IG: Biden’s $1B boondoggle to the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan unaccounted for

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The U.S. government gave $1.1 billion in U.S. tax dollars to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in humanitarian aid since the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021 — and a top federal watchdog says several U.S. agencies are refusing to explain how the money was spent.

The U.S. government remains Afghanistan’s single largest donor more than one year after the Taliban takeover of the country and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says for the first time in history — they don’t have the answers.

In SIGAR’s quarterly report to Congress the Inspector General explains that they are unable to track down how more than $1 billion taxpayer dollars was spent because multiple government agencies are refusing to cooperate.

Inspector General John F. Sopko says, “SIGAR, for the first time in its history, is unable this quarter to provide Congress and the American people with a full accounting of this U.S. government spending due to the noncooperation of several U.S. government agencies.” Sopko adds that both United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which administers the majority of U.S. government spending for Afghanistan, and the Treasury Department “refused to cooperate with SIGAR in any capacity.”

The Inspector General says the State Department was “selective” about what information it provided and failed to provide details of the agency-supported programs that the billion dollars in taxpayer money funded.

© Reuters/Joe Skipper U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida speaks at the Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) Student Action Summit (SAS) in Tampa, Fla., U.S., July 23, 2022. Reuters/Joe Skipper

AFGHANS RESETTLING IN US STRUGGLE TO FIND AFFORDABLE HOUSING

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FOX Business exclusively obtained letters from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and US AID Administrator Samantha Power — demanding accountability over $1.1 billion in taxpayer money that has been funneled to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan since the U.S. military’s exit.

Gaetz wrote in his letters: “I found it even more shocking, and maddening, that much of these illicit fund transfers are unaccounted for because your Department withheld information in violation of federal law.”

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A spokesperson with USAID says they have been cooperating with the inspector general and have provided hundreds of pages of documents and dozens of evaluations responding to requests for information. 

A Treasury spokesperson tells FOX Business, “Treasury has complied with all legal requirements and shared information with SIGAR.”

The White House and State Department did not respond to FOX Business prior to publication. A state department spokesperson told Bloomberg that they have answered dozens of questions and provided thousands of pages of documents to SIGAR — and points out that the inspector general’s mandate does not cover humanitarian aid — only funds spent on Afghanistan’s reconstruction which the US ended with the Taliban takeover. 

© Reuters/Ali Khara Afghan girls hold flags of the Islamic Emirate while participating in the first anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, on a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 31, 2022. Reuters/Ali Khara

Gaetz told FOX Business that SIGAR’s bombshell report is a “searing” indictment of the Biden administration’s lack of transparency compared to prior administrations.

“57 times when SIGAR has issued their quarterly report they have declined to level this type of an indictment against [the] Trump Administration, the Obama Administration, or the Bush Administration … the unwillingness to participate in transparency is the highest with the Biden government after the Biden government left the Taliban a military and now insists on unreviewed transfers of aid that has already exceed a billion dollars.”

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Republicans say this will be a top issue if they take control of the House following Tuesday’s midterm election and have subpoena power, “We are entering the era of investigations and oversight and in the upcoming Republicans Congress we’re going to have an ability to haul in administrative officials and get answers.

“This is going to be near the top of my list on the Armed Services Committee,” Gaetz said.