US State Department Accidently Transferred $239 Million To Afghanistan Since 2021 (image@Britannica.com)
Reportedly, the US State Department has likely given at least $239 million to the Taliban. The transaction is the first since President Joe Biden ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021. According to reports from US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), two of the State Department bureaus, which were sending money to Afghan non-profits in 2022, failed to properly vet the receivers of the money.
This means that the money could be landed in the hands of unknown actors in the middle of directly to the Taliban, or Taliban-aligned groups.
“In total, State could not demonstrate compliance with its partner vetting requirements on awards that disbursed at least $293 million in Afghanistan. State officials acknowledged that not all bureaus complied with document retention requirements,” read the SIGAR report.
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As per the report, through the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), was blindly funding the local entities to implement development projects indented to aid in achieving the foreign policy of Washington, and national security goals in Kabul.
The reported amount does not account to the estimated $7 billion worth of military equipment, such as Humvees and Black Hawk helicopters, that the U.S. military left behind while hastily leaving the country.
During the hasty retreat of the US troops from Afghanistan, 13 US soldiers and over 170 Afghan civilians were killed, when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at the entrance of Karzai International Airport.
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Joe Biden was heavily criticised by several veterans of the Afghanistan war for failing to properly ensure allies in the country who assisted in anti-Taliban efforts were evacuated and given legal asylum in US. For being the known US translators or sympathisers, they became high priority targets of the Taliban squad that reigned the country after US retreat.
