US taxpayers money pouring into Afghanistan without accountability

The US has donated more than $1 billion to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in August last year but has failed to account for how the money was spent, a government watchdog has reported. Successive US administrations spent more than $2 trillion during the 20-year war in Afghanistan and used to provide expenditure details to the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (Sigar) which reports to Congress. However, since the Taliban takeover following the decision by President Biden to withdraw all US troops in an accelerated and controversial evacuation programme, the watchdog has struggled to fulfil its oversight obligations. John Sopko, the inspector general, said it was the first time cooperation by government departments and agencies had been withdrawn. The state department, treasury and USAID, the principal international development aid agency, had refused to give updated information on programmes being supported by the US in Afghanistan, totalling $1.1 billion. Under US legislation the state department and USAID are forbidden to provide any funds to the Taliban. Before the Taliban’s return to power, the US had given more than $17 billion directly to the Afghan government. According to Sigar, up to $1 million in cash “was taken from the grounds of the presidential palace and loaded onto helicopters” as the Taliban approached Kabul. While no evidence is provided in the latest Sigar report that the Taliban has benefited from continuing US donations, the refusal by the relevant agencies to supply precise details of funded projects is likely to lead to questions in Congress. In previous years when US troops were present in Afghanistan, Sigar staff were able to travel to the country to monitor reconstruction projects. But since August last year, no Sigar investigators have been to Afghanistan. Sigar estimates the US spent $146.55 billion on reconstruction and related activities in Afghanistan from shortly after the US-led invasion on October 7, 2001 through to September 20, 2022. The Pentagon reported last year it had spent $849.7 billion on the war. However, the Watson Institute at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island estimated the total cost of the war for US taxpayers in Afghanistan was $2.313 trillion, including $1 trillion for warfighting, £233 billion on care for Afghan war veterans to date and $532 billion interest on borrowing to fund the military operation. The majority of Americans (69 per cent) agreed the US had mostly failed in achieving its goals in Afghanistan, according to a Pew Research Centre poll conducted in late August last year.