An online rumor circulating in the summer of 2024 claimed a watchdog report said that the U.S. Department of State, under the leadership of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, mistakenly sent $239 million to the Taliban — Afghanistan's political and religious ruling faction notorious for its oppression of women .
For example, on July 30, 2024, JudicialWatch.org reported the rumor as fact, writing, "Taliban Gets $239 Mil in U.S. Afghanistan Aid after State Dept. Fails to Vet Awardees." Similar headlines were published by YourNews.com , JustTheNews.com , TheMaineWire.com , TheNationalPulse.com and TheRightBriefing.com .
Also, an Aug. 27 post ( archived ) promoting the rumor on the X account BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) received over 13.5 million views. The post read, "United States government mistakenly transferred $239,000,000 to the Taliban."
In short, we found some of these articles and posts misrepresented the watchdog group's report by stating the report said the Taliban received the U.S. funds. The reality is that the report only mentioned a risk that this happened, seeing as the group was not able to review sufficient evidence to make a firm determination.
To review this matter, we thoroughly studied the in-question July 2024 report published by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). Congress established SIGAR in 2008 to conduct oversight of reconstruction in the war-torn country.
Summary and Department of State Statement
The dollar figure some of the aforementioned articles apparently intended to cite was not $239 million but rather at least $293 million. More importantly, the report did not say that SIGAR officials confirmed the Taliban received U.S. funds from the awarded transfers. Instead, SIGAR published they were unable to review "sufficient documentation" to confirm two Department of State bureaus complied with "vetting requirements."
In a letter included in the report addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, SIGAR recommended "immediate action" to ensure compliance with "partner vetting and award document retention requirements to enable policymakers and other oversight authorities to better scrutinize the risks posed by State's spending."
By email, a Department of State spokesperson told Snopes, "The United States does not provide foreign assistance to or through the Taliban. Any reports suggesting otherwise are inaccurate and incomplete and have been directly refuted by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction."
The spokesperson continued, "SIGAR has presented no evidence of Department funding being diverted to the Taliban. What SIGAR did conclude was that the majority of the State Department's Afghanistan-related awards fully comply with partner vetting requirements."
The statement pointed to an Aug. 5 post on X from the official SIGAR account, saying recent news stories "misrepresented facts." The second post in the thread added that while "there's an increased risk terrorist and terrorist-affiliated individuals and entities may have illegally benefited," the fact was "SIGAR did not report that the Taliban received $239 million in U.S. aid."
Details About the Two Department of State Bureaus' Funds
SIGAR's July 2024 report specifically looked at the period between M arch 1 and Nov. 30, 2022. That time period came months following the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan, in which 13 American service members and 60 Afghans were killed during the August 2021 Kabul airport attack. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the killings. (A footnote on page 12 of the report provided some details as to why SIGAR studied this specific period of time in 2022.)
SIGAR mentioned issues with two Department of State bureaus. First, regarding the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), SIGAR published, "DRL provided us with information on seven awards totaling about $12 million in obligations as of November 30, 2022." The report specifically m entioned a lack of "sufficient documentation to demonstrate it complied with State partner vetting requirements " — a set of standards involving assessing risk and evaluating whether individuals involved in the process of awarding funds have ties to terrorism.
The second in-question bureau was the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). The SIGAR report mentioned the bureau's "$295 million in obligations and about $294 million in disbursals." It also stated, "INL did not provide any supporting documentation for 19 of its 22 awards, which would have enabled us to determine if it complied with State partner vetting requirements," and, "We concluded that INL did not comply with relevant document retention requirements because these documents were missing from its award files."
Specifically for INL, the report said, "INL confirmed it could not provide the required documentation because the bureau did not retain it. INL told us it attempted to comply with document retention requirements; however, employee turnover and the dissolution of its Afghanistan-Pakistan office prevented it from doing so."
In perhaps the key line in the entire report, SIGAR stated, similar to its Aug. 5 post on X, "Because DRL and INL could not demonstrate their compliance with State's partner vetting requirements, there is an increased risk that terrorist and terrorist affiliated individuals and entities may have illegally benefited from State spending in Afghanistan."
The Department of State spokesperson addressed this part of the report in the emailed statement to Snopes. " SIGAR's report stated there was an 'increased risk' that the Taliban may have benefitted from these funds but SIGAR did not find that any diversion actually occurred," the spokesperson correctly said. The spokesperson also added, referencing some online articles and posts mentioning either $239 million or $293 million, "The $293M number referenced appears to refer to the total funding for all of INL's 22 awards assessed in this audit."
Taliban Efforts Involving NGOs
The July 2024 report follows similar developments from 2023, in which The Associated Press published an article about a previous SIGAR report . That report said SIGAR found the Taliban benefited from U.S. education funding through the establishment of fraudulent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) "to receive donor assistance, and by infiltrating and extorting existing Afghan NGOs delivering educational assistance."
The 2023 report added, "For example, an NGO official told us the Taliban are targeting and extorting Afghans who receive monetary support from U.S.-funded education programs under the guise of taxation. In another example, NGO officials told SIGAR that the Taliban are coercing NGOs to hire Taliban supporters or purchase goods from Taliban-owned companies." In the very next line, the report referenced "risk mitigation processes," "partner vetting requirements" and an ongoing audit — an apparent reference to the future release of the July 2024 report.
SIGAR's July 2024 report generally noted the Taliban's purported efforts to receive U.S. funds as follows:
Since its takeover in August 2021, the Taliban have sought to obtain U.S. funds intended to benefit the Afghan people through several means, including the establishment of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). State officials told SIGAR in September 2023 that they were not aware of any instances in which potential implementing partners were identified as newly created Taliban-affiliated organizations.
However, in that same month, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) officials told SIGAR that USAID had "heard reports that over 1,000 new national NGOs have registered with the so-called [Ministry of Economy], and there are rumors that many of these newly registered NGOs may have Taliban affiliations."
The risk of Taliban- founded NGOs, or other organizations that could funnel money to terrorist groups, benefiting from U.S. taxpayer funds underscores the importance of State complying with its own vetting and document retention requirements.
According to The Media Line , a spokesperson for the Taliban denied the claims of the group embezzling U.S. funds.
In short, the 2024 watchdog report did not say the U.S. Department of State mistakenly sent millions of dollars to the Taliban in Afghanistan. The report said the watchdog group concluded it was not able to review sufficient evidence to make confirmations that would align with its vetting requirements, meaning there was an "increased risk" the funds could possibly land in terrorists' hands.
Sources:
"A US Watchdog Says the Taliban Are Benefiting from International Aid through 'Fraudulent' NGOs." The Associated Press , 23 Oct. 2023, https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-fraudulent-ngos-us-watchdog-sigar-b3234372a0e80e6e9fadb04b3b1b06df .
"Department Press Briefing." United States Department of State , 9 July 2024, https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-july-9-2024/ .
Hashemi, Sayed Ziarmal, et al. "Kabul Airport Attack Kills 60 Afghans, 13 US Troops." The Associated Press , 27 Aug. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/europe-france-evacuations-kabul-9e457201e5bbe75a4eb1901fedeee7a1 .
Lewis, Ray. "Taliban May Have Gotten Millions in US Aid Due to Faulty Vetting, Inspector General Says." KEYE , 5 Aug. 2024, https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/taliban-may-have-gotten-millions-in-us-aid-due-to-faulty-vetting-inspector-general-says-biden-administration-special-inspector-general-for-afghanistan-reconstruction-middle-east-afghanistan-afghan-military-weapons-state-department-antony-blinken .
Mehmood, Arshad. "$293 Million in US Aid May Have Ended Up in Taliban Hands: Top US Agency on Afghanistan Reconstruction." The Media Line , 22 July 2024, https://themedialine.org/by-region/293-million-in-us-aid-may-have-ended-up-in-taliban-hands-top-us-agency-on-afghanistan-reconstruction/ .
Nixon, Ron. "Inspector Critiques U.S. Spending in Afghanistan, to Dramatic Effect." The New York Times , 24 Aug. 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/us/politics/critiquing-us-spending-in-afghanistan-to-dramatic-effect.html .
Shabad, Rebecca. "Families of Service Members Killed in 2021 Kabul Airport Attack Demand Accountability from Biden." NBC News , 29 Aug. 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/families-service-members-killed-2021-kabul-airport-attack-demand-accou-rcna102436 .
"SIGAR 24-01-IP/Status of Education in Afghanistan." SIGAR.mil , Oct. 2023, https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/evaluations/SIGAR-24-01-IP.pdf .
"SIGAR 24-31-AR/State Partner Vetting in Afghanistan ." SIGAR.mil , July 2024, https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/audits/SIGAR-24-31-AR.pdf .
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Taliban | Definition, History, & Facts." Britannica , https://www.britannica.com/topic/Taliban .
Zraick, Karen. "When the Taliban Took Kabul, She Fled, and Made a New Life in New York." The New York Times , 18 July 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/18/nyregion/taliban-afghanistan-lawyers.html .
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