Abdul Latif Nazari says SIGAR report exaggerated

KABUL (TOLOnews): The Ministry of Economy has rejected the report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) regarding $21 billion in aid to Afghanistan, stating that this amount of money has not been made available to the citizens of the country.

Abdul Latif Nazari, the technical deputy of the Ministry of Economy, called the recent SIGAR report exaggerated. Previously, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in its quarterly report that the United States had allocated $20.7 billion to Afghanistan and Afghan refugees over the past three years.

Abdul Latif Nazari told TOLOnews: “From our perspective, the SIGAR report is exaggerated. Some of the aid that has no connection to the people of Afghanistan and has not been made available to our people is published in the name of Afghanistan; however, we want the aid to transition from humanitarian to developmental.”

In its 64th quarterly report, SIGAR clarified that $2.9 billion in humanitarian and development aid, the transfer of $3.7 billion in Afghan assets to a trust fund, and over $14 billion to Afghan refugees have been allocated.

The report said: “The United States remains the largest donor to the Afghan people. Since US forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, the United States has appropriated or otherwise made available $20.71 billion in assistance to Afghanistan and to Afghan refugees.”

Another part of this report shows that while drug production has decreased, its trade from Afghanistan continues.

In response to this report, the Ministry of Interior has said that following the Islamic Emirate leader’s decree on eradicating drugs in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Interior has prioritized this matter and has begun practical steps to eradicate it.

“There is no exception in the fight against the cultivation, trafficking, production, import, hoarding, and storage of drugs in Afghanistan, and the police will firmly fight to eliminate this evil phenomenon,” said Abdul Mateen Qani, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior.

However, the Afghanistan Chamber of Industries and Mines does not consider the world’s aid to Afghanistan in the past three years sufficient. Sakhi Ahmad Paiman, the first deputy of the Chamber of Industries and Mines, said: “Real aid is the aid whose effectiveness we feel in Afghanistan. It is possible that the statistics and figures presented do not match the actual aid provided.”

The SIGAR report also said that the United States has provided nearly $232 million in aid to Afghanistan in the current year.