Afghan lawmakers urge unmasking, punishment of embezzlers of $19bn US aid

Afghan legislators on Wednesday called on the US to unmask and punish those involved in the embezzlement of at least $19 billion of American aid earmarked for the war-torn country’s reconstruction. The US Congress had approved nearly $134 billion for redevelopment programs in Afghanistan since 2002, following the American invasion that ousted the Taliban.

However, in its latest audit report released on Tuesday, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said it had reviewed $63 billion of the amount and discovered that about $19 billion of it had been “lost to waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Some $1.8 billion had been squandered between January 2018 and December 2019 alone.

“Those behind this squandering, fraud, and corruption must be identified, should be tried and punished because they were involved in a big historical treason against our people,” Raihana Azad, a lawmaker from the central Afghan province of Dai Kundi, told Arab News.

“They have stolen the money which was earmarked for Afghanistan’s reconstruction and projects and what has happened has been a big blow for the poor people here.” While it remains unclear if those involved in the misappropriation of funds were Afghan nationals or donors, Seddiq Ahmad Usmani, a lawmaker from northern Parwan province, said foreign aid had been handled by representatives chosen by the donors themselves. “Foreigners have to respond as they were mostly behind such embezzlement with some (Afghan) government leaders.

“It will be very fair to see those people behind bars. We ask the American government to focus

now on finding the culprits, whether Afghans or foreigners, and punish them,” he added. Numerous complaints have been raised in Afghanistan over years about the efficiency of foreign aid and its links to corruption and SIGAR itself has routinely criticized the Afghan government’s insufficient efforts to curb graft. In a report released earlier this year, the agency said that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s administration was “more interested in checking off boxes for the international community than in actually uprooting its corruption problem.” Abdul Qadir Qalatwal, a parliament member from southern Zabul province, said: “It is clear that foreigners were behind this squandering because they approved the projects, funded them, and conducted the works.” He added that the Afghan government was ready “to give accountability for any aid money that has been provided by donors for development projects.” Another lawmaker, Keramuddin Reza Zada from central Ghor province, said that SIGAR had been operating since 2010 and had investigated a series of fraud cases, so it was high time that it exposed those behind the corruption to stop further misuse.

“It (SIGAR) has had plenty of time to reveal former culprits. Now is the time to do so too, so future embezzlement is prevented,” the lawyer added.