![]() While speaking to the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Accountability, in April, John Sopko, head of SIGAR, raised concerns over the misuse of U.S. Aid was resumed three weeks later after negotiations where the Taliban provided written security guarantees for the group's staff.Īnother NGO in Faryab province reported that Taliban members had confiscated its food assistance that was meant to be distributed to households. One nongovernmental group in Kabul suspended aid distribution following an "unspecified security incident" that involved the Taliban's ministry of refugees and repatriation. The report cited 39 incidents of threats or intimidation against aid workers. The report outlined 362 incidents of violence and threats against humanitarian personnel, assets and facilities in 2022. government to overlook its spending in Afghanistan, issued a report in April documenting Taliban interference with charitable efforts. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), an authority appointed by the U.S. The Taliban's tactics are drawing notices in international circles. The Taliban has not responded to the accusation of interfering with aid distribution but did issue a statement in April about criticism of the ban on women employees at nonprofit groups, stating that is an "internal social matter." The world is taking note groups working in Afghanistan.ĭiscussing the Taliban pressure on the food-aid charity, MF says they try to negotiate, approving some names of the list that match the charity's criteria based on extensive surveys they conduct to determine those in need and rejecting others. The Taliban has further hobbled charitable work by banning women from working for nongovernmental agencies –- including U.N. The situation in worsened by international sanctions on the terrorist group, as well as banking restrictions, that have left Afghans, including the Taliban, excessively reliant on the on the $40 million a week that still comes into the country as humanitarian aid. ![]() While attributing a single factor for this fall in funding is difficult, the policy decisions of the Taliban and how they choose to spend their revenue can explain the trend ," one analysis by Observer Research Foundations stated. This interference comes at a time when donations from international governments and agencies are dropping, often because of concern that the Taliban will tap into those monies for its own purposes. The interviewees, who requested their locations be kept discreet, span four provinces in both the north and the south. They shared experiences of the Taliban attempting to divert foreign aid to their members through bullying, threats of legal action and even violence. NPR interviewed six Afghan aid workers from five Afghan provinces. It's one of many ways in which the Taliban has cast a pall over aid efforts in Afghanistan even as economic crises are pushing more people into hunger. "If we refuse to comply, employees are threatened, detained and even beaten on baseless charges," says MF. Others, he says, are Taliban members or commanders who would not meet the charity's criteria for receiving an aid package. MF believes that some of the people on the list are genuinely needy. But these letters – or sometimes simply verbal requests – are nonetheless taken seriously. ![]() The Taliban ministry does not directly order the charity to comply. Members of the local Taliban come to the charity with lists of names of people they think should get the food aid. In March, the World Food Programme estimated some 20 million Afghans are going hungry, double the number of just three years ago.īut getting food aid to the right people is increasingly difficult, says MF. The need for such food aid is more critical than ever in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The charity gives out packages of rice, flour and oil to families who might otherwise go hungry. MF is on the staff of an international charity that provides food aid in northern Afghanistan. He asks that only his initials be used to protect his identity. But he believes the story he has to tell is important enough to take that risk. He's afraid the Taliban will threaten him for speaking out. The aid worker is nervous about talking to the press. Charities allege that the Taliban interferes with their distribution of aid by pressuring them to funnel money to the Taliban and its supporters.
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