House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) released a statement on Tuesday marking the two-year anniversary of the Taliban takeover and blasting the lack of accountability from the Biden administration.
“This catastrophe was the result of one terrible decision after another by President Biden and his administration, who ignored the advice of military leaders and dire warnings from diplomats on the ground,” he said.
“For two years, President Biden has refused to take responsibility for the disaster he caused or even acknowledge it as a failure. Not a single person has been held accountable. That ends in this Congress,” McCaul vowed.
McCaul threatened on Sunday to “put a hold on funding” for humanitarian operations in Afghanistan “until we get assurances it’s not going right into the hands of the Taliban.”
“We need some assurance that this is going to go to the right hands, and it’s going to help the women in Afghanistan,” he said. “And if the Taliban cannot assure us that, I think we need to be prepared to cut that funding off as a stick, rather than giving them just a carrot.”
Taliban supporters parade through the streets of Kabul on August 15, 2023, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Nava Jamshidi/Getty Images)
McCaul was responding to Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko’s report, released last week, that the United States remains the top donor to projects in Afghanistan, pouring $2.3 billion of U.S. taxpayer money into the country even after President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal of troops and the Taliban takeover of August 2021.
“Since the Taliban takeover, the U.S. government has sought to continue supporting the Afghan people without providing benefits for the Taliban regime. However, it is clear from our work that the Taliban is using various methods to divert U.S. aid dollars,” Sopko warned in May.
In July, Sopko followed up by saying his agency had uncovered “some really horrific information” about the Taliban stealing humanitarian money.
“A lot of congressmen are torn in this conundrum between giving humanitarian assistance to Afghans who are suffering versus how much of that is going to a regime which we hate,” Sopko said.
Armed Taliban security personnel ride a vehicle convoy as they parade near the U.S. embassy in Kabul on August 15, 2023, during the second-anniversary celebrations of their takeover. (WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)
On July 30, SIGAR Sopko released his latest report on Afghanistan. Sopko said in his introduction: “It is no longer a question of whether the Taliban are diverting assistance from our programs to help the Afghan people, but rather how much they are diverting.”
Sopko, like McCaul, blasted the Biden administration for its “lack of cooperation” and “obfuscation” regarding Afghanistan, especially on the sensitive issue of the Taliban diverting funds. Sopko said he was only able to overcome the administration’s intransigence with strong support from Congress.
SIGAR Sopko noted U.N. and NGO operations have also been subjected to Taliban interference, “including attempted aid diversion and bureaucratic roadblocks.” He said Taliban interference with NGOs “escalated” over the past quarter.
“The U.N. tracked 299 incidences with the Taliban between February and May 2023 alone,” the SIGAR report said. Many involved Taliban thugs enforcing the regime’s ban on women working for foreign aid agencies.