The watchdog for US aid to Afghanistan has warned that the Taliban are benefiting from international aid through the creation of fraudulent non-governmental organizations.
Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban has exerted increased control over national and international NGOs.
They have excluded Afghan women from NGO work and tried to drive foreign organizations out of the education sector.
A report by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) shows that the Taliban are profiting from US-funded education programs through tax revenue generation and from more nefarious methods such as the creation of fraudulent NGOs and extortion and infiltration from existing NGOs to obtain or direct international donor aid.
Taliban spokespeople were not immediately available for comment Monday.
In May, a SIGAR report highlighted the Taliban’s interference in NGO work in Afghanistan. The Ministry of Economic Affairs, which oversees the sector, has rejected the claims.
According to the latest SIGAR report, published this month, the US has spent approximately $185 million on education in Afghanistan since August 2021.
An NGO official told SIGAR that the Taliban are attacking and extorting Afghans who receive financial assistance from US-funded education programs under the guise of taxation.
In another example, NGO officials told the watchdog that the Taliban is forcing NGOs to hire supporters or buy goods from Taliban-owned companies.
The Taliban’s policies and priorities have reduced the overall quality of education, with a decline in the number of teachers and a decline in the quality of teachers, as unqualified community members or Taliban officials replace the staff, SIGAR said.
“We found that the Taliban have failed to fully fund public school teacher salaries and building maintenance costs, leading to further teacher shortages and the deterioration of school buildings.”
The diversion of international donor aid to community education schools, along with the financial and infrastructural challenges faced by the Taliban, raised serious questions about how the Taliban could sustain the education sector and whether they had any intention to do so, the report said .
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