A government watchdog said Wednesday that taxpayer dollars dedicated to Afghanistan may be wasted because the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development are not cooperating with oversight efforts ― offering the latest warning about the Biden administration’s controversial Afghan policy.
Aides to President Joe Biden at those government departments are stymying audits and not assisting with requests for information, the congressionally appointed special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko argued in his 2023 “High-Risk List” report to Capitol Hill and to the secretaries of state and defense.
“If this lack of cooperation continues, it will certainly create a greater risk of waste of U.S. taxpayer dollars,” the SIGAR document states.
The agency released the report as Sopko appeared at a House Oversight Committee hearing. “I have a job to do and I’m not able to do that job because of State and [USAID],” Sopko told lawmakers. In written testimony submitted for the hearing, Sopko argued: “Due to the refusal of State and USAID to fully cooperate with SIGAR, I cannot report to this committee or the American people on the extent to which our government may be funding the Taliban and other nefarious groups with U.S. taxpayer dollars.”
Legislators from both parties ― including Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the panel ― pledged to push the Biden administration to fully cooperate with SIGAR. They highlighted that other inspectors general from the State Department, Pentagon and USAID who testified at Wednesday’s hearing said they were not experiencing similar problems in obtaining relevant information.
Asked about SIGAR’s assessment at a press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “The administration has consistently provided updates and information.”
She cited documents, briefings and testimony that the Biden administration has already provided to Congress and inspectors general.
The back-and-forth came amid a series of hearings focused on the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal operation in August 2021. Biden withdrew U.S. troops from the country that month in accordance with a deal that former President Donald Trump signed with the Taliban, the militant group that recaptured Afghanistan as America ended its 20-year mission there.
Lawmakers from both parties have challenged the president’s approach, noting that it involved the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and hundreds of Afghans, and it left behind thousands of Afghans and about 1,000 Americans who were eligible for evacuation. Since Republicans took over the House of Representatives this year, they have sought to pressure the Biden administration on the matter.
Biden responded this month by publishing a 12-page memo defending his policy and sending Congress classified post-operation reviews from various government agencies that were involved. People involved in the mission ― including current officials and volunteer groups, including veterans organizations, that tried to help desperate Afghans ― told HuffPost the memo exaggerated how prepared Biden’s team was for the withdrawal and seemed like an effort to dodge accountability.
Since last year, the special inspector general has said the State Department and USAID are making it harder to independently and transparently analyze Biden’s choices.
“Historically, State and USAID officials have supported SIGAR’s mission and honored my office’s requests. … Inexplicably, this long track record of cooperation seems to have abruptly ended,” Sopko wrote in a June 22, 2022, letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power. “Agency officials now appear to have adopted a premeditated position of obstruction.”
Citing the two agencies’ refusal to provide information about preventing U.S. funding from reaching the Taliban and an associated militant faction, the Haqqani network, Sopko accused them of “unprecedented” and “illegal” behavior.
Attorneys for the State Department and USAID argued in letters in April and July of last year that the inspector general does not have oversight authority over the collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government, Biden’s preparation for the withdrawal or America’s role in resettling Afghans vulnerable to Taliban violence for their links to the U.S. ― referring to those issues as “matters that do not appear to relate to the reconstruction of Afghanistan” in the July 8, 2022, letter.
“Many of the requests for information from [the special inspector general] address topics that are currently the subject of oversight by other investigative bodies,” Biden administration lawyers Richard Visek and Margaret Taylor wrote in their April 25, 2022, letter. “De-duplicating these efforts … will guarantee that taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently and that each body’s investigative expertise is put to its best and highest use.”
But U.S. funds committed to Afghanistan reconstruction helped prop up ― and then failed to bolster ― the Afghan government and Biden’s team may have used such funding to prepare for the withdrawal.
And oversight bodies have their own procedures for avoiding repetitive work: at Wednesday’s hearing, the acting inspector general at the State Department, Diana Shaw, testified that her team “de-conflicts” with SIGAR and other watchdogs.
Additionally, the inspector general’s team has argued that it has particularly strong oversight capabilities after years of reporting on Afghanistan and that its purview extends to aid funding broadly.
The inspector general “has been reviewing, auditing, investigating and reporting on these and related issues for more than 12 years, including USAID humanitarian assistance (for example, food assistance programs) and support to Afghan refugees,” wrote John Arlington, the general counsel for the watchdog, in a May 8, 2022, letter to State and USAID. “There Is little to no substantive difference between assistance referred to as ‘reconstruction’ and assistance referred to as ‘development’ or ‘humanitarian.’”
“It is particularly disappointing to see the position taken in your letter in view of the President’s emphasis on cooperating with Inspectors General,” Arlington continued.
Biden and his top aides have often criticized his predecessor, Donald Trump, for undermining independent government watchdogs. “In my administration, the watchdogs are back,” the president said on April 29, 2022.
Republican legislators have often highlighted the special inspector general’s complaints about State and USAID’s actions under Biden. Democrats have echoed SIGAR’s concerns too ― but Wednesday’s hearing suggested that they will become more aggressive in demanding transparency.
“I regret ... hearing that the State Department, [Pentagon] and USAID have produced some documents, provided some written responses and participated in some meetings and have not given the full cooperation that is sought,” Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) said during the event, adding that he urges “all three of those agencies today to cooperate more so that we might not be in a position ... of frustration like I am right now.”
Mfume said he was particularly concerned with the possibility that the U.S. is indirectly funding the Taliban.
The U.S. is continuing to direct assistance to Afghanistan and to Afghans as the country struggles under the militant group’s repressive rule.
Since the troop withdrawal, American officials have far less visibility into where that aid goes, and international partner organizations who are delivering it are providing only limited information, SIGAR argued in its latest statements.
The State Department has specifically barred one of its partners from speaking with the watchdog, Sopko told legislators on Wednesday.
A USAID spokesperson argued in an email to HuffPost that the agency is carefully monitoring how its resources dedicated to Afghanistan are being used. “USAID works with implementing partners who have extensive experience working in challenging environments like Afghanistan where the U.S. government has no presence,” the spokesperson wrote. “We continually assess our activities to ensure both that our assistance is reaching those for which it is intended and that our partners have effective mitigation measures in place to help safeguard against diversion.”
Meanwhile, ongoing problems in the U.S. immigration processing system continue to make it extremely difficult for vulnerable Afghans ― including those who worked with the U.S. ― to seek safe haven, SIGAR reported in its High-Risk List.
“The U.S. promised to resettle its allies in safety, but the United States is failing,” the document reads. “Many are in hiding in Afghanistan, trying to escape Taliban retaliation. Others have already been arrested or killed. ... Multiple SIGAR whistleblowers received arrest warrants for the ‘crime’ of undermining the Taliban during the previous [U.S.-backed] government. Leaving Afghan partners behind risks causing allies around the world to question U.S. credibility.”
CORRECTION: This story previously stated that SIGAR releases an annual high-risk list. It releases that list every other year.