Executive

Waste of the Day: $293 Million of Afghanistan Aid May Have Funded Taliban

As much as $293 million of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan might have gone to the Taliban because it was not properly tracked.

Published

4 months ago

July 31, 2024

Adam Andrzejewski

In Afghanistan, a river flows through a high-walled valley

Topline: Two bureaus in the U.S. State Department failed to properly track $293 million of humanitarian aid delivered to Afghanistan, meaning the funds could have ended up supporting the Taliban terrorist group, according to a new federal audit.

How the Taliban got its hands on Afghanistan aid

Key facts: The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) could not prove that they performed required background checks on Afghani nonprofits before giving them federal funds.

That means there is an “increased risk” that U.S. taxpayer money went to groups who send cash to the Taliban or support its mission, according to the audit.

Over 1,000 new nonprofits have been registered in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over in August 2021, and U.S. officials say they’ve “heard rumors” that “many” of them have connections to the violent extremist group.

Auditors asked the two agencies to show documents demonstrating that they properly vetted the nonprofits who received U.S. aid. The INL only had documents for three of 22 required background checks, and the DRL could only show three of seven documents.

Either the agencies never performed the required “risk assessments” or they did not keep records of the assessments, which auditors said could violate the Federal Records Act.

It’s possible that even more than $293 million was improperly tracked. The audit only covers spending between March and November 2022.

Auditors said the three other State Department bureaus working in Afghanistan are following proper protocols.

This has come up before

Background: This is far from the first time auditors have raised concerns over the $17.9 billion the U.S. has sent to Afghanistan since 2021.

That includes the $2.6 billion that the United Nations had sent to humanitarian groups, which a March inspector general report found yields a profit for the Taliban when the U.S. currency gets exchanged for afghani currency.

One month later, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko testified to Congress that he could not guarantee that U.S. aid was not being diverted to terrorists.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.

Summary: If a federal agency cannot ensure that taxpayer money is not supporting terrorism, it should not be entrusted with the money in the first place.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by CEO & founder, Adam Andrzejewski, with Jeremy Portnoy. Learn more at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.

Adam Andrzejewski

CEO at OpenTheBooks.com | Website | + posts

Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.

Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.

The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.

Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.

Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.

Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.

Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.

In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.

Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).

Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.