SIGAR: US aid may ‘conferlegitimacy’ onto Islamic Emirate

KABUL (ToloNews): The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in its newly released report said that the “Taliban” derives revenue from this aid in the form of “licenses,” “taxes,” and “administrative fees” imposed on NGOs and their employees as a condition for operating in Afghanistan.
SIGAR also said that since the fall of the former government, the US has appropriated or otherwise made available over $8 billion in assistance to Afghanistan and Afghan refugees.
“This includes more than $2 billion, primarily for humanitarian and development aid in Afghanistan, and $3.5 billion transferred to a newly created Afghan Fund to recapitalize the Afghan central bank and for related purposes. In addition, the United States obligated $2.7 billion in FY 2022 for the Department of Defense (DOD) to transport, house, and feed Afghan evacuees,” the report said.
According to SIGAR, the US is also the largest donor to the United Nations humanitarian aid effort for Afghanistan.
SIGAR said that most gains made by Afghan women and girls over the past 20 years have now been wholly lost.
“By Taliban edict, women are being systematically erased from public life,” the report said. “They face severe restrictions on their movements outside their homes, requirements to be fully covered in public, limited opportunities for employment, and a ban on attending school past the sixth grade.”
SIGAR said that its judgment shows that the “Taliban regime’s institutionalized abuse of women” raises the important question for policymakers of whether the United States can continue providing aid to Afghanistan without benefiting or “propping up the Taliban.”
Several realities have to be taken into consideration, according to SIGAR:
“First, the Taliban regime derives revenue from this aid in the form of “licenses,” “taxes,” and “administrative fees” imposed on NGOs and their employees as a condition for operating in Afghanistan. Second, U.S. aid to Afghanistan, whether humanitarian in nature or of some other kind, may inadvertently confer legitimacy onto the Taliban, both internationally and domestically. Third, the Taliban’s erasure of women from public life has substantially hindered or prevented the provision of humanitarian aid. Fourth, a record twothirds of the country, or some 28.3 million Afghans, are depending on international food assistance this winter, according to the UN.”
SIGAR said that there is no certainty how much of this aid will reach its intended recipients and that there is also no guarantee that either providing or stopping that aid will succeed in changing the Taliban’s behavior.
According to the US watchdog, the international effort to avert starvation in Afghanistan was imperiled this quarter by the “Taliban’s decision” to ban women from working for humanitarian organizations in the country.