U.S. efforts to stop money laundering in Afghanistan are failing, according to a new report by the special inspector general for U.S. reconstruction in Afghanistan.
Afghan customs officials are not using U.S.-provided machines to monitor large cash transfers at Kabul International Airport, and they allow VIPs — some of whom carry large sums of cash — to bypass the screening process, the report states.
Afghanistan has a cash-based economy, but its large currency transfers “raise the risk of money laundering and bulk cash smuggling — tools often used to finance terrorist, narcotics and other illicit operations,” Special Inspector General John F. Sopko said in a report released Tuesday.
In 2011, the Congressional Research Service found that an estimated $4.5 billion was taken out of Afghanistan, the report said.
According to an inspector general report in April, the U.S. will have spent $100 billion on Afghanistan’s reconstruction since 2002 if President Obama’s budget request for fiscal 2013 is approved.
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Kristina Wong is a national security reporter for The Washington Times, covering defense, foreign policy and intelligence affairs. She can be reached at kwong@washingtontimes.com.
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