AT News
KABUL: Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) is accusing the State Department and United States Agency for International Development of withholding information about the fall of the Afghan government during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan last August.
SIGAR director John Sopko said in the letter to Secretary of State Tony Blinken and the USAID Administrator Samantha Power on Wednesday that “USAID and State Department officials now appear to have adopted a premeditated position of obstruction.”
Sopko said that there have been multiple requests for information regarding the collapse of US led government in Afghanistan, which have been declined. He called the situation “unprecedented.” He explained that the information is needed for specific audits that congress has asked them to carry out.
“This information and assistance is needed for several audits and Congressionally mandated reviews pertaining to, among other things: (1) the collapse of the U.S. backed government in Afghanistan; (2) State and USAID compliance with laws and regulations prohibiting the transfer of funds to the Taliban; and (3) ongoing humanitarian and development programs supporting the Afghan people,” Sopko writes.