The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said that the US House of Representatives has passed legislation which bars American entities from aiding Afghanistan if it benefits the “Taliban," but it has yet to be passed in the Senate.
Speaking at an Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) event held at King's College London, John Sopko, said: “Right now in the House of Representatives there is legislation that has passed-- it still has to go to the Senate, but that legislation would bar the secretary of state and the aid administrator from giving any funds to Afghanistan if it directly went to the Taliban or indirectly went to the Taliban.”
He warned that the stopping of aid could threaten development in Afghanistan.
“These congressmen are asking questions. These congressmen are concerned because of again…that tension between supporting the people of Afghanistan without supporting a government or regime we do not like,” Sopko said.
The deputy Ministry of Economy (MoE), Abdul Latif Nazari, said that the move will affect Afghanistan, and called on the US to reconsider the decision.
“This is an injustice towards the people of Afghanistan, to ban assistance to the noble people of Afghanistan. We call on the US House of Representatives to reverse the decision,” Nazari said.
An economist, Seyar Qureshi, said that decision is a political move by Washington against Kabul.
“Such a decision of the US against Islamic Emirate is a political issue causes political tension,” he said.
In February 2022, an OCHA director in the operations and advocacy division, Reena Ghelani, said the organization has established a new system to monitor the humanitarian aid process in order to prevent corruption.
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