Inspector General Says He Can’t Guarantee Taxpayers Aren’t Funding Taliban, Blames Biden Admin

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Inspector General John Sopko said in a testimony on Wednesday that he could not guarantee that U.S. tax dollars were not being used to fund the Taliban.

Sopko accused the Biden administration of a lack of oversight when it came to the distribution of aid in Afghanistan.

Sopko stated that “there are still major issues with our assistance to Afghanistan, and this committee should be aware of them.” The United States has allocated $2 billion to Afghanistan assistance since withdrawal, and an additional $3.5 billion could be available via this newly established Afghan fund in Switzerland. Although I, and we, all agree that Afghanistan is in a dire economic and humanitarian situation, it’s critical to not let the Taliban divert our assistance.

“Unfortunately, while I am sitting here, I can’t assure the committee or the American taxpayer that we don’t currently fund the Taliban. “I cannot assure you either that the Taliban is not diverting our money from the intended beneficiaries, the poor Afghans,” he added. “We are at serious risk because the Taliban interfere with UN and U.S. aid and there is a lack aggressive oversight control on trust funds and multilateral organisations.”

Sopko also criticised the administration for its “unprecedented”, lack of cooperation when investigators were looking into the whereabouts of aid money.