John F. Sopko

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A Taliban fighter stands guard as Afghan people attend Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, April 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

U.S. still largest donor to Afghans despite Taliban takeover

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times

Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, (third from the left) ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, speaks on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. (Image courtesy of Rep. Michael McCaul's office)

McCaul backs IG in clash with State Department over Afghan probe

By Mike Glenn - The Washington Times

In this June 10, 2014, file photo, John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa hearing on Examining U.S. Reconstruction Efforts in Afghanistan. With Washington set to send billions of dollars in fresh aid to Afghanistan despite the military drawdown, Sopko says its not too late to address the fraud and mismanagement that has bedeviled the 14-year effort to rebuild the country. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File) **FILE**

Afghan IG claims State Department stonewalled over probe into Kabul government collapse

By Joseph Clark - The Washington Times

In this March 21, 2021 file photo, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during a ceremony celebrating the Persian New Year, Nowruz at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s embattled president left the country Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, joining his fellow citizens and foreigners in a stampede fleeing the advancing Taliban and signaling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

U.S. watchdog on Afghanistan probing allegations Ghani stole funds before fleeing

By Joseph Clark - The Washington Times

In this June 10, 2014, file photo, John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa hearing on Examining U.S. Reconstruction Efforts in Afghanistan. With Washington set to send billions of dollars in fresh aid to Afghanistan despite the military drawdown, Sopko says its not too late to address the fraud and mismanagement that has bedeviled the 14-year effort to rebuild the country. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File) **FILE**

John F. Sopko, U.S. watchdog, sees Afghan rebuilding problems

By Maggie Garred - The Washington Times

FILE - In this Nov. 3, 2015 file photo, Afghan Taliban fighters listen to Mullah Mohammed Rasool, the newly-elected leader of a breakaway faction of the Taliban, in Farah province, Afghanistan. Afghanistan may not be ready for peace unless it formulates a strategy for re-integration of Taliban fighters into society, combating corruption and reining in the country’s runaway narcotics problem, a U.S. watchdog said Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo, File)

US watchdog: Afghans may not be ready for ‘day after’ peace

By KATHY GANNON - Associated Press

In this Monday, July 31, 2017 photo, an Afghan man ride his bicycle walks past blast walls in Kabul, Afghanistan. A U.S. watchdog says unprecedented security restrictions are making it difficult to monitor Afghanistan projects that are costing hundreds of millions of U.S. tax dollars. (AP Photos/Rahmat Gul)

Watchdog: Tight security hinders oversight of US Afghan aid

By KATHY GANNON - Associated Press

Afghan security forces gather at the site of a suicide attack after clashes with Taliban fighters in front of the Parliament, in Kabul on June 22, 2015. (Associated Press)

U.S. taxpayers foot bill to train AWOL Afghan ‘ghost’ soldiers

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times

John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said the drawdown of U.S. troops and a stronger Taliban have prevented government inspectors from overseeing reconstruction efforts. (Associated Pres)

Pentagon’s Afghanistan reconstruction projects undermined by lack of oversight, watchdog finds

By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times

John F. Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said in a letter released Thursday that the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations was unable to show a return on the $150 million it spent on villas in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Jalalabad. (Associated Press)

Pentagon spent millions for luxurious private villas

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times

John F. Sopko, the inspector general who overseas U.S. spending on Afghanistan reconstruction, called the cost for the green energy project exorbitant and deemed the project ill-conceived. (Associated Press)

Pentagon offers no answers on $43 million price tag for Afghanistan gas station

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times

Afghan security forces attend a ceremony in Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, in this Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015, file photo. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) ** FILE **

Top military brass classifies amount of U.S. tax dollars spent on Afghan security

By Maggie Ybarra - The Washington Times

John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2014, before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa hearing on Examining U.S. Reconstruction Efforts in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Afghanistan anti-corruption task force shuttered amid U.S. troop drawdown

By Maggie Ybarra - The Washington Times

John F. Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, says six telecommunications towers were built in Afghanistan without usage plans. (Associated Press)

$6.5M telecom towers unused in Afghanistan; watchdog wants answers

By Phillip Swarts - The Washington Times

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko inspects soybeans in Mazar-e Sharif. Afghan farmers produced negligible amounts of soy, and the sustainability of the major soybean processing facility is in serious doubt because there is not enough product for the facility to be economically viable. Some soybeans have had to be shipped in by the U.S.

Golden Hammer: U.S. squandered $34 million on failed Afghanistan soybean project

By Kellan Howell - The Washington Times

The most egregious examples of government waste, fraud or abuse from TWT staff.

Golden Hammer: $1.5 billion spent on Afghan structures that could easily burn down, watchdog says

By Phillip Swarts - The Washington Times

The Pentagon paid $3 million in 2010 to buy eight patrol boats to help Afghan National Security Forces secure their country's Amu Darya river border, but the boats were never given to the Afghan military.

Golden Hammer: Pentagon sank $3 million in boats that never made it to Afghanistan

By Phillip Swarts - The Washington Times

Sopko

Lax guidance feeds Afghan corruption; report says billions in aid wasted

By Maggie Ybarra - The Washington Times

Illustration Afghanistan by Alexander Hunter for The Washington Times

EDITORIAL: The white Afghan elephant

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES - The Washington Times

An Afghan soldier adjusts bullets in his gun Sept. 10, 2012, on a military helicopter during a flight transporting journalists from Kabul, Afghanistan, to Bagram. The journalists were to attend a ceremony where U.S. officials handed over formal control of the country's only large-scale U.S.-run prison to Afghanistan. (Associated Press)

Billions for fuel for Afghan army in question

By Pauline Jelinek - Associated Press