US state department accidentally sends $239 million to Taliban since 2021: Reports
New Delhi: A recent report from the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has unveiled that the U.S. The State Department might have accidentally funneled at least $239 million to the Taliban since the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, reports themainewire.com.
The SIGAR according to Wikipedia is a U.S. government's leading oversight authority on Afghanistan reconstruction. Congress created the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction to provide independent and objective oversight of the Afghanistan Reconstruction funds.
Meanwhile, the SIGAR report highlights significant lapses in compliance with partner vetting requirements by the State Department. "State officials acknowledged that not all bureaus complied with document retention requirements," wrote the Maine Wire quoting the report, identifying at least $293 million in Afghanistan-related disbursements that lacked proper vetting documentation.
This $239 million figure is separate from the approximately $7 billion worth of military equipment, including Humvees and Black Hawk helicopters, left behind by U.S. forces, now presumably in the hands of Taliban.
The chaotic withdrawal of the Military by the Biden administration resulted in the loss of 13 U.S. soldiers and 170 Afghan civilians in a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport. Additionally, the decision to evacuate through Kabul’s central airport instead of the more secure Bagram Airfield has faced extensive criticism.
Following which, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan following the U.S. exit. They reportedly established over 1,000 non-profit organizations, calling it for humanitarian efforts, which SIGAR suggests may have served as fronts to secure U.S. taxpayer dollars.
SIGAR identified significant vetting failures in two State Department bureaus—the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). The report underscores the increased risk that these funds may have been embezzled or redirected to Taliban-associated organisations.
In the meantime, the report primarily recommends these bureaus to comply with existing vetting processes. However, it does not call for disciplinary actions against those responsible for the vetting failures nor suggest halting funding to Afghanistan, raising concerns about accountability and the continuation of potentially embezzeled funds.
The Afghanistan War, America’s longest foreign conflict, incurred an estimated $2.261 trillion cost to U.S. taxpayers and claimed the lives of 2,448 U.S. military personnel and 3,846 military contractors. The war also resulted in over 45,000 Afghan civilian deaths.
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Duleep Trophy: Pacers shine as India B beat India A by 76 runs
Bengaluru, Sep 8: KL Rahul's gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack.
Rahul top-scored for 'A' with a 51.
In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.
The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.
That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.
Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.
Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former's bat in just 18 balls.
But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag's bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.
Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.
Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers' persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.
They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.
However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.
The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.
But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.
It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.
But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.
Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.
Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).
The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
