The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has asserted that the Taliban has no legal right to access billions of dollars allocated for Afghanistan, as the group is not recognised as the legitimate government and remains subject to sanctions.
In its latest report, released on Friday, SIGAR noted that former U.S. President Donald Trump and Congress may place approximately $4 billion of Afghanistan’s allocated budget under the “custody and control” of the United States.
In 2022, the U.S. government transferred $3.5 billion of Afghanistan’s central bank assets into a Swiss escrow account. According to SIGAR, the balance of this account has since grown to around $4 billion.
Although no payments have been made from the fund to directly benefit the Afghan people, the account was established to safeguard and stabilise Afghanistan’s economy.
The Taliban has repeatedly demanded that the United States return the funds to Afghanistan’s central bank. However, SIGAR maintains that the group has no legal claim to these reserves, as the U.S. does not recognise it as the legitimate government.
Additionally, SIGAR highlighted that the Taliban remains designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group by the U.S. and is subject to both U.S. and UN sanctions.
The SIGAR report follows the Trump administration’s recent decision to suspend foreign aid—except for assistance to Israel and Egypt—for 90 days. The U.S. State Department has stated that it is reviewing all foreign aid to ensure alignment with Trump’s foreign policy objectives.
Since its withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the United States has spent nearly $3.71 billion in the country, with a significant portion directed to UN agencies. SIGAR also reported that approximately $1.2 billion remains under review and could be disbursed in the future.
While U.S. humanitarian assistance may have prevented famine following Afghanistan’s economic collapse, SIGAR states that it has failed to stop the Taliban from taking American citizens hostage, suppressing women’s and girls’ rights, censoring the media, turning Afghanistan into a “terrorist haven”, and targeting former Afghan government employees
Despite the Taliban’s severe restrictions and governance failures, the United States remains the largest foreign donor to Afghanistan. The report also alleges that the Taliban collects taxes on a significant portion of foreign aid and misuses another portion for its own benefit.
