Taliban benefiting from international aid through ‘fraudulent’ NGOs, says U.S. watchdog

U.S. watchdog warns Taliban benefit from aid via fraudulent NGOs; Taliban have barred Afghan women from NGO work, sought to push out foreign organisations from education sector; U.S. has spent $185M on education since Aug. 2021; Taliban target, extort Afghans receiving aid, coerce NGOs into hiring supporters or buying goods from Taliban-owned companies; Taliban unable to fund teacher salaries, leading to teacher shortages and school deterioration; Education Ministry calls report baseless, says quality of teaching and school facilities better than before.

The watchdog for U.S. assistance to Afghanistan has warned that the Taliban are benefiting from international aid through the establishment of fraudulent nongovernmental organisations.

The Taliban have exerted greater control over national and international NGOs since seizing power in August 2021. They have barred Afghan women from NGO work and sought to push out foreign organisations from the education sector.

A report from the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, said it found that the Taliban benefit from American-funded education programming through the generation of tax revenues and from more “nefarious” methods like the establishment of fraudulent NGOs and extorting and infiltrating existing NGOs to obtain or direct international donor aid.

In May, a SIGAR report highlighted the Taliban’s interference with NGO work in Afghanistan. The Ministry of Economy, which supervises the sector, rejected the claims. Ministry spokesman Abdul Rahman Habib, responding to the latest SIGAR report on Monday, said there was no evidence of interference.

According to the report, published this month, the U.S. has spent around $185 million on education in Afghanistan since August 2021.

An NGO official told SIGAR that the Taliban target and extort Afghans who receive monetary support from American-funded education programs under the guise of taxation. In another example, NGO officials told the watchdog that the Taliban coerced NGOs into hiring supporters or purchasing goods from Taliban-owned companies.

Taliban policies and priorities have reduced the overall quality of education, with a drop in the number of teachers and a decrease in teacher quality, as unqualified community members or Taliban officials replace staff, SIGAR said.