Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on Thursday accused the Biden administration of stonewalling his committee’s oversight efforts into the United States’ reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.
“The State Department, Treasury and USAID’s refusal to comply with SIGAR’s requests is unlawful and unacceptable,” McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote in a letter to the State Department, Treasury Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for refusing to comply with the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
“I urge you in the strongest terms to promptly ensure that the entities which you lead end this obstruction and return to full compliance with SIGAR’s oversight before congressional action becomes necessary.”
John Sopko, the special inspector general for SIGAR, in November issued a report saying several federal agencies including the State Department, USAID and the Treasury Department weren’t fully cooperating with his information requests about $1.1 billion in humanitarian aid spent to “support the Afghan people since the Taliban’s takeover.”
USAID and the State Department maintained that the aid is “humanitarian and development assistance” and not part of the funding that Sopko oversees, according to his report.
“SIGAR coordinates and deconflicts its work with the inspectors general for the State Department and USAID, including through the OIG Afghanistan Project Coordination Group, which meets every six weeks,” argued McCaul, adding: “SIGAR stands distinct from other inspectors general in its cross-jurisdictional authority to audit across agencies and its longstanding expertise in Afghanistan oversight. Cutting SIGAR out would fundamentally weaken Afghanistan-related oversight.”
He added: “The State Department and USAID do not have the authority to determine the scope of SIGAR’s jurisdiction or evade it on the grounds that they no longer deem their programs ‘reconstruction.'”
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