Report: $1B Wasted in Afghan Refugee Crisis

By Paul D. Shinkman

Inspector general findings portray bleak picture for millions of displaced Afghans in Pakistan, Iran.

Almost $1 billion in support from the U.S. government has done little to stem a refugee crisis in Afghanistan that has reportedly displaced millions of people from their homes and now accounts for tens of thousands of deaths abroad each year. In fact, corruption is so endemic among the local institutions tasked with solving the problem that even a precise number of refugees is unknown.

A new report released Thursday from the congressionally mandated office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction finds the local Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation has made little progress in implementing a strategy to bring home refugees and allocate land where they can live. As many as 2.5 million Afghans are living in Pakistan, according to U.N. estimates, 1.5 million of whom are declared refugees, and roughly 950,000 are living in Iran. The U.N. is unable, however, to confirm these numbers with those countries, according to the SIGAR report, hampering the State Department's ability to request corresponding funds from Congress.

In Pakistan, for example, roughly 23,000 Afghan refugees have died each year, though the Pakistani government registers only nine deaths total since 2008. Limited diplomatic relations with Iran make that country "a closed window" to verifying refugees' status, says Gene Aloise, the deputy inspector general for the SIGAR office.

"This is extremely frustrating," Aloise says, citing rampant corruption throughout Afghanistan's government, but particularly within the refugee ministry, which now disqualifies it from international aid. "It undermines the entire Afghan society and everything they try to do. It undermines everything we've tried to do with our reconstruction effort," he said, admitting the U.S. didn't handle that issue well early on.

The State Department has since 2002 invested $950 million in supporting the refugee process, but, along with the U.N., has ceased providing any more funds until the government can get ministry corruption under control. Aloise says there are no discernable positive outcomes of the ministry's work.

For example, the refugee ministry has reportedly misappropriated $117,000 it was supposed to use to provide land to refugees to instead give its staff bonuses and provide reimbursements to officials who filed forged documents. It also has not been held accountable for the Land Allocation Scheme -- a critical component of the international plan to help refugees return to Afghanistan by distributing to them a place to live.

Bribery, forgery, nepotism, embezzlement, and an inability by the central government to correct any of it has crippled the ministry's ability to adequately lead and coordinate its central task.

SIGAR has recommended U.S. cease providing money to the refugee ministry until it has confirmed it is effectively combating internal corruption. A State Department official agreed with that assessment in a response included in SIGAR's report.

Aloise says little is known so far about new leadership installed at the ministry, but he has cautious faith in the new government under President Ashraf Ghani.

"Ghani is committed to fighting corruption," Aloise says, recounting meetings with the president where he brought along dog-eared copies of SIGAR's reports. "He wants to have 'a jihad on corruption,' and that's a very encouraging sign. And that means to all the ministries."

The situation appears bleak for displaced Afghans, who amid the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces and a resurgence of Taliban control in some traditional strongholds, are not at the forefront of war planners' minds.

"There's so much uncertainty, especially now. There's been so much more fighting recently, and that's going to cause more problems," says Aloise, adding the number of refugees will likely increase as well.