In latest report, Afghan watchdog says Biden agencies 'refused to cooperate' with disclosure rules

A watchdog overseeing U.S. funding to Afghanistan said in a little-noticed report earlier this season that the Biden administration has broadly refused to cooperate with traditional funding disclosures regarding the embattled Middle Eastern nation. 

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in its quarterly report to Congress on Oct. 30 that "for the first time in its history

it was "unable this quarter to provide Congress and the American people with a full accounting of this U.S. government spending [in Afghanistan] due to the noncooperation of several U.S. government agencies."

"The United States Agency for International Development, which administers the majority of U.S. government spending for Afghanistan, and the Treasury Department refused to cooperate with SIGAR in any capacity," the report said, "while the State Department was selective in the information it provided pursuant to SIGAR’s audit and quarterly data requests."

The group said the State Department shared "high-level funding data but not details of agency-supported programs in Afghanistan."

The group said the disclosure failures were in "direct violation" of U.S. statute.

"SIGAR has notified Congress of this matter," the report said.