Top related persons:
Top related locs:
Top related orgs:

Search resuls for: "SIGAR"


4 mentions found


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The watchdog for U.S. assistance to Afghanistan has warned that the Taliban are benefiting from international aid through the establishment of fraudulent nongovernmental organizations. The Taliban have exerted greater control over national and international NGOs since seizing power in August 2021. They have barred Afghan women from NGO work and sought to push out foreign organizations from the education sector. In May, a SIGAR report highlighted the Taliban’s interference with NGO work in Afghanistan. In another example, NGO officials told the watchdog that the Taliban coerce NGOs into hiring supporters or purchase goods from Taliban-owned companies.
Persons: weren't, SIGAR Organizations: U.S Locations: KABUL, Afghanistan, U.S, American
“We used to brief on a regular basis,” Mr. Sopko said of his prior engagements with the State Department, U.S.A.I.D. and the Pentagon, as he lamented a lack of access of records on what he said was over $8 billion in U.S. aid that had been provided to Afghanistan since the evacuation. “Since SIGAR’s inception, U.S.A.I.D. “We are frequently and regularly working with SIGAR on their requests.”A State Department spokesman said that U.S. reconstruction activities in Afghanistan — the centerpiece of Mr. Sopko’s jurisdiction — ceased after the Taliban took over the government in August 2021. The hearing had been billed as a venue to scrutinize the Biden administration’s actions during the withdrawal, a focus that the panel’s top Democrat, Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, criticized as “absurdly narrow.”
A new watchdog report details how Afghanistan's security forces collapsed in August 2021. It said the US handled tasks that it was supposed to be training Afghan troops how to do. Washington lacked the political will and effort to actually develop an Afghan security force in a "war-torn and impoverished country," which is a monumental task. Additionally, the report placed blame on the Afghan government, which it said was riddled with corruption that trickled down into the military. "However, nothing affected morale more than the realization in February 2021 that US military forces were leaving."
The office of Ashraf Ghani, the US-backed Afghan president, had been informed about the problem, insiders say. The smuggling flouted Afghan laws requiring travelers to declare cash or gold worth $10,000 or more and a strict ban on exporting $20,000 or more. The documents identify the two men as being part of the 2021 smuggling ring; they do not allege who was behind the $824 million smuggled in 2019 and 2020. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani meets with President Joe Biden in June 2021. The UAE is also the home of Ghani and Noor, the former provincial governor with alleged ties to the Hairatan smuggling ring.
Total: 4