

  No

  Unsure

1,222 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?

poll#169

Considering how abjectly corrupt and civilly abusive the Left has become regarding the corrosive effect of their elected leaders; their entrenched and ruling bureaucracy; employing their failed Education Industry as Indoctrinators; their collusive private sector operators, such as the terminally discredited Legacy Media and Big Tech censorship of Free Speech: What will be the best course forward for hardworking Middle Americans, including the Patriot Class?

  Withdraw from society, go underground and plan for a resurgence when it is feasible to do so.

  Work within the confines of better policy by the People's government, once good sense and sanity is restored in the electorate at large, to achieve such.

  Are you a crazy, nut-job Insurrectionist? Everything is perfect within our plan to achieve our intended goals for the Socialist Left.

  Secession to form a true Constitutional Republic.

439 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?

poll#178

Considering the current overwhelming obstacles inflicting stress upon America's working class: rampant inflation; energy insecurity; supply chain turmoil; banking failures; foreign policy disasters; government corruption; (DEI) Diversity Equity Inclusion narrative, with WOKE extremes practiced; Climate Change ideology; intractable crime wave in Leftist cities; wide open border by executive design; a permanently discredited Legacy Media; failed or failing education industry, just to name a few of the many: Who should Americans blame?

  Donald J. Trump

  Joseph R. Biden

  Leftist controlled Congress for the last 4 years.

  Bloated, incompetent bureaucracy weaponized and poorly managed

  The electorate, US, for putting these fools in elected office that utterly fail

294 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?