According to a recent study, the Biden administration has paid the Taliban-run Afghanistan more than $2.3 billion since its haphazard departure from the nation two years ago.
According to a report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction that was published a week ago, money has kept coming in ever since the American military left Kabul, leaving 13 American service people dead and billions of dollars worth of equipment behind.
In a report dated July 30, SIGAR revealed its findings and highlighted that since late 2021, a sizable sum of taxpayer money has been given to the nation.
Numerous relief organizations received the monies, which were earmarked and distributed to them for the nation’s restoration.
“The U.S. government has appropriated more than $2.35 billion in [fiscal year] 2022 and [fiscal year] 2023 funding for Afghanistan reconstruction programming since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021,” the report stated.
In addition to the billions already granted to the nation, extra money is available for new initiatives, according to SIGAR’s findings.
According to the report, of the six active rehabilitation funds, “about $1.70 billion remained for possible disbursement.”
“This amount includes $580 million obligated but unspent on 86 active projects, $557 million in funds available for obligation or subobligation on future projects, and $545 million obligated but unspent on inactive, suspended, or terminated contracts,” the report said.
The funds are meant for non-governmental organizations, but it is widely thought that the Taliban have misappropriated a large portion of the funds.
The head of SIGAR, John Sopko, voiced concerns in April to Congressmen about the Taliban’s use of American taxpayer money.
Sopko issued a warning in last week’s report about the Taliban’s “diversion” of cash for initiatives aimed at assisting civilians.
Sopko wrote it is “no longer a question of whether the Taliban are diverting assistance from our programs to help the Afghan people, but rather how much they are diverting.”
According to the research, the nation is receiving funding even as women are subjected to “gender apartheid” there.
SIGAR warned the Taliban are not only oppressing women but are also accused of “crimes against humanity including corporal punishments and extrajudicial killings.”
The report was released just a few weeks before the two-year mark since the Pentagon withdrew its troops, causing the Afghan government to completely collapse as the Taliban seized the nation.
According to Forbes, the Defense Department departed the nation in such a rush that $7 billion worth of American military hardware was left behind.
According to SIGAR, the United States has spent $147.06 billion in public money in Afghanistan since 2002.
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