Florida Congressman Mike Waltz questioned Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko on the Biden Administration’s Afghanistan policy after U.S. withdrawal during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing this month. The Special Inspector General admitted “it’s been difficult” under President Joe Biden compared to under President Donald Trump.
Representative Waltz, a Republican, questioned SIGAR Sopko about auditing the Special Immigration Visa (SIV) program and the lack of cooperation and coordination with Biden Administration’s State Department. Rep. Waltz went on to ask, “was this your experience with the last administration or even the one prior? This lack of cooperation? The fact that you never even met, that you were hoping to meet, the Special Presidential Envoy.”
Mr. Sopko answered, “Well, it’s been difficult, let’s just say this.”
“Why do you think you are not getting it now?” asked Waltz. “When you have the Acting Deputy Secretary of State Ms. Nuland testifying that she has no evidence that our former allies are being murdered, prosecuted, and essentially hunted down, do you think that that is malicious, misinformed, ignorant? I mean, just a quick google search shows UN reports, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, your own outreach.”
Waltz went on to mention the June 9, 2023 report from the United Nations (UN), which noted that “the Taliban is providing al-Qaeda members with monthly welfare payments and Afghan passports, which should ring counter-terrorism alarm bells around the world.” Waltz asked, “have you seen in your reporting how integrated al-Qaeda is?”
“We are aware of the UN reporting but we have not done any independent work on our own in that area,” replied Sopko.
“What would be the process to help you do some independent work there?” asked Waltz. “The Committee can ask us to do that,” replied Sopko.
Waltz continued, “the UN is reporting the Taliban is using al-Qaeda training manuals, there are 30-60 senior al-Qaeda officials in Afghanistan, 400 al-Qaeda fighters living in Afghanistan, training camps, welfare payments, suicide training. So, I would hope that your office is digging into that.”
