Taliban Pocketing $2.5 Billion in US Taxpayer Humanitarian Aid: Inspector General

Since the United States’ abrupt August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan—a chaotic departure scarred by suicide bombings that killed 180 people, including 13 American service members—the nation’s taxpayers have funneled $2.5 billion in humanitarian assistance for the impoverished country to international nonprofits. No one knows how that money is being spent except, likely, the leaders of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban. And, apparently, that’s acceptable with the Biden administration and its State Department, which has resisted efforts by an Inspector General cadre in 2008 to track Afghan economic assistance allocations. “The State Department has basically obfuscated, delayed reports … ordered their employees not to talk to us,” Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Nov. 14....