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KABUL: The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) is warning of bad consequences if the U.S. and the international donors cut aid to Afghanistan.
“Eighty percent of Afghanistan’s budget is funded by the U.S. and the (other international) donors,” said John F. Sopko, the Special Inspector to Afghanistan in an interview with Reuters. “If, for whatever reason, the donors keep drawing down funding … that could bring the sudden demise of the Afghan government as we know it.”
Referring to 1779-1789, when the Soviet Union cut donations to its backed government in Afghanistan, he warned that the history will be repeated.
The U.S. is gradually reducing its financial aides to Afghanistan. The U.S. pledged to provide 600 million dollar aides to Afghanistan but stressed that the donation was conditioned-based related to the succession of the Afghan peace process that also lays out the withdrawal of American soldiers in the country.
According to Sopko, the Afghan government would face serious pressures if the international community cut aides.
Sopko said that “even” the Taliban understand the need for international support and that without aides, the government would fall.
