The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in its newly released report that there are currently no specific controls in place to ensure funds are not diverted to or misused by the Taliban.

John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, wrote the above in response to the US chairman House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael T. McCaul who requested information about the oversight and management mechanisms of the fund for the Afghan People (the Afghan Fund, or Fund) on March 13, 2023.

SIGAR cited the US Treasury and State Departments who said, “The Taliban are not part of the Afghan Fund, and robust safeguards have been put in place to prevent [Fund monies] from being used for illicit activity.”

SIGAR, however, said “the fund’s articles of association do not explicitly refer to the Taliban, and there are currently no specific controls in place to ensure funds are not diverted to or misused by the Taliban.” “Additionally, notwithstanding its previous claim that the fund already had robust safeguards in place, Treasury reported that a compliance program to prevent funds from being provided to sanctioned or criminal individuals, including members of the Taliban, was under development,” it said.

According to SIGAR, since its establishment, the fund has made no disbursements for activities intended to benefit the Afghan people.

“Treasury and State are not currently willing to support a return of funds to DAB [Da Afghanistan Bank],” the report said.

Sopko also wrote that the “State was unaware that one of the individuals it selected to be a fiduciary of DAB’s assets was fired from a previous position for misrepresenting his credentials, raising questions about the adequacy of State’s vetting process.”

This comes as the Ministry of Economy stressed that the Afghan assets abroad should be released and that the money in the Afghan Trust Fund belongs to the people of Afghanistan.

“The money within the Afghanistan Trust Fund in Switzerland is the legitimate property of the people of Afghanistan and it is also part of the assets of our country. So we demand that the frozen assets be released, thus both the people of Afghanistan and the Islamic Emirate will have control over this money,” said Abdul Latif Nazari, the Deputy Minister of Economy.

Economists Seyar Qureshi meanwhile said that the issue of the Afghan assets abroad has become politicized.

“I think some of the statements made by these organizations have a political side. This money should not be allocated for expenses and other purposes,” he said.

The Afghan Fund is a Swiss-based charitable foundation capitalized with $3.5 billion of the approximately $7 billion of Afghan central bank (Da Afghanistan Bank, or DAB) assets deposited in U.S. financial institutions at the time the Afghan government collapsed in August 2021.