Biden stonewalls Congress on study of his Afghan fiasco

 National Review:

House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer sent a letter to several Biden administration officials on Tuesday informing them that the administration’s “lack of cooperation” with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) is “unacceptable.”

Comer said SIGAR has been a “critical partner in helping the Committee assess issues related to security, humanitarian, economic, and governance assistance to the Afghan people” as the House panel investigates the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

Inspector General John Sopko, head of SIGAR, testified before the committee last month that he could not say “the extent to which our government may be funding the Taliban and other nefarious groups with U.S. taxpayer dollars” because of the refusal of the State Department and USAID to “fully cooperate with SIGAR.”

Since the withdrawal in August 2021, the U.S. has “provided or otherwise made available” $8 billion to assist the Afghan people, including $2.2 billion for humanitarian and development efforts and $3.5 billion in Afghan Central Bank reserves transferred to the newly created Afghan Fund to stabilize Afghanistan’s economy, Comer writes.

“The Committee is not confident the Biden Administration can guarantee that funding will make it to its intended recipients and not the Taliban or other sources of terrorism,” the chairman said.

SIGAR has made the Committee aware of refusals to cooperate by the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Treasury.
...

The lack of response from the Biden administration suggests it has something to hide.  It was one of the most embarrassing episodes in US history. 

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