Afghanistan has received $11B in aid since U.S. withdrew troops in August 2021, gov’t watchdog reveals

 The country of Afghanistan has reportedly received a staggering $11 billion in foreign aid from the U.S. since Washington withdrew from Kabul in August 2021.

A report issued by John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR), disclosed this finding. According to the Oct. 30 report, the U.S. and its allies have been sending "cash shipments" of about $80 million to Afghanistan "every 10 to 14 days" since the Taliban took over the country, shortly before all U.S. forces withdrew.

Sopko added in his report that the United Nations has assured him that all of the money has been "placed in designated UN accounts in a private bank" instead of "[being] deposited in the [Afghan] central bank or provided to the Taliban. "The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan likewise claimed that all of the cash shipments are being "carefully monitored, audited, inspected, and vetted in accordance with UN financial rules and processes."

Despite these assurances, the SIGAR report noted that the Taliban had stolen foreign aid before. The Islamic group has also been able to prevent the poorest elements of a foreign population from receiving aid designated to them. Some of the Taliban's methods of stealing foreign aid include "siphoning cash from U.N. shipments, collecting royalties or charging fees on cash shipments."

The report outlined one example of this aid money theft: "The UN, [non-governmental organizations] and other entities involved in aid efforts have paid administrative fees to various Taliban ministries, and these fees were recorded by the Taliban as inland revenue."

"The Biden administration's foreign aid decisions – particularly with regard to the Middle East – have come under greater scrutiny in recent weeks, following the decision to give Iran $6 billion in exchange for the release of five American hostages," wrote Eric Lendrum for American Greatness. "The subsequent mass terrorist attacks against Israel led many to speculate that Iran could have used some of that money to fund the attacks."

Hamas thanks Iran for bankrolling its Oct. 7 attack on Israel

Perhaps the most telling evidence of foreign aid being used for terrorism was the fact that Hamas thanked Iran for bankrolling its attack on Israel. Abu Obaidah, the spokesman for Hamas' military wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, explicitly cited Tehran for its assistance.  

"We thank the Islamic Republic of Iran [that] provided us with weapons, money and other equipment," he remarked. "[Tehran] gave us missiles to destroy Zionist fortresses, and helped us with [procuring] standard anti-tank missiles."

Connecting the dots, it would imply that Tehran utilized the $6 billion ransom money Washington paid to procure weapons it then supplied to the al-Qassam unit. But Matthew Miller, spokesman for the U.S. Department of State, insisted that none of that money was used to fund these nefarious acts.

"Let's be clear: The deal to bring U.S. citizens home from Iran has nothing to do with the horrific attack on Israel," he said. "Not a penny has been spent – and when it is, it can only go for humanitarian needs like food and medicine. Anything to the contrary is false."