Did US Authorities Mistakenly Switch $239M to Taliban?

A web based rumor circulating in the summertime of 2024 claimed a watchdog report stated that the U.S. Division of State, below the management of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, mistakenly despatched $239 million to the Taliban — Afghanistan’s political and non secular ruling faction infamous for its oppression of women.

For instance, on July 30, 2024, JudicialWatch.org reported the rumor as truth, writing, “Taliban Will get $239 Mil in U.S. Afghanistan Support after State Dept. Fails to Vet Awardees.” Comparable headlines have been revealed by YourNews.com, JustTheNews.com, TheMaineWire.com, TheNationalPulse.com and TheRightBriefing.com.

Additionally, an Aug. 27 post (archived) selling the rumor on the X account BRICS Information (@BRICSinfo) obtained over 13.5 million views. The publish learn, “United States authorities mistakenly transferred $239,000,000 to the Taliban.”

In brief, we discovered a few of these articles and posts misrepresented the watchdog group’s report by stating the report stated the Taliban obtained the U.S. funds. The truth is that the report solely talked about a threat that this occurred, seeing because the group was not capable of assessment enough proof to make a agency willpower.

To assessment this matter, we completely studied the in-question July 2024 report revealed by the Workplace of the Particular Inspector Basic for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). Congress established SIGAR in 2008 to conduct oversight of reconstruction within the war-torn nation.

Abstract and Division of State Assertion

The greenback determine a few of the aforementioned articles apparently meant to quote was not $239 million however somewhat at the very least $293 million. Extra importantly, the report didn’t say that SIGAR officers confirmed the Taliban obtained U.S. funds from the awarded transfers. As an alternative, SIGAR revealed they have been unable to assessment “enough documentation” to substantiate two Division of State bureaus complied with “vetting necessities.”

In a letter included within the report addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, SIGAR really helpful “speedy motion” to make sure compliance with “companion vetting and award doc retention necessities to allow policymakers and different oversight authorities to raised scrutinize the dangers posed by State’s spending.”

By e-mail, a Division of State spokesperson instructed Snopes, “The US doesn’t present overseas help to or by means of the Taliban. Any experiences suggesting in any other case are inaccurate and incomplete and have been instantly refuted by the Particular Inspector Basic for Afghanistan Reconstruction.”

The spokesperson continued, “SIGAR has offered no proof of Division funding being diverted to the Taliban. What SIGAR did conclude was that almost all of the State Division’s Afghanistan-related awards absolutely adjust to companion vetting necessities.”

The assertion pointed to an Aug. 5 post on X from the official SIGAR account, saying latest information tales “misrepresented details.” The second post within the thread added that whereas “there’s an elevated threat terrorist and terrorist-affiliated people and entities might have illegally benefited,” the actual fact was “SIGAR didn’t report that the Taliban obtained $239 million in U.S. assist.”

Particulars Concerning the Two Division of State Bureaus’ Funds

SIGAR’s July 2024 report particularly appeared on the interval between March 1 and Nov. 30, 2022. That point interval got here months following the U.S. navy’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, wherein 13 American service members and 60 Afghans have been killed throughout the August 2021 Kabul airport assault. The Islamic State group claimed duty for the killings. (A footnote on web page 12 of the report supplied some particulars as to why SIGAR studied this particular time frame in 2022.)

SIGAR talked about points with two Division of State bureaus. First, relating to the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), SIGAR revealed, “DRL supplied us with data on seven awards totaling about $12 million in obligations as of November 30, 2022.” The report particularly mentioned a lack of “enough documentation to display it complied with State companion vetting necessities” — a set of requirements involving assessing threat and evaluating whether or not people concerned within the technique of awarding funds have ties to terrorism.

The second in-question bureau was the Bureau of Worldwide Narcotics and Regulation Enforcement Affairs (INL). The SIGAR report talked about the bureau’s “$295 million in obligations and about $294 million in disbursals.” It additionally said, “INL didn’t present any supporting documentation for 19 of its 22 awards, which might have enabled us to find out if it complied with State companion vetting necessities,” and, “We concluded that INL didn’t adjust to related doc retention necessities as a result of these paperwork have been lacking from its award recordsdata.”

Particularly for INL, the report stated, “INL confirmed it couldn’t present the required documentation as a result of the bureau didn’t retain it. INL instructed us it tried to adjust to doc retention necessities; nonetheless, worker turnover and the dissolution of its Afghanistan-Pakistan workplace prevented it from doing so.”

In maybe the important thing line in your complete report, SIGAR said, much like its Aug. 5 publish on X, “As a result of DRL and INL couldn’t display their compliance with State’s companion vetting necessities, there’s an elevated threat that terrorist and terrorist affiliated people and entities might have illegally benefited from State spending in Afghanistan.”

The Division of State spokesperson addressed this a part of the report within the emailed assertion to Snopes. “SIGAR’s report said there was an ‘elevated threat’ that the Taliban might have benefitted from these funds however SIGAR didn’t discover that any diversion really occurred,” the spokesperson appropriately stated. The spokesperson additionally added, referencing some on-line articles and posts mentioning both $239 million or $293 million, “The $293M quantity referenced seems to check with the whole funding for all of INL’s 22 awards assessed on this audit.”

Taliban Efforts Involving NGOs

The July 2024 report follows comparable developments from 2023, wherein The Associated Press revealed an article a few earlier SIGAR report. That report stated SIGAR discovered the Taliban benefited from U.S. training funding by means of the institution of fraudulent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) “to obtain donor help, and by infiltrating and extorting current Afghan NGOs delivering academic help.”

The 2023 report added, “For instance, an NGO official instructed us the Taliban are concentrating on and extorting Afghans who obtain financial assist from U.S.-funded education schemes below the guise of taxation. In one other instance, NGO officers instructed SIGAR that the Taliban are coercing NGOs to rent Taliban supporters or buy items from Taliban-owned firms.” Within the very subsequent line, the report referenced “threat mitigation processes,” “companion vetting necessities” and an ongoing audit — an obvious reference to the longer term launch of the July 2024 report. 

SIGAR’s July 2024 report typically famous the Taliban’s purported efforts to obtain U.S. funds as follows:

Since its takeover in August 2021, the Taliban have sought to acquire U.S. funds meant to profit the Afghan folks by means of a number of means, together with the institution of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). State officers instructed SIGAR in September 2023 that they weren’t conscious of any situations wherein potential implementing companions have been recognized as newly created Taliban-affiliated organizations.

Nevertheless, in that very same month, U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) officers instructed SIGAR that USAID had “heard experiences that over 1,000 new nationwide NGOs have registered with the so-called [Ministry of Economy], and there are rumors that many of those newly registered NGOs might have Taliban affiliations.”

The chance of Taliban-based NGOs, or different organizations that might funnel cash to terrorist teams, benefiting from U.S. taxpayer funds underscores the significance of State complying with its personal vetting and doc retention necessities.

In response to The Media Line, a spokesperson for the Taliban denied the claims of the group embezzling U.S. funds.

In brief, the 2024 watchdog report didn’t say the U.S. Division of State mistakenly despatched thousands and thousands of {dollars} to the Taliban in Afghanistan. The report stated the watchdog group concluded it was not capable of assessment enough proof to make confirmations that will align with its vetting necessities, that means there was an “elevated threat” the funds might presumably land in terrorists’ fingers.

Sources