US Humanitarian Aid Not Utilised By Taliban, Clarifies State Department Spokesperson

Vedant Patel, the deputy spokesperson of the US Department of State, said that the possibility of the Taliban benefiting from the US aid is not true. Patel told Afghanistan International that the mechanisms of aid transfer and distribution prevent the Taliban from using it.

However, in a new report, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) stressed that the US State Department and SIGAR don’t know how much revenue the Taliban gathers from the United Nations and non-governmental organisations’ aid.

However, in response to Aref Yaqubi of Afghanistan International, Patel said that the US has confidence in the aid distribution mechanism in Afghanistan and is sure that the US aid will reach the Afghan people.

The US Congress tasked SIGAR in March to determine how much US money the Taliban receive through paying taxes, fees, import duties, purchasing or receiving licenses, or public services. The new report of SIGAR has not been able to give a definitive answer to this question.

John Sopko, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, had previously told the US Congress that due to a lack of cooperation from the US Department of State and aid organisations, there is no clear information about whether the Taliban is benefitting from the US in Afghanistan or not. However, Sopko had not ruled out the possibility of the Taliban taking advantage of the US aid.

The Associated Press (AP) in a report on Wednesday said that the Taliban have been interfering in the work of non-governmental and relief organisations in various ways and harassing them in Afghanistan.

According to the AP report, Taliban officials seek to influence the decision-making about projects and the implementation process.

Recently, a Taliban member launched aerial shooting during the process of food distribution, which is one of the cases of harassment of non-governmental organisation workers during aid delivery.

AP reported that Taliban members enter the offices of non-governmental organisations without prior notice and ask them to provide information about their project plans, budget, relief operations, and employees.