Is Afghanistan Buying Iranian Oil with US Funds?
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Comstock/Thinkstock(JERUSALEM) — Afghanistan may be spending U.S. money to purchase fuel from Iran, according to a story in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
If that’s the case, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says Afghanistan could be in violation of sanctions put in place to force Iran to drop its nuclear ambitions.
Special Inspector General John Sopko said in a review of the situation that “despite actions taken by the Department of Defense to prevent the purchase of Iranian fuel with U.S. funds, risks remain that U.S. economic sanctions could be violated.”
SIGAR began an investigation into alleged improprieties two months ago.
It was already known that Kabul buys petroleum fuel for the Afghan National Army (ANA) from Iran, Russia and Turkmenistan with Afghan money, which does not breach any existing ban.
However, Sopko said questions remain on how much of “the $1.1 billion in fuel purchased between fiscal year 2007 and 2012 came from Iran, in violation of U.S. economic sanctions.”
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