In Seeking Reengagement, Report Reminds State Department That Taliban Grifted Billions

The State Department in December revised its policy to now seek “meaningful dialogue” with the Taliban, 30 months after its calamitous withdrawal cost 13 U.S. service members, and hundreds of Afghans, their lives in an ignoble end to America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan. The Biden administration is doing so despite knowing there’s no such thing as “meaningful dialogue” with the Taliban, State Department officials tell investigators with Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko’s office in a 154-page booklet-type report released Feb. 1. The report maintains the State Department hopes to “eventually work on contingency planning, resource dedication, and facility identification for a possible consular return to Kabul … when circumstances and policy permit,” a signal it will soon request spending increases to gild a broadened path....