Afghanistan Inspector General Warns U.S. May Be Funding Taliban
Daily WireNov 26, 2022
US Watchdog ‘Cannot Assure’ Afghanistan Aid Not Going to Taliban
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Image copyright: AP [via NBC News]
The Facts
John Sopko, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), told the House Oversight Committee presiding over the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan on Wednesday that US aid to the country may, at least partially, be funding the Taliban.
Sopko also criticized the Dept. of State for "obfuscation and delay" regarding access to information in probing the more than $8B in US funding made available to the Afghan people since the 2021 withdrawal, which is supposed to bypass the Taliban.
The Spin
Republican narrative
The evidence continues to mount that the Biden admin.'s rushed and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan directly led to the fall of Kabul and the Taliban returning to power. There's no excuse for the unjust suffering the Afghan people have endured since then, all because Biden wanted to score some cheap political points, and now it seems he is indirectly supporting the Taliban. This admin. must be held accountable for its continued foreign policy failures.
Democratic narrative
The US' disastrous invasion and occupation of Afghanistan under George W. Bush and hasty Trump-era policies, not Biden's withdrawal, are to blame for the fall of Kabul and the current humanitarian crisis. The fact that Afghan security forces crashed immediately following the US withdrawal indicates that the security situation was simply unsustainable, and the collapse was inevitable. There are, of course, valid criticisms of the withdrawal, but most have been unnecessary partisan attacks against Biden.
