Biden has been blasted for his botched Afghanistan withdrawal —and now it sounds like we’re arming our enemies.
John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction, is accusing the Biden Administration of blocking his ability to track funds sent to Afghanistan —and warns the Taliban may be intercepting the aid.
From The New York Times:
The top inspector general for Afghanistan accused the Biden administration on Wednesday of stonewalling his efforts to procure records about assistance to the country since the U.S. military evacuation, warning that American taxpayer dollars were probably ending up in the hands of the Taliban.
“I cannot assure this committee or the American taxpayer we are not currently funding the Taliban,” John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction, or SIGAR, said at a House Oversight Committee hearing. “Nor can I assure you the Taliban are not diverting the money we are sending from the intended recipients.”
He ticked off ways in which Taliban fighters were “siphoning off” goods and funds entering Afghanistan, such as by diverting food assistance and by forcing groups to pay fees to operate in the country.
Mr. Sopko blamed weak oversight practices within the international organizations handling Afghan assistance, and what he called the “abject refusal” of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to allow oversight.
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst shared the story on Twitter, saying “We have gone from waging war on the Taliban to arming and subsidizing the terrorist group under the Biden administration.”
We have gone from waging war on the Taliban to arming and subsidizing the terrorist group under the Biden administration. https://t.co/GYwhStSY37
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) April 21, 2023